What It Means to be a TRUE Melee Player and what NO JOHNS has done for my life

[S l o X]

Great read. I can relate on a few levels. Good luck with everything.

 

[Nintendude]

Lots of good stuff in here, Jesse. I'm looking forward to our rematch later this month!

 

[DerfMidWest]

I finally got the time to just sit down and read this whole thing. I'm really glad that I did. So inspirational.

 

[da K.I.D.]

This doesn't make sense Kyle. 1. Haveing a specialized skill cannot be a hinderance. If you don't use it you don't use it, and if you do go in a direction where that skill is nesasary you'll already have a leg up.
2. Pidgeon holeing is putting all your time and resources into something that's not paying out. 3. I'm sure Jesse's schooling would be free first of all, 4. and schools only a few years of your life, so if it doesn't pay out . . oh well. Take some **** job work hard and move your way up.
5. And your last sentence there . . . . you planning on winning the lottery?

I don't agree with everything Jesse said and he could probably guess why so whatever, but the work ethic and 6. Mows' advice about honing a specialized skill is really undebatable. If you go about it the right way there is really no downside.

1. I suppose I can see that logic from the line of like, a plumber. If you learn to be a plumber, then no matter what you do after that, you'll always have that knowledge and expertise to fall back on should you ever need it. But this situation isn't really the same type of context.

2. If that's how you define it, maybe I just used the wrong term. I'm talking about tight casting. For example. I have a pretty large amount of experience working with food and in restaurants, so whenever I fill out an application for a job at target or wal mart or whatever, the first thing every employee is going to want to do is throw me in the kitchen or near whatever food they have, even though I'm not trying to be in that field anymore. That's what I meant by pigeon holing.

3. Why would jesses schooling be free? What about him would allow him to go to school with out taking huge loans? Not to mention that to be brutally honest, you'd be hard pressed to find a school that would accept him based on that thing that kinda resembles a diploma that he got, and his grades.

4. Only a few years of the prime of your life that could be better spent doing other things that, considering the situation, may be more beneficial for you.

5. Are you saying that that I have to win the lottery in order to start a successful business?

6. Basically what I'm saying is this.
You work in construction, right? Let's say, you're the best crane operater in the world, nobody can operate a crane faster and more precisely than you. You work for a contracting company. Let's say the best forklifter, the best repair mechanic, the best truck driver, and the best cement layers in the world all work for this company. When you do a job who's going to get payed more, you, as the best of your skill in the world, or the owner of the company?
The owner is going to get payed more, because even though he may not be the best at anything, he had enough general knowledge of each position and was smart enough to get the best in the world at those positions to work for him.

That's why I say specialization is non-optimal. Kobe Bryant may be the best basketball player in the world but the guy who owns the lakers still makes a ton more than him because he was smart enough to leverage Kobe and the rest of the team, coaches and staff to work for him. Even though he's not the best at anything he hired those people for. The only thing he specialised in was being a good business man and identifying quality investments, if you can even call that a specialization, since anybody can do that...

 

[Sinji]

Finished reading this.

Good stuff JesiahTEG. Always liked your post.

 

[Deleted member]

6. Basically what I'm saying is this.
You work in construction, right? Let's say, you're the best crane operater in the world, nobody can operate a crane faster and more precisely than you. You work for a contracting company. Let's say the best forklifter, the best repair mechanic, the best truck driver, and the best cement layers in the world all work for this company. When you do a job who's going to get payed more, you, as the best of your skill in the world, or the owner of the company?
The owner is going to get payed more, because even though he may not be the best at anything, he had enough general knowledge of each position and was smart enough to get the best in the world at those positions to work for him.

That's why I say specialization is non-optimal. Kobe Bryant may be the best basketball player in the world but the guy who owns the lakers still makes a ton more than him because he was smart enough to leverage Kobe and the rest of the team, coaches and staff to work for him. Even though he's not the best at anything he hired those people for. The only thing he specialised in was being a good business man and identifying quality investments, if you can even call that a specialization, since anybody can do that...

Right, the guy that markets Kobe has no skills at all, he just lucked his way into that position because anyone can do it right?

Your argument sucks. Who the **** would want to be the best crane operator? If you're going to argue against a strict tactical advantage to the game of life, at least do it in some sensible way. It's not about if Kobe is his own boss cause he still makes ****ing bank, it's about being able to pay for your own **** and still live comfortably, and being a 37 year old dude that still works for minimum wage isn't going to do that. You missed the point completely.

 

[Strong Badam]

one of my life goals is to reach the age of 37 and hold a minimum wage job

 

[Varist]

one of my life goals is to reach the age of 37 and hold a minimum wage job

why would u do that when u can be president at 35

 

[huMps]

Goggles - Most people don't mind not being king of the world. Even if you get stuck in some **** tier job if you work your *** off and become great at it you should have gained ( if not a promotion or certainly a raise) some self respect.
And I'll say it again . . . are you expecting to win the lottery? Because I don't know how you expect to be THE BOSS when you don't want to work your way up or have any special skills? It takes money to run and especially start a buisness. Where are you going to be getting that?
I'm all about aiming high but most of us have to start low and work hard to get there. Whether that means going to college or breaking your back in some hole in the ground.

Mow - You seem extremely superficial. If that's what motivates you that's cool but it won't win over alot of respect from your peers. Sounds like a successful attitude but if all you're going to do is surround yourself with trophies . . . . Idk I guess that's your choice.

 

[Devil Ray]

Right, the guy that markets Kobe has no skills at all, he just lucked his way into that position because anyone can do it right?

Your argument sucks. Who the **** would want to be the best crane operator? If you're going to argue against a strict tactical advantage to the game of life, at least do it in some sensible way. It's not about if Kobe is his own boss cause he still makes ****ing bank, it's about being able to pay for your own **** and still live comfortably, and being a 37 year old dude that still works for minimum wage isn't going to do that. You missed the point completely.

lol Jerry Buss' kids run the Lakers, and all they had to do was luck into a rich family. to da kid's point, there are more nba players than owners. but skills are important. it's different for each industry, and skills don't always equal money.

 

[Smasher89]

What says that running company isn't a skill?

 

[GOTM]

6. Basically what I'm saying is this.
You work in construction, right? Let's say, you're the best crane operater in the world, nobody can operate a crane faster and more precisely than you. You work for a contracting company. Let's say the best forklifter, the best repair mechanic, the best truck driver, and the best cement layers in the world all work for this company. When you do a job who's going to get payed more, you, as the best of your skill in the world, or the owner of the company?
The owner is going to get payed more, because even though he may not be the best at anything, he had enough general knowledge of each position and was smart enough to get the best in the world at those positions to work for him.

That's why I say specialization is non-optimal. Kobe Bryant may be the best basketball player in the world but the guy who owns the lakers still makes a ton more than him because he was smart enough to leverage Kobe and the rest of the team, coaches and staff to work for him. Even though he's not the best at anything he hired those people for. The only thing he specialised in was being a good business man and identifying quality investments, if you can even call that a specialization, since anybody can do that...

Please, no one listen to this kid.

PLEASE for the love of everything, do NOT live your life trying to get good at a bunch of different things instead of focusing on what you either like, or what you really want to get good at.

To completely counter-act your argument in one sentence, the owner of the Lakers is the best at being the owner of the Lakers, period.

You can't always break down things like that. The fact that he knows a little bit about everything means, guess what, that he's the best at knowing a little bit about everything. Not everyone can do that. For most people, this is in fact harder than focusing on one thing.

If you focus on one thing you will most likely pick up little parts of a BUNCH of things, at least in the majority of professions that I am familiar with.

I am a C# developer. I've focused ONLY on C#. Throughout my career, just because I've worked with different projects, I've been able to pick up Java, PHP, Javascript, JQuery, ASP.NET, HTML, CSS, etc.

If I had focused on ALL of those things in the beginning with the mindset of being able to catch a job that required all of them and get paid a lot more, I'd be a ****ty developer in every sense of the word, only knowing a tiny bit about each subject. Much better to master 1, and pick up a bunch, then to try and only pick up a bunch.

Also, final point. The owner of the Lakers does not just know a little about a bunch of things. He probably knows a LOT about business management and the political policies of the NBA, and a LITTLE bit about things he's picked up on the way (which players work well together, how to deal with contracts, etc.)

 

[Devil Ray]

GOTM, i agree with most of that, just not the NBA stuff. picking up stuff while you focus on one thing is definitely a positive. experience does teach.

but we're mixing sports with the idea that money will equal the skill. nah, not true. good luck or bad luck, family legacies, background, all play a part and have nothing to do with skill. if i was was 7 feet tall or born to one of the richest families, life would be mad different

 

[GOTM]

Yeah I mean there are exceptions to every rule, but if we're here talking about, none of us have that exact exception, lol. At least I don't think we do...I don't, haha.

 

[Deleted member]

Mow - You seem extremely superficial. If that's what motivates you that's cool but it won't win over alot of respect from your peers. Sounds like a successful attitude but if all you're going to do is surround yourself with trophies . . . . Idk I guess that's your choice.

I'm not even remotely superficial, and neither is Jesse. But at some point you have to acknowledge that the path to spiritual enlightenment is necessarily supported by financial security. When you go to the museum, spend leisure time on your hobbies or studies, partake in social events, etc. it is only because you are first at the luxury of doing so. That you are posting on a forum for video games suggests that you are supported to and beyond the capacity for survival, either by yourself or someone else.

I am merely suggesting to Jesse that he further his physical finances while he is still capable of doing so; he's not responsible for a wife, children, or any sort of permanent residence. He has no financial obligations to the world past a cell phone bill and a car, and both arguably further his horizons more than limiting him as opposed to say a refrigerator. Buying your first full size refrigerator is almost always indicative that you are "stuck" somewhere and financially obligated to others. It is a turning point where you are no longer able to expand your pursuits and dreams easily.

At some point, his aspirations will have a cost that exceeds his physical ability to generate revenue to fuel them, and he will hit a ceiling to his range of self-improvement. I'm merely trying to keep that ceiling from being a low one for him with my advice.

 

[Massive]

Buying your first full size refrigerator is almost always indicative that you are "stuck" somewhere and financially obligated to others.

I dunno man, my life has gotten a lot more exciting since I bought that fridge...

 

[Bing]

I dunno man, my life has gotten a lot more exciting since I bought that fridge...

I Lol'd at this.


On another note, everyone, stfu.
This man wrote a lovely story, to give people, and its being turned into a silly little debate.

Back on track ladies and gents!

 

[Divinokage]

Anything is possible... =)

 

[JesiahTEG]

That was a great read Jesse. Much respect to you, I relate to this on a lot of levels and it takes a lot of balls to write up something like this. I look forward to playing you again man.

Yeah, you're a hard working mofo, you've got really good social skills and you're at the top level for your character in this game. (You gotta be top 3 at this point, right?) Actually I was really surprised that you didn't jump on this post with trash talk lol. Well thanks man. We'll DEFINITELY play a lot when we chill next.

I really can't say anymore when I read all that. Keep going towards those dreams! =D Mostly all that you have said is pretty much the way it should be or the warrior spirit. There's really no other way to succeed. Step out your comfort zone and practice every single day, pay attention to details.. etc.. because you have to also train WELL not just train to train.

Well.. ya that was a sick read and I'll own you in Boxing too if we get the chance to do that. =)

Haha, Kage. If there's anyone on the boards that understands this **** it's you haha. How's the trainin goin btw? I joined a gym for a couple months, learned the basics of boxing and MT but couldn't afford to keep it up right now. But dude, I gotta be way faster than you in boxing. Not saying I'd win, cuz idk about that but speed? I got you :-P How much do you weigh btw?

Awesome read Jesiah.

Thanks dude, keep that Marth up

don't get comfortable. your post makes you sound like you're okay with where you're going. you can do better.

I mean I am ok with where I'm going, I carved the path out myself. But I do agree everyone can always do better. Don't ever let up on me brah haha

Jesiah, you're the man. By the way, I was Scar's friend that came to Mow's, lol. All I remember is playing you in smash the whole time because we were much closer in skill than Scar/Mow at the time, and I was tired of getting ***** by the same combo's Scar hit me with day in and day out in Philly, lol.

Then for some reason I remember going to Mow's dorm and playing Pokemon? Haha, and then going to Quiznos, lol.

Anyway, really good read. Honest & real. I think where we get our life lessons from and how we grow do not matter as long as it happens sometime and from somewhere. I think given your situation (which I had NO IDEA about), you've turned into an awesome dude, and mad respect goes to you for that, because honestly, I don't know if I could of done it.

Props man. We gotta chill again. Go to Zenith

I'll be at Zenith dude, and I forgot that you were with us when we played Pokemon! Hahaha, good times, and yes I can't believe I forgot your tag haha. Hope all's good dud.e

Lots of good stuff in here, Jesse. I'm looking forward to our rematch later this month!

Me too dude trust me haha. Hopefully I don't get 4 stocked the first match this time

Always LOVE Jesiah posts. =)

Glad I finally know where you've been haha. I was worried. =p

Good luck with everything man!

Lol, dude we got so much to catch up on.

I always love reading players back stories. It show that we're all normal people with real **** going on.

Yeah, this was something I didn't understand at a young age haha.

Anyways, glad to see positive responses. This is actually the first time I checked this thread. I was kinda nervous actually haha, but looks like the points I wanted to get across got across, and thanks to everyone who read it all.

 

[ZaXXoR]

Inspiring Read, especially for someone who has just started smash in 2011, But I think I could do pretty decent in a tourny, my tech skills aren't the best, but I have a pretty good grasp on mindgames and spacing, I just cant consistently WD DD on platforms uber fast, I'm sure it will develop over time. I read this whole thing while taking calls for BestBuy and Futureshop customer support, funny to reasd you were inbound calls at one point. You learn alot throughout life if you choose too, and I feel that you and I have much in common, once I start going to tourneys I'm sure I'll meet you one day. For now I'm stuck in Canada with Bing being the only Pro in the Niagara Region.

 

[KrIsP!]

And bing gets namedropped as a pro.

why not go with him to the GTA monthlies?

 

[Svetsunov]

Really a fantastic read.

Can we just get a player biography section? O:

 

[da K.I.D.]

Goggles - Most people don't mind not being king of the world. Even if you get stuck in some **** tier job if you work your *** off and become great at it you should have gained ( if not a promotion or certainly a raise) some self respect.
And I'll say it again . . . are you expecting to win the lottery? Because I don't know how you expect to be THE BOSS when you don't want to work your way up or have any special skills? It takes money to run and especially start a buisness. Where are you going to be getting that?
I'm all about aiming high but most of us have to start low and work hard to get there. Whether that means going to college or breaking your back in some hole in the ground.

Mow - You seem extremely superficial. If that's what motivates you that's cool but it won't win over alot of respect from your peers. Sounds like a successful attitude but if all you're going to do is surround yourself with trophies . . . . Idk I guess that's your choice.

1. You don't have to be King of THE world, but if you're not king of YOUR OWN world than you fkn up...
2. Its funny that you're telling the guy who legitamately quit smash (you should be able to tell how difficult that is for some people) so that he could focus on getting his phd, that he's being superficial. I'm not commenting on it either way, but that concept was amusing to me.
3. Why do you have to do a crappy job at the bottom of a company you may or may not care about in order to respect yourself? On the contrary, I actually respected myself LESS when I was rocking out 40 hrs a week for min wage at subway. That's why I bounced up outta there.
4. It sounds like you're making an outright attempt to disrespect me, because I don't understand how starting/owning a business is tantamount to winning the lottery.
4b. Most people that start large companies start with their companies being very small and funded by loans and than building it up over time.
5. In terms of the real world and work and making actual money, that whole 'start at the bottom and work your way up' job idea is nice for a feel good story for a movie, but it doesn't really work anymore. Being at the right place at the right time and knowing the right people is more important to ones progression. Although I am in no way saying that having/building your skills ISN'T important, predicating your entire philosophy behind the concept of just gaining skills won't get you very far, unless those skills are interpersonal relations and business management skills.

And to the guy who said that the owner of the lakers is the best owner. Because he is the lakers owner, that's silly. You think that the nobody on the planet could do what he does better than him just because he's doing it right now?

Nahhhhhhhhhhhhh brah.

 

[ZaXXoR]

And bing gets namedropped as a pro.

why not go with him to the GTA monthlies?

I will, I'm just going through alot of stuff atm, moving and brokeness lol... I'll more then likely be at the tournament in Toronto near the end of this month Bing was talking to me about it at work

 

[KevinM]

Really disappointed I was hoping for a special subsection where you talked about Mafia bodying you over at Mass Madness after you calling him out for trash talking like you did back when you were a noob and saying WNY was gonna come hard on him.

 

[JesiahTEG]

Hahahahahahahahaha, and body me he did. That win definitely goes to you guys, that's for sure. Maybe we can make that like a spinoff post or something :-P

EDIT: Hey to be fair though, one time you were **** talking me at ROM against one of your dudes and once I heard you say "Quest to Become the Best" my ***, I made an untouched 3 stock comeback, without chaingrabbing while he was cg'ing me the entire match.

Can that count for like, at least half redemption for the mafia thing? Like, I don't expect to ever fully redeem myself from that, but can I get at least half? :-P

Oh and also, not that I'm proud of this, but I trash talked your whole region, in fact I didn't even know who he was before that tourney hahahaha. Does he still play btw?

 

[ZaXXoR]

Hahahahahahahahaha, and body me he did. That win definitely goes to you guys, that's for sure. Maybe we can make that like a spinoff post or something :-P

EDIT: Hey to be fair though, one time you were **** talking me at ROM against one of your dudes and once I heard you say "Quest to Become the Best" my ***, I made an untouched 3 stock comeback, without chaingrabbing while he was cg'ing me the entire match.

Can that count for like, at least half redemption for the mafia thing? Like, I don't expect to ever fully redeem myself from that, but can I get at least half? :-P

Oh and also, not that I'm proud of this, but I trash talked your whole region, in fact I didn't even know who he was before that tourney hahahaha. Does he still play btw?

it's funny how people talk super smack online, then don't go through with it IRL, we all have this little troll in us don't we?

 

[Divinokage]

Or you can be extra manly and go through it anyway. =)

 

[Brookman]

"Some people who take a traditional route will end up marrying the first girl they see, having kids, get a 50-80K a year job and spend the next 30 years paying off their debts. They'll look happy from the outside, and maybe they will be. But only kinda happy. An ignorant kind of happy, the kind of happy that is only happy because they are forced to be satisfied with what came their way."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhp96VWLEqA&feature=player_detailpage#t=320s

 

[Dr Peepee]

Message me then when you get time!!

 

[Naughty Pixel]

Read the whole thing. Good ****.

I've been playing this game seriously since late 2010, and only recently got a handle on my characters movements (wavedashing, wavelanding, l cancelling, sweet spots, laser levels, etc.) went to my first tournament and got stomped regardless. I wouldn't say that my direction was shattered, but my drive to improve was slowed to just aimlessly playing casual games with friends 3 days a week. I feel that I've had enough of that. Thanks for the read, it was definitely a good wake up call for me.

 

[unknown522]

Glad to know that you're ok Jesse

 

[Mew2King]

I actually really dislike the phrase no johns. There can be perfectly legitimate reasons for things and it can just be erased by someone saying "no johns", and people do this way too much. I understand the point of this thread, but i don't agree with that.

 

[Battlecow]

No Johns is a great convention because if we allow some johns, it slippery-slopes like a mother****er and no one ever loses.

 

[Spyro]

Wow I read the whole thing and I feel PUMPED. I've been johning a lot about how I don't have a car or job, how I'm still in high school and can't get to people's houses to play melee cause they live pretty far away from me but now I really feel like I need to start trying harder to figure this out, thank you Jesiah

 

[huMps]

Goggles - I think we both know where we stand. I just whole hartedly disagree with you lol.

I dont know how you can correlate being superficial or not with someone dropping smash to get a PHD.?

 

[JesiahTEG]

I actually really dislike the phrase no johns. There can be perfectly legitimate reasons for things and it can just be erased by someone saying "no johns", and people do this way too much. I understand the point of this thread, but i don't agree with that.

I mean dude, quite honestly here and I wouldn't say this to you if I didn't mean it, because we've been friends since like 08 now, but if you took this mindset to heart, you'd probably be winning every Melee and Brawl tourney. (Melee would be rough due to Armada, but you'd definitely be in a much better position to beat him.)

You don't agree with it because you don't have the belief that you can overcome your obstacles. Here, let's go over what usually goes wrong with you regarding Smash and how this mindset would change your game.

"I have no good controllers and I always lose them!" See dude, it's like, the way you're looking at it, having a crappy controller really holds you back in Melee...

AND IT DOES! I'm not arguing that it doesn't. I would never tell you to just "Play through it, you're the best!" because in Melee, it can be argued that a good controller is absolutely 100% necessary for the top level competitors, and that's something I agree with.

BUT, what you should be doing, instead of taking the easy way out and letting that stop your RIDICULOUS Smash skills from shining through, is to buy 3 brand new controllers from play asia.

Yeah, it SUCKS breaking them in. I've been breaking one in for 4 months now, playing every day for at least usually 2 hours, and it's just now starting to get to the point where I can use it.

But let's say it takes 6 months of practice every day to break a controller in. During those 6 months, you'd polish your already good tech skill to a shine dude. You could go back and reinforce every little execution, and consciously redrill it into your head. I'm sure it's all muscle memory, but since your controller is going to be REALLY stiff, you might as well use that time by not getting frustrated, and reinforcing your tech skill.

So it's been 6 months and now you have an amazing controller, molded perfectly to your hands and suited to your playstyle. Awesome. Now you put that controller away for strictly tourney matches and more serious friendlies/mm's. You NEVER practice with it once it's perfect.

Why?

So number one, it lasts you much longer. Controllers **** the bed eventually. That's my experience at least, and trust me, I've been plagued with controller issues just like you have since the beginning of time. The only difference is I'm not good enough to take top 5 even with a crappy controller like you can.

So now you're not wearing away your controller in friendlies where the point is to learn anyways. Now you go take one of your other controllers out of the box, and start breaking that one in.

Yeah dude, I know you don't want to and I know it's annoying, but eventually you'll have 3 amazing controllers, all suited to your playstyle and working perfectly.

Buy a backpack, buy a tiny little lock for the backpack that you can loop through the two holes in the zippers. Take the key it came with, go to home depot and make 2 copies. Now you have 3 keys. Leave one at your Jersey place, leave one in the car with whoever drives you around to tournies, and always keep one in your wallet.

Keep 2 of your controllers in your backpack and your third at your jersey home.

Start getting into the habit of making a checklist every time you go to a tourney, and check it when you go and when you leave the tourney.

Now you're back at the top of the game, with 3 controllers that will probably last you until the end of your Smash career.

(Btw, this is exactly what I'm doing. My 1st controller is getting there, and I think will be fully broken in within 2 months.)

So you see dude? I'm not saying no johns to you losing due to using a bad controller. The "No Johns" is how you let that hold you back, and honestly for every reason you give me why you're being held back in Smash, I could probably come up with a solution. Hell, anyone here could, even YOU.

You just probably don't care enough about the game anymore to make these changes, but at that point that's just a motivation issue, not any john.

 

[DoH]

Or maybe M2K when people offer to build you a good controller you don't lose the prototype.

 

[ZaXXoR]

Build a controller? Would that work well?

 

[Deleted member]

there's a few of us left that build controllers. it's mostly the oldheads though.