When I lose

[AllQuiet]

I lose a lot. I haven't taken a single set off of anyone in netplay (melee), and I've never taken even a single game off anyone in real life. I almost always get 3/4 stocked. But I get so into it because most of the time I feel helpless and like I can't do anything to get the other person. Like... I can't land a single hit or get a single combo or edgeguard, and they're so aggressive.

I either get really frustrated and just walk away, smash my controller, or curse the other person out, or I just slink off to another room in the venue and cry. Like... 'Why do I even play this game?' sort of crying. Because I feel like after all the work I put in, there should be some result. Some sign of improvement. But I just don't get any indication of that so I just get really upset.

Is there any way to get over getting bopped over and over again for months and months with no change? Like... I want to be able to play and have a good time but if I'm getting destroyed... I just can't. How do you all deal with losing?

 

[mario123007]

I just feel angry... and then close the match... I only do this when I play with my brothers of course...

 

[Vestboy_Myst]

The issue isn't dealing with losing, you will learn to cope with that over time. Everybody loses, and the better the player the more losses they've experienced. Losing is the only way to improve, so it sounds harsh but better get used to it.

Since its not enjoyable to lose but we all have to go through it, the best path is to take more out of losing than losing takes out of you. Here's one way mango mentioned: after every death, notice what killed you. (Uthrow>Uair from fox?) Then take that one step further and see HOW they set up that thing that killed you (dashdance to bait out your attach then punish with grab?). Focus on eliminating these openings one at a time (read KKs guide to SDIing uair, try another approach) . This is just one way of extracting useful experience/information out of your losses. You can also use them to observe opponent's habits and patterns.

Don't worry about winning, worry about closing the game from 3-4 stocks to 1-2 stocks. Adopt a stoic stance and treat each lost stock as another exp point in the long grind to level up. Don't get emotionally attached to one stock or another, you'll be burning through thousands of them. Try not to repeat the same familiar groove over and over again. Its easy because its your autopilot. Get outside of the comfort zone, treat each stock as a tiny laboratory experiment. Keep track of which tests fail miserably and which show promise.

Netplay friendlies are the junk food of competitive fighting games, they can only help so much without active training on the side. In the majority of cases even low level tourny players will easily beat most people on netplay, where (currently) the average skill level is still drastically lower than what you'd run in to at a weak region's local.

This post and the responses on SRK seem to address your issue well. Competing in fighting games is a very long, hard, steep road. The timescale for improvement is in years, not months. Because of the high investment requirements, if you aren't enjoying yourself (as PPMD says, a mix of playing for FUN and to LEARN), just stop playing competitively. Its not a matter of wanting to be good at smash/sf/mvc/mk. Its a matter of wanting to put in the time/money/effort (and even enjoying doing so).