When should you quit playing smash?

[Gabukin]

I'm not improving and already lost my will to want to get better. I have no idea if I should quit or not.
I've been told when something isn't fun anymore then that's when you should stop. but the game its still kinda fun like 20% of the time.

 

[BluePikmin11]

What's making you lack interest?

 

[meowth_]

how long have you been playing competitively

 

[Gabukin]

What's making you lack interest?

I guess the simplest reason is that I'm constantly losing to high level players.
I've watched my replays and watched high level play of the characters I wanna get good with, but its not doing anything, I still don't understand what I'm doing wrong or what they are doing right.

how long have you been playing competitively

since 2008. I've never actually been to a tournament because of anxiety issues but I've still been playing the game competitively since Brawl then PM and now Smash 3ds.

 

[Freduardo]

I'm not improving and already lost my will to want to get better. I have no idea if I should quit or not.
I've been told when something isn't fun anymore then that's when you should stop. but the game its still kinda fun like 20% of the time.

As someone who's played the franchise since 64 and never quit, I say never. If the game's still fun but you don't want to use willpower to get better by watching videos and learning how other people fight, get better the fun way. Find a buddy who's about your skill (or better but not so much better you can never beat them, or worse but so unpracticed that they'll get to your skill if they keep playing you and then it'll be about even) and play with them. Hang out with them. Find two more and have a regular group. The reason Nintendo is the king of local multiplayer games is because their games are a lot more fun in a local multiplayer setting. I don't know how old you are, but if over 21, get some drinks and play "drinking smash" or "Get smashed while you smash". Every KO or loss, drink. Simple rules.

But if you don't like the game, find a game you do like.... I still recommend finding a game that's good for friendships and playing with buddies.

 

[Gabukin]

As someone who's played the franchise since 64 and never quit, I say never. If the game's still fun but you don't want to use willpower to get better by watching videos and learning how other people fight, get better the fun way. Find a buddy who's about your skill (or better but not so much better you can never beat them, or worse but so unpracticed that they'll get to your skill if they keep playing you and then it'll be about even) and play with them. Hang out with them. Find two more and have a regular group. The reason Nintendo is the king of local multiplayer games is because their games are a lot more fun in a local multiplayer setting. I don't know how old you are, but if over 21, get some drinks and play "drinking smash" or "Get smashed while you smash". Every KO or loss, drink. Simple rules.

But if you don't like the game, find a game you do like.... I still recommend finding a game that's good for friendships and playing with buddies.

Sadly, due to some anxiety issues, finding a buddy to play with is kinda outta the question.

 

[Roukiske]

Are you strictly playing online? Perhaps find yourself some sparring partners around your skill level, if not a little higher.

Smash as a game was fun casually only for a while, but once I got into competitive smash the fun lasted much longer. My closest friends took interest and we were all generally at the same skill level and improved each time we played. Nothing beats playing the game in person with some skilled friends as with any competitive game. Perhaps if you find an online sparring partner you can talk through skype or something.

 

[Conda]

How have you been playing competitively but not with other people irl? Competitive play isn't for everyone, so don't worry if you don't find it enjoyable.
Anxiety sucks - I've got it. But I've pushed myself to focus my free time on helping the competitive Smash community grow, and being a content provider and commentator. The anxiety can suck, but pushing yourself and not taking your flaws to seriously make it easier to brush off hardships and make moving forward more enjoyable. My goal is to work hard helping out the competitive smash community - maybe you need a strict goal for yourself to help you out.


Best of luck,

Cobbs

 

[aethermaster]

Why don't you try playing it in different ways? Like try a pokeball/assist trophy only battle or a smash ball only battle with 4 players. Unlike what some of this community would like you to think, 2 stock FD only no items is not the only way to play this game. I find whenever I get bored or worn down of competitive play I just do other modes, play different characters that I wouldn't normally use.

Otherwise, you might have just grown out of the game. That happens, and it's completely possible. If you aren't having fun playing it at all, don't play it. You shouldn't feel pressured (by yourself or anyone) to keep playing a game you don't like anymore.

 

[BluePikmin11]

The best thing to do is to strategize when you are online. That's all I can give you.
Don't feel frustrated when you play online.

 

[SwoodGrommet]

Well if you quit, you definitely won't get better any time soon. I'm pretty garbage, so I know that being handed loss after loss is a tiresome thing indeed. If you find that the game is having an overall negative effect on your health/mental state, you should stop, or even just take a break for a while and then return. I'm sure there are many people on here that would love to spar with you, and give you some advice to speed up the learning process.

 

[Gabukin]

Are you strictly playing online? Perhaps find yourself some sparring partners around your skill level, if not a little higher.

Smash as a game was fun casually only for a while, but once I got into competitive smash the fun lasted much longer. My closest friends took interest and we were all generally at the same skill level and improved each time we played. Nothing beats playing the game in person with some skilled friends as with any competitive game. Perhaps if you find an online sparring partner you can talk through skype or something.

Sadly yes, since 2008 I've been playing smash strictly online. As I said in my previous posts I have some anxiety issues so its rather difficult for me to actually go to smash events in my area or meet new people to play smash with. I don't consider myself to be a casual, though I guess online play is considered casual to an extent. I play the game very competitively.
But for some reason, playing online has been doing nothing but demoralize me.

 

[Clint Jaguar]

When you're the best around.

 

[Rueckkoppler]

Yep, as good as online gaming gets, the real fun starts with some friends in front of the tv screen. Especially when you get competitive on the same level (which you might eventually do).

edit: I notice it when playing Smash for 3DS - you just don't have that nasty joy when beating up your friends

 

[Reader]

Take a small break form smash and think about your goals. Try to relax with other activities or with other games. After this play few matches just for fun and think whether you really enjoy playing smash or not.

 

[Conda]

Also keep in mind: Every time you lose, you are getting better.

Let's get more extreme, so we see this point more clearly:

Imagine a guy who just plays with M2K. He doesn't play against anybody else. He loses all the time, he's never won a match.

Then imagine a guy who plays with his brother at home. He doesn't play against anybody else. He wins half of the time.

The guy who plays against only M2K and loses is going to undeniably be the better player. If those two players faught, the one who got his butt handed to him by a great player will be better suited to play competitively than the guy who played against his brother.

So bring that to reality - someone who plays online and loses a lot against better players, versus someone who plays local 1v1s with friends who aren't as good as the for glory players. The guy who is losing versus the better-skilled players will be learning much more.

 

[Roukiske]

Take a small break form smash and think about your goals. Try to relax with other activities or with other games. After this play few matches just for fun and think whether you really enjoy playing smash or not.

Excellent point. Take a break, play another game, preferably something that isn't as stressful as well. Every now and then I enjoy some mindless single-player games where you can just mess around in. Come to think of it, in multiple competitive games I've played, I've always taken breaks by playing something else and coming back to it only to have the fun be revitalized again.

 

[Gabukin]

Why don't you try playing it in different ways? Like try a pokeball/assist trophy only battle or a smash ball only battle with 4 players. Unlike what some of this community would like you to think, 2 stock FD only no items is not the only way to play this game. I find whenever I get bored or worn down of competitive play I just do other modes, play different characters that I wouldn't normally use.

Otherwise, you might have just grown out of the game. That happens, and it's completely possible. If you aren't having fun playing it at all, don't play it. You shouldn't feel pressured (by yourself or anyone) to keep playing a game you don't like anymore.

The issue with this is that I don't enjoy items that much. I enjoy playing competitively, no items, tourney viable stages only. playing any other way just isn't very fun or interesting to me.

Well if you quit, you definitely won't get better any time soon. I'm pretty garbage, so I know that being handed loss after loss is a tiresome thing indeed. If you find that the game is having an overall negative effect on your health/mental state, you should stop, or even just take a break for a while and then return. I'm sure there are many people on here that would love to spar with you, and give you some advice to speed up the learning process.

You're right if I quit I wont get any better, but after 6 years I'm still awful at this game then maybe its time for me to give up. This game has had its positive happy moments but usually I get overwhelmed by negative thoughts.

 

[Terotrous]

I guess the simplest reason is that I'm constantly losing to high level players.
I've watched my replays and watched high level play of the characters I wanna get good with, but its not doing anything, I still don't understand what I'm doing wrong or what they are doing right.

Well, a good first step is to do some player matches. That way, after you play, the other person can tell you what you're doing right or wrong. When I was playing Divekick competitively, I learned a lot by having sets against some of the best players, then afterwards we would just discuss the characters and matchups on steam chat for like half an hour. You're probably not going to get that same level of discussion here since Nintendo Network doesn't have that kind of messaging system, but at least you can get a basic post with information like "you use this one move too much when you're trying to get a KO" or something that might help a little.


In general, if you have a solid grasp of the basics, the problem is likely something subtle like that, like not varying your offense enough, not being patient enough in key situations, not making the right reads, etc. Unfortunately, all of this stuff is really tough to learn and just takes a lot of practice. Something that might help is when you watch videos, try to think about why a given person won or lost the match. What was it that they did that lead to that outcome? Then, you can try to identify similar situations in your own matches when you play them, and try to remember what they did. Maybe it might help.

 

[Niala]

Stop playing when you're done. If you want to come back later, go ahead. It's not really so complicated that you need to make a thread about it.

 

[SwoodGrommet]

Stop playing when you're done. If you want to come back later, go ahead. It's not really so complicated that you need to make a thread about it.

This is exactly what leads me to believe that you don't want to leave the community

 

[Freduardo]

The issue with this is that I don't enjoy items that much. I enjoy playing competitively, no items, tourney viable stages only. playing any other way just isn't very fun or interesting to me.




You're right if I quit I wont get any better, but after 6 years I'm still awful at this game then maybe its time for me to give up. This game has had its positive happy moments but usually I get overwhelmed by negative thoughts.

Well, if anxiety is what gets you down, and the items are annoying you, go to the friend code sharing thread here, find a new pal, and have some friendly spars. Talk it over first, get items turned off, figure if you guys want custom, and share your thoughts with each other at the end of the day. Mine is 246623181745 My schedule is horrible and I'm rarely available, less so online. But I would be remiss to not offer a friendly hand to help. But if we do get to play together, we'll make sure we host with items off.

 

[aethermaster]

The issue with this is that I don't enjoy items that much. I enjoy playing competitively, no items, tourney viable stages only. playing any other way just isn't very fun or interesting to me.

Understandable. But if the game is staring to get dull, then just stop for a while. When I stopped playing, I was still watching tournaments and that kind of stuff on Twitch and it didn't take long before I was like "hey I wanna try that!" or "Wow I didn't know you could do that with that character on that stage" and before you know it, I had a huge craving to play it again. You can still be interested even if you aren't actively playing it. But if that doesn't work, just play or focus on other things for a while and then come back and see if you're feeling it.

 

[Ben Holt]

When you're either dead or lose all of your motor skills.

 

[HazyAssaulter]

Did you not learn anything from your last thread you posted less than two weeks ago about this exact same thing?

 

[AlexAnthonyD]

The real issue here is clearly whatever this anxiety issue is that you have. I'm not really understanding what you mean by this, what is preventing you, mentally from socializing with other people? Are you afraid people wont like you, or what is the cause of this anxiety issue? I have no idea what anxiety feels like in this regard, but all I can tell you is it's very difficult to get better at a human social multiplayer game without socializing with humans while you play multiplayer with them.

 

[Ben Holt]

I also suffer from anxiety. But I play better under adrenaline.

 

[Deleted member 245254]

Post replays on your character's discussion board, and the right people will tell you what you're doing wrong.

You really don't earn my sympathies unless you've actually tried every available outlet to improve, and a "How do I not suck" thread is a less than half-assed attempt at doing that while simultaneously trying to justify your feelings from losing so much in For Glory.

You see, people quit playing Smash likely very frequently due to a lack of confidence in their ability to improve, or being defeated consistently hurting them personally. Online play only speeds this process up, because instead of only infrequent tournament days you get to play with real folks, you can play against other people at any moment.

Seeing as how you say you have been playing since 2008 "competitively" and haven't yet bothered to go to an actual tournament (the only way to actually improve past being average), it's clear that you've yet to actually put any effort in to improving despite what you say. Getting your butt-kicked in For Glory is necessary at this point, because it is due justice to you for believing that you can land anywhere on top practicing for years purely on CPU opponents. A swift reminder that Smash is actually a multiplayer game and in practice, requires another body to have a "real" match.

If you don't want to do any of this, then you don't deserve to improve. You have not done everything you can and you simply want a free pass to wins because you have spare time to play Smash by yourself, and in this case, I say quit trying to call yourself competitive and find fun in Smash's admittedly amazing casual aspects. If you can't do that? Quit period.

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

There's a lot of good advice in this thread but I can tell it could lead to people taking potshots at the OP. I suggest taking some of this advice to heart and to try and enjoy the game; even if you aren't that good.