Why do players taunt you when you SDx2 to end the match early due to lag?

[★Malik★™]

Now, with the argument on how one should interpret a taunt, I'm puzzled as to why players do this. I don't want to sit here and try to play through it hoping it'll get better, because it never gets better.

 

[Dark Phazon]

Its something that i really hate when ppl do to....its really annoying...lol..
Makes you wish it wasent so laggy so you could wreck them.

 

[Elec]

They probably want to add salt because they think your salty already. Those kids are children of lag.

 

[YamiZee]

I do this. I guess I probably shouldnt lol, but I dont do it to annoy my opponent. I do it just because "why not". It feels boring to just stand there in the middle of the stage as your opponent jumps into oblivion. Taunting is more fun, but sometimes I use a special move to sd as well so idk

 

[theViRUS]

There's quite a few possibilities on why someone would taunt under the given circumstance.

I just fail to see the issue with it and feel like if a taunt pisses you off or gets you upset, you have anger management issues, lol.

 

[Dr.Megaman]

I was just about to make a thread addressing this issue. This happens to me everytime I have a laggy match in FG. They taunt and or tea bag.

 

[Tino]

That's something I rarely see...but then again, I don't SD from a laggy match. I just play through it anyways and then leave afterwards. I don't taunt myself when my opponent SDs from it. I have no reason to.

 

[KirbCider]

As annoying as it can be I just play through the lag, so I can't say I've experienced that. Then again I will occasionally SD as Zelda by accidentally using Dins Fire when trying to recover and they'll taunt for it. I guess it's what almost everyone does online.

My only guess as to why they may taunt when you do it purposely to leave a match is because they think you gave up. They probably aren't thinking it's due to the lag, but due to the fact they may of made you frustrated or salty and you HAD to quit. Its not uncommon for someone to SD due to getting a little salty on For Glory after all. Course, most taunt SD's either way so...

 

[Enemy Birds]

Based on my own experience with the urge to taunt, I wouldn't be surprised if at least some of these players don't mean any harm at all. Taunting isn't just a way to try and frustrate people (though the people who use them for that purpose can kindly SD off); it's also a noticeable but harmless action that some regard it as a multi-purpose communication tool. Taunting when another person SDs could be an empathetic "oops," or a way of saying "yeah, this lag is pretty bad." A way of acknowledging a silly situation without attacking.

Maybe I'm not explaining this well, but I promise you that not everyone who taunts in this situation is a sugar-crazed scrublord.

 

[Ravine]

The definition of the word taunt, by google, is " a remark made in order to anger, wound, or provoke someone." Using taunts to communicate such a nuanced concept is very...unlikely and strange IMO

 

[Enemy Birds]

The definition of the word taunt, by google, is " a remark made in order to anger, wound, or provoke someone." Using taunts to communicate such a nuanced concept is very...unlikely and strange IMO

It's not even called a taunt in the original Japanese version: there it's seen as appealing to an imaginary crowd, to my understanding. Besides, there's a difference between
"You're too slow!"

And a respectful ninja bow thing.

The only things that makes some taunts infuriating are A ) because they're used in a context that makes people angry in itself (where, say, harmlessly spamming the same move or something would have the same effect), or B ) because people call them "taunts" and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

There's nothing disrespectful about telling your opponents what time it is.

 

[Ravine]

I was going to comment about that smash appeal concept, but it doesn't make sense when we're not in the Japanese context. It's just called appeal if it's taunting and smash appeal if they intend on activating some stage dialogue with taunting, e.g. Pit in Palutena's stage (see smash appeal on the official Smash bros blog/whatever it is called: http://www.smashbros.com/wii/jp/howto/technique/technique11.html )

If the game producers called it taunting, then they intended it to be that way. It's not a self fulfilling prophecy when it already is the concept it was designed to be.

I have never encountered a Japanese player that taunted. I'm not very sure about their customs there, but I'll assume it's rude and meant to be annoying. But anyways, in this Japanese page/wiki I found, it says it's something to be done after you have KO'd your opponent, so both countries probably share the same feelings on taunting: http://sbx.wikiwiki.jp/?%A5%A2%A5%D4%A1%BC%A5%EB


___
OK I searched some Japanese message boards, and I can confirm that taunting/appeal is annoying in Japan as it is in America.

___
In this (Japanese) page it says it's used to provoke or boast and lists the difference between appeal and smash appeal.
http://ssbwiki.e3.valueserver.jp/wiki/index.php/アピール

 

[Ze Diglett]

I'll taunt when my opponent SD's due to unplayable lag simply because it's usually their internet. It's my little way of saying "if you know you have terrible connection, don't ruin it for others"
Of course, if it is just my internet acting up, I'll probably take it upon myself to SD.

 

[Enemy Birds]

Ah, nice to see some research. I wouldn't consider the Google Translate version of these posts as complete evidence of the developers' exact intentions (that being because I can't really tell if half of it is evidence of any idea at all), but your second link states right at the beginning that taunts can be used to, say, greet someone else. It says you can use it after defeating your opponent, but that's added on like an afterthought, and it also seems to say that it's mainly for computers.

True, the third page does say it can be used to taunt your opponents. Judging from it being a wiki, it is just a fan thing, but that does show a common reaction/use for it in Japan. Fair enough.

Still, all of this doesn't defeat my main point. What the developers called the action doesn't change its intended meaning. Taunts are so varied in-game that calling them all the same thing really isn't fair (see my examples above). Again, I'm having serious trouble construing Robin's "Time to tip the scales!" as anything other than implying that you're having a pretty even match in it own right.

Let's take a look at Team Fortress 2. In that game, each weapon for each character has its own "taunt" animation. However, what the animation each animation does is quite different, and it's pretty common to use a taunt to joke around among teammates. Some of these taunts definitely have some mean spirit behind their animations and voice clips, but they express other ideas, too. The best example of this are the multi-person taunts. With these, you and another player (friend or foe!) can high-five, do a friendly, two-person dance, or even form a massive, server-wide conga-line (if the other players feel like joining in, of course)! No one would argue that all of these are generally meant to insult another player, even though the developers put them all under the label of "taunt."

It's the same principle here. Just because you could be a **** by headbanging as Ness doesn't mean that's the only thing you can express with that action. "Uh huh" is hardly offensive, and Shulk's "I'm really feeling it!" make's it sound like he's having a good time. Other than for certain taunts (I'm looking at MRobin's "You're not ready") it's really the context of the taunt that's offensive. I admit, sometimes it can be hard to tell what the taunter means (this being one such situation), but surely you've been in some situations where the taunt clearly wasn't meant to be offensive. For example, sometimes if I die a stupid death that's my own fault, I'll "taunt" when I respawn before getting back to the battle. This is just a way of saying "whoopsies," and if you see this kind of taunt as anything else, you're probably reading too far into it.

If you don't believe, or think I'm some sort of one-off freak show, try reading the "Why do you taunt?" thread in the 3DS subforum. I think you'll find that a lot of people use the taunts with the same ideas. That, or no-one actually talked about it in that thread (it's been a while since I lurked in it). But as per the internet's most compelling line of reasoning, I swear I saw a lot of people I saw a lot of people thinking like I do before.

 

[TheGlamourGroup]

Though it annoys me, I always do it for some reason.

 

[Ravine]

No I believe you. I just don't like taunting.

The difference of viewpoint between me and you, is that, no matter what the taunt is, it's the action of taunting itself (and I get fired up over it).

I think something along the lines like: "They'd give up stage control or the momentum just to boast about something?" "Wow they must think I'm bad"

Sometimes I taunt at the beginning of the match after I discovered from that it was a common etiquette on for glory and to show sportsmanship, but most of the time I just get dashed attacked by a faster chars. Others, like myself, don't like it either and/or don't see the communicative value of taunting. I'm starting to re-recognize it as something done to irritate the other person or boast about a kill.

 

[★Malik★™]

I'll taunt when my opponent SD's due to unplayable lag simply because it's usually their internet.

Plot twist: I'm the guy with a god like internet who SDs.

 

[Enemy Birds]

No I believe you. I just don't like taunting.

The difference of viewpoint between me and you, is that, no matter what the taunt is, it's the action of taunting itself (and I get fired up over it).

I think something along the lines like: "They'd give up stage control or the momentum just to boast about something?" "Wow they must think I'm bad"

Sometimes I taunt at the beginning of the match after I discovered from that it was a common etiquette on for glory and to show sportsmanship, but most of the time I just get dashed attacked by a faster chars. Others, like myself, don't like it either and/or don't see the communicative value of taunting. I'm starting to re-recognize it as something done to irritate the other person or boast about a kill.

Sorry I'm late. This would be an OK time for that "You're to slooow!"

Well, all I can really say is, try to imagine what the other person might be trying to say other than "lol u suk," especially in situations like this. If your opponent tries to double taunt under your spawn platform after you SD by inputting your Side B instead of your recovery (this seriously happened to me), give 'em the ol' DAir, but if you think your opponent is being aggressive with it all the time, there's a good chance you're reading it wrong.

After all, what other action can you think of that might have any communicative value at all? Crouching, I guess, as long as it's not T-bagging, but you're still pretty limited in ways that you can say "LOL" or "whoops" in a timely fashion.