Why is it that the more I play, the worse I get?

[FlashGearz]

If I take a break for about 2 weeks, I win almost every single game I play, but if I play the next day again, I lose every single game? I play today(Played the previous 2-3 days) And lost every single game. THe person I was playing wasn't too amazing. He was better then average, but imo, the match up was about 60/40 in his favor maybe. So why did I lose every **** game. When I first restarted playing, I won every game against someone who was about as good.

So what is your theory.

 

[jyuuberu]

It doesn't seem like you're playing different people so probably just psychology. If you go into it assuming you'll win every match after you lose you get confused and don't play as well.

 

[Turbo Ether]

Burn out. If I play too much, I get bored and do worse. The higher my interest, the better I do.

 

[ndayday]

Maybe you get exhausted really fast. I've heard that you can get noticably worse if yo play for a long time, and if you take a break from it for a few days then you'll be fine, but never really heard that if you play one day, and then you suck the next, AFTER a long break.

Maybe replay your matches and see how they differ from when you suck and when you're good, then you can determine if you aren't doing things right, or the opponent is really good, or if you see that you don't air dodge, roll, spot dodge, shield, or anything along those lines then you are probably either

1: Honestly...bad.

2: or having a bad day

If it happens a lot though, I'm guessing you're not amazing, and you just have to learn how to read your opponent and learn a lot, generally.

 

[SMBEffect]

Well, you may be overthinking everything when you play. People tend to overthink things and screw up the way they want to play. It's more of a life thing, actually. If you concentrate too much on a math problem, for example, you may overthink it and completely confuse yourself. Instead of freaking out, just relax and play to the best of your ability. Keep practicing and save your matches to see how you can improve. Go into a match with a clear mind. Overconfidence can kill your hopes when you start playing badly and very little confidence can keep you from playing well. That's all I can really say from my past experiences with it.

 

[Inuashakent]

It's probably the above, or your bad mindset.

 

[EazyP]

It's called being inconsistent, and it's either you're inconsistent or they're inconsistent

I'm not sure what you're focusing on in terms of getting better so I'll just address it all

Do you really believe that the match up being 60 to 40 in his favor was the reason he won? Learn to identify your mistakes.

How's your mindset? Do you go into a match bothered by past mistakes? You're asking yourself to lose if you're doing that, focus on the now, don't let mistakes bother you and keep it cool

How's your mix up game? Do you do the same thing fairly often, such as always recover off the ledge with a jump, go for the same attacks over and over? That's predictable, people catch on. Mix it up.

How good is your tech skill? Can you do all the moves you need such as short hopping and all that easily and comfortably even under pressure? If not work on it

If you can do it, what are you thinking while you're playing? Nothing? No good, learn to think while you're playing. Set up traps, plans, ideas of where you want the match to go, identify your opponents weaknesses, mindgames

There's so much to say and so much no one can answer from your post the way it is, but hopefully you get the vague idea

 

[salaboB]

Burn out. If I play too much, I get bored and do worse. The higher my interest, the better I do.

This is what does it for me. If I take a break, everything is fresh again and I take the effort to pay attention to details. Then I get bored and start to just try to get things over with, and end up losing.

 

[Alus]

Have you explored the possibility that it could be a bad character match up?

 

[FlashGearz]

Have you explored the possibility that it could be a bad character match up?

I do check character match ups from time to time, yet I don't really blame them.

 

[NintenJoe]

perhaps you're falling into bad habits that develop when you play for an extended period of time?

 

[DRaGZ]

You're getting "tunnel vision", i.e. you're doing the same thing over and over and becoming predictable and you don't even know you're doing it.

Think consciously about your actions.

 

[Helkulkhamen]

Keep in mind that maybe instead of you getting worse, your opponents are simply getting better. Think of it like this:

If you haven't played Smash with your friends for a couple of weeks, then the last practice they had against you was a couple of weeks ago. While you are taking a break from Smash, maybe they are playing other players, and perhaps they are picking up playstyles that, while suited to the people they are playing against, are not very effective against you. Consequently, when you finally go over to their house for the first time in a while and fight them, they are not used to you and so you win more frequently against them. Then, after the first day or so of matches against you, they once again regain their habits of fighting you effectively, so your win percentage drops. I'm not saying that this is definitely the case, but it is a possibility.

 

[Blad01]

Well, that happens to everyone : You're not consistent in your playstyle. In contrary to what you may think, you have to play even more, think to every single move you do, why it works, why it doesn't...
For a while, you'll be worse than at the beginning maybe, but after that, you'll get better.

 

[Nitrix]

It is either all in your head, or you aren't playing to learn.

 

[ChefK]

This happens a lot to me as well. Mostly because I play Jigglypuff and my brother is Marth so he finds counters pretty easily, but at times I'm on fire and others I'm not. There could be many reasons, and there could also be none. I would like to understand it fully as well.

 

[FlashGearz]

It might be because of lag too if I think about it. With lag my technical skill is completely lost, and I can't get out of combos as easily

 

[ZeroFox]

Could be that you're just getting tired.

Could also be mental factors as well. Your mindset affects your gameplay greatly.

 

[smallwolf24]

You probably get bored =\

 

[ZeroFox]

You probably get bored =\

Meh, boredom could be a reason. Either way, I suggest to the OP to just take a break from it.

 

[Crizthakidd]

you maybe hit a brick wall in your career of smash. what i had to do this time was take a break, i baught the new guitar hero and just yesturday i came back and did well against my friends. make sure to review everything and practice and make sure u can move on and get BETTER

 

[8AngeL8]

You just need to throw out all of your preconceived notions about the matchup and game. "Practice" for brawl is hardly necessary beyond the practice to learn how to pull off your moves and techs. Once you can make your character do his thing, it's purely a matter of THINKING better than your opponent. Read his actions, punish his mistakes, don't make mistakes or become predictable.

 

[Dudegms]

If I take a break for about 2 weeks, I win almost every single game I play, but if I play the next day again, I lose every single game? I play today(Played the previous 2-3 days) And lost every single game. THe person I was playing wasn't too amazing. He was better then average, but imo, the match up was about 60/40 in his favor maybe. So why did I lose every **** game. When I first restarted playing, I won every game against someone who was about as good.

So what is your theory.

..........................ur bad

 

[Tokerella]

having the same problem this past week man. normally i 3 stock my roommate and try to give him pointers.. but i lost a match monday, playing sloppily, and then i had a negative mindset from there on out and did progressively worse the whole week. im gonna try the break idea, maybe check out web of shadows.. hope things improve

 

[Throwback]

having the same problem this past week man. normally i 3 stock my roommate and try to give him pointers.. but i lost a match monday, playing sloppily, and then i had a negative mindset from there on out and did progressively worse the whole week. im gonna try the break idea, maybe check out web of shadows.. hope things improve

This sounds like a case of your roommate improving.

to the OP, I think it is 'tunnel vision' also. You have to keep playing and learn to add variety to your game.

 

[Paul Hoffman]

You're getting "tunnel vision", i.e. you're doing the same thing over and over and becoming predictable and you don't even know you're doing it.

Think consciously about your actions.

Could be that you're just getting tired.

Could also be mental factors as well. Your mindset affects your gameplay greatly.

Quoted for truth.

 

[The Halloween Captain]

Weird thing for me. I have to be absolutely "in" the game or I don't do so well. I can't talk or be talked to, I need to be fresh, and I need to be fully awake and hyped. Heck, even turning the lights off screws me up. I swear, there is nothing harder for me than to play consistently. And it drives me nuts trying to fix that.

 

[Nintendevil]

Happens to me a lot. I know I'll get better soon. Don't worry, everyones metagame keeps progressing.

 

[PK-ow!]

If I take a break for about 2 weeks, I win almost every single game I play, but if I play the next day again, I lose every single game? I play today(Played the previous 2-3 days) And lost every single game. THe person I was playing wasn't too amazing. He was better then average, but imo, the match up was about 60/40 in his favor maybe. So why did I lose every **** game. When I first restarted playing, I won every game against someone who was about as good.

So what is your theory.

My theory is rather complex. I made it to explain my own experience of this phenomenon.

You simply need time away from the game to absorb the info properly. Time away from the game allows your knowledge of it to 'settle in' to the myriad of representations in your brain, whereas constant play is making your knowledge space 'turbulent'. All the data is going in, but for some mathematically complex reason, you're actually losing some data to some kind of 'inefficiency' when you go to activate that knowledge and use it, if learning at task has occurred one REM cycle ago.

It would vary from person to person whether this occurs. It's just a matter of how your mind generally works. The phenomenon should be constant throughout your life if it is as I posit.

Of course, it would be science and not just conjecture if one could predict when this happens. I want to stress again I have only the faintest scientific reason for believing any of this is happening. It's really just something to ponder at this point.

 

[mostwins]

to tell you the truth i think its boredom when that happens to me i play a week of melee, i come back to brawl refreshed and usually preform better

 

[Terodactyl Yelnats]

You were probably just expecting to win after you beat that guy, then when you got laid back and he started beating you, you might have got frustrated and rushed in over your head then.