When did you stop sucking?

Norik

Norik

[14] Master
We were all scrubs once, but we eventually got deeper into the game. In my case, I was a button mashing scrub for a very long time, maily because I only got to play in the arcades or at the house of a friend. That changed when I got SCIV. Then I was no longer a button mashing scrub, I became a Kilik scrub LOL. But then I slowly started to like the game more and more, until I became a fan of the series. I downloaded all emulators I could, and played all the games in the series near to 100% completion (except for SCIII, because my computer ran PS2 VERY slowly). I got much better along the way. Then I finally managed to play online and I realized how much better I could get; So I spent some time playing all the games again and trying to find my main. And so, I've slowly gotten better, and I guess I'm still in the middle of the learning process.

How about you? When did you stop sucking?
 
Uh I'm on the slow path of becoming better. Really it first started when I went on youtube looking up combo videos, eventually I came across one video where the poster linked me here. Learned to play the game with basics, then I started to get better execution wise. A few members here picked me up and taught me stuff that was layered on the skelaton of what I knew, then I learned in depth knowledge. Now I have people complimenting me a lot and I play offline with a really good group of players. Personally I think I'm still pretty poor but I'm getting there.
 
You stop sucking by realizing you aren't losing; but being beaten, at least.. that's when I stopped sucking.

To explain:

Seth Killian said:
There are two ways to walk away from a match as the loser. You can just lose, or you can be beaten. You can give it away, or have it taken from you. Everyone understands this distinction on some level already, but lets make it explicit:

Say you weren't keeping track of the timer. Or you blew your big chance at a combo/counter. You guessed the wrong way to block. And so on. This is you, losing. This is giving it away. Losing like this is something you effectively do all by yourself- the opponent can just hang around, taking advantage of all the mistakes you're handing him. The other way to lose is to be beaten. This is the only way a serious player will allow themselves to lose. To lose like this means to be in the game, do your best, and have the win pried from your cold, dead hands. You get beaten by superior tactics, being outguessed, or to something youve never seen before, etc. Not because of something you screwed up. Never "just losing" is one of the first steps toward being a better player.
Click to expand...

-Idle
 
For me it took about a year of competitive SC2 play before I started not hanging myself out to dry all the time. Then another year to realize I didn't have to play roachy to accomplish that and I really started getting results.

Unfortunately for me the road goes both ways and after jaxel's brother in law (I guess he would be an ex by now) stole my console and I fell off. Why? Because I lost my ability to test all the situational bullshit that I used to rely on to trap people. Sad but true I can't learn on the fly and keep up with competition. :(
 
I progressed in various steps, but my first fighter was SC2 where I thought I was good because I could do every move (remember that phase? lol), then SC4 rolled around and I got schooled by friends. I stubbornly practiced and started annihilating people online after struggling and having someone point me to this site. SC4 was my first true fighter that I sat down with. But it wasn't till I took my over confidant ass to EVO 09 and got humbled and someone took the time to explain the game is more than frames and combos; I was missing core basics like reading the opponent, using tools to maintain advantage and not just fish for huge combos, stepping, yomi, etc... I spent about a week at home letting it all set in and started to see how far from the top I was and I while I didn't get the skills right away I developed the mentality and understanding of what to look for and how to learn to get better which is often the hardest part. Many people start with grave misunderstandings on what fighting games are all about and until you can grasp advanced concepts (whether or not you can apply them) it's hard to gauge if you suck or not.

As of now I'm still progressing and my steps from my debut to now have been vast. I went into this EVO for MvC3 expecting to get destroyed and while I didn't get far, my losses were respectable (and could've easily been mine if not for some minor slips) and I was very surprised to realize that my Taskmaster was far better than I gave myself credit for and had I not put so much focus on Wolv/Akuma in 1 month of training and built a team around him...I wonder how well I would've done. I'm hoping by SC5 I'll be a legit threat in the pools of majors. I only have 2 years since I was a true scrub, so we'll see.

So it's hard to say at what point of grasping concepts and applying them that I feel I crossed the threshold, but the catalyst was the humbling and sit down I had at EVO 09' that allowed me to get there. It can also be taken relative to what I compare it to, and there's simply tiers of play I haven't reached yet...
 
I never sucked to begin with! I was born a winner. An alpha male. The coolest kid on the block. The fun guy to hang out with. Charming. Handsome. Multi-talented. Smart. Or so my mom tells me.

But seriously you stop sucking when you find ways to not give up and constantly create paths to victory and rewards. You'll feel it in your self-esteem.
 
I think if you're absolutely confident that someone is only winning because of a crutch, then they'd be up to the challenge of using a mid tier character to play you in a money match. That should prove if they really suck. Actually...experience tells me they wouldn't necessarily accept. But I think you should still try!
 
Lots of people think people are winning by crutches when, usually, it's just that's all it takes to beat them.

On topic...I really don't know. I guess when I was little? I've always had a drive to get better and understand anything I dedicate time to...so I really can't say. On the flip side, I view myself as always improving and not having mastered anything. I guess I stopped sucking when people told me I was good?
 
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