Introducing High Level Play to Low Level Scrubs

I have a few friends that have legitimate and very good fighting game fundamentals despite never playing or thinking about the game at a high level. Seriously, these guys pretty much only know specials and the things I see them do... the things they do against me, someone who's been playing, practicing, studying, and competing in these things for a year and a half, are amazing. I have full faith that some of them would be top players if only they buckled down and decided to pick up these games at a high, competitive level.

Aye, there's the rub! These guys are extremely intimidated by what is in reality the least of their problems: simple things like execution!! If they all just got passed that and practiced and competed for a few months, I know they would all be successful players. So, what can I do to try to get them into higher level play? I've tried pretty hard to (unsuccessfully) get them interested and enticed, but I'm running out of ideas. I don't want to get all preachy on them either, that's annoying.

So what are some ideas you guys have that could spark their interests? What inspired you to decide to sit through frustrating hours in practice mode just to learn your first high level game? I need ideas plz and thanks!

- Wannabe

Well I think they just have to be really passionate about the game to give any sort of fuck about it.

Brilliant thread title though.

bring them to a local, either they will be into it, or they won't. Simple as that.

I got into high-level play from watching tournament footage on Youtube. Seeing Reo, Tom, and Chris dominate early in the game's life was what brought me into the community.

Show them tournament footage of hype matches, especially ones where the commentators go crazy during intense moments, because that really adds to the experience.

edit: ALSO, show them the Injustice Moments video on Youtube. Its the first one that comes up when you type those words in. THATS a video that will inspire passion.

I agree with @BlastX21 -- watching match videos is what got me hooked. And after that, finding a place like TestYourMight where everything was broken down and explained.

But then again, not everyone will put in the time. I'd always liked fighting games to begin with, so that was helpful in my case.

Pick up their character and show them how much better it can be at a high level with all the knowledge. But do it in a respectful way. I do that for people alot.

Back in MK9 days I had no decent competition in locals either.. So I just introduced them all to kenshi, and then a couple of hours later I had some competition! But in all seriousness, your either into FGs or your not, some like us like to study every detail of a character, frames etc etc but others just like to have a beer n screw around.

Show them the year of injustice video by aerogrunt. If they don't want to compete after watching that then they never will

Honestly let them do what they are gonna do. I have been in this same situation with a few of my friends and it ended up being a waste of my time. I was even told they wanted it but would not put the time in to improve, i even sat in practice going over things for hours and then they just get discurouged because they got whoop by someone at a high level because they didn't want to or felt practice was "boring". @Durvalis_Maximus knows what I'm talking about.

The other thing I realize too for me atleast is that I have a passion for competition and I want to compete at a high level. This is a driving force for me to keep going. Also the community over all is awesome and that helps me stay involved.

Oh and biggest reason I keep moving forward: B L T

Calling them scrubs is definitely a good start.

Keep it simple. Get them to learn super basic combos. Casuals normally stick with single strings, unaware how easy it is to add a little damage to everything, and how cool it looks doing so.

Here are the combos I taught my friend when learning how to play. Just shows you can play at a casual level and still do more than just mash out strings.

Batman:
B113, B23
123, B23

Aquaman:
22 low scoop, 223
22 MB from the deep, 223

Superman:
F23, F23, F23
22 low scoop, F23
223, F23

When my friend first did B113, B23 with Batman - instantly hooked.

It shows what makes Injustice better than Street Fighter. Controls are there to let you communicate what you desire to do and make your character do it. There's no execution barrier between you and your character. It proved decades of SF wisdom wrong- you don't need to make the best moves the most difficult to do to achieve balance.

NRF Everlast said:

Honestly let them do what they are gonna do. I have been in this same situation with a few of my friends and it ended up being a waste of my time. I was even told they wanted it but would not put the time in to improve, i even sat in practice going over things for hours and then they just get discurouged because they got whoop by someone at a high level because they didn't want to or felt practice was "boring". @Durvalis_Maximus knows what I'm talking about.

The other thing I realize too for me atleast is that I have a passion for competition and I want to compete at a high level. This is a driving force for me to keep going. Also the community over all is awesome and that helps me stay involved.

Oh and biggest reason I keep moving forward: B L T

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Bacon is always a good motivator

I came in here accepting high level advice to low level scrubs like me

What motivates these people to play? Do they have the time? I would say not to make Injustice seems like a huge time commitment but it does take time. Motivation really REALLY varies with people. I cannot make it to locals yet because of school and distance, but I still aim to go for the awesome and fun atmosphere it can be sometimes maybe that appeals to them. So try bringing them to a local.

Injustice brings together some of the greatest heroes/villains of all time, maybe showing high level or just really cool stuff certain character do would appeal to them. Specifically characters they like. I solely play this game because I am a Captain Marvel and love playing as him. Take out Shazam/Captain Marvel would I still watch? Hell yeah but maybe not play as much.

Maybe try creating a friendly competition between your group. Not hold tournaments of course but when you guys hang have them face each other while motivating them through competition to get better.

Ease them into some of the bullshit Injustice has, if they start off picking Joker, Cyborg, or constantly get bodied etc. They're gonna have a bad time. I'm not starting a tier discussion here but unless they like the characters they play or are high level/motivated to play those characters, certain matchups will frustrate them and push them further out.

I just liked Shazam and started playing the character. I practice a few bread and butter combos and played online for the most part. I like friendship and discussion, so I started posting on TYM after getting into Injustice to talk about Shazam on the forums. I also used the forums to learn more about my characters and find better players to see what they do and learn from them.

What have you already tried to do? What has failed to entice them into getting into Higher Level play?

play people that are better than you for 1000s of games and don't bitch. learn.

One thing I learned is you just can't always get your friends into the scene. It takes there ambition to do so. I have a good buddy that if would just put in the damn time he could be really good, but he just won't do it at home. He only plays when he is at my place chilling. He always say he wants to compete, but won't put in the time. I tried to teach him and I've definitely showed many online matches as well as what the characters can do at a high level. My buddy Witness always amazes him when he watches his Flash, but again if he won't put in the effort and time then its a waste of your time.

P2W said:

play people that are better than you for 1000s of games and don't bitch. learn.

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I agree with you to an extent. If your playing people that will always just outright destroy you, your never really gonna learn anything. You have to walk before you can run. Its better to get adjusted to how your character works and feels by facing the AI at least at the medium level and then progressing form there. Its how I managed to better understand how the game functions and then I moved on to playing online and offline as well. Its just playing someone who is absolutely better than you and will destroy you every time will get too discouraging and begin to make a player feel like they are wasting their time.

P2W said:

play people that are better than you for 1000s of games and don't bitch. learn.

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Totally agree. But I think the point is... how do you get someone motivated enough to sit through 1000 games? I love that shit, but it's hard to explain to my friends that that's what they need to do to get better. And instead of being like... "get better or gtfo" I'd rather have some fun way to get them MORE into the game. I have friends that understand the game, they just know nothing about the characters because they don't put in the time. @plagueburial

I'll sit in my room for 6 hours at a time in just training mode. That's fun to me because I'm learning the entire time. There's ALWAYS things to be learning.

First off, I want to thank everyone for suggesting ideas to me. I'm going to use this as a bit of an addendum.

So the first thing that they found, on their own, was Evo footage of MK9, the same thing that sparked that ambition in me to pick up the game. At least two of my friends were inspired too, but they didn't know where to start, and when I tried teaching them, I made a mistake which I found a good solution to in this thread.

LtLuthor said:

Keep it simple. Get them to learn super basic combos. Casuals normally stick with single strings, unaware how easy it is to add a little damage to everything, and how cool it looks doing so.

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I should have just taught them little bits of strings that are easy and have them play matches with each other! Thanks so much for the idea, LtLuthor.

Most of you guys also gave good advice and good insight, but I know it wouldn't work on my friends. :c

I'd like to add that the reason why I don't want to give up on them just yet is because it's their trepidation towards learning the game that's stopping them. If they told me something like, "Wannabe, I like fighting games and all, but not enough to make it a passion or hobby. My heart is telling me to focus my attention elsewhere." I would be completely fine with that, but that's not the case. Also because it would be a waste of talent. I know at least one of these guys could be a top player if he put in the time.

I think the reason most fighting game players like fighting games is because in some way, I think they like the idea of real life melee combat or martial arts. As opposed to ranged combat, which is based mostly around projectiles, i.e. guns. (...of course, you can like both) When you really dissect the nature of melee fighting, it is about the way the moves look and feel to you, the techniques that are applied to movement in the form of combos and knowing when to attack and defend. And from there you get into the competitive aspect of testing your skills against another human. While the aforementioned applies to real world fighting, the same could be said about it's digital counterpart. And while the differences can be numerous for games (frame data research, dexterity, memorizing static animations for combos and command normals, fantasy based zoning tools), in retrospect, both areas share many of the same ideologies. Things like mind games and mix ups, adapting and learning to read your opponent, practice/knowledge of movement, spacing, etc.)

Then of course there is the subject of presentation and game design choices and what players would like to see from a game. I also really feel if your friends just got introduced to a new game title, they might go with something that looks cool to them visually. Whether it be the fidelity of the graphics, character design in terms of costume or creature choices. Or mood and atmosphere of game, which is very obvious in both arena and character design. And game design choices are of course how the mechanics work and the reception players have to it. 3D or 2D space, how slow movement is, how damage is balanced, hit effects and their animations, etc. Honestly, I feel like one thing affects another. Just some thoughts.