When fighting beginners do you hold back or no?

When I play against noobs I pick characters with flashy combo and basically put on a show for them in the hopes that they will get inspired to stop button mashing.

If it's a friend, I'll try and teach them, but only if they're willing to learn. Anyone else and I either body them or troll them.

if holding back means sitting on the other side of the screen and throwing fireballs, yes i do. you will quickly see who has the will to adapt and who doesnt. i never challenge them myself though, its their decision to go against someone with thousands of wins when they have zero.

Depends. If they ragequit, send hatemail, troll on the mic, or do anything dickish I will beat the ever loving piss out of them and occasionally send mail to inform them how badly they have failed their city.

If they have a good attitude and I get the impression they're just inexperienced I'll usually play a match or two with my main to get a sense on what level they are. If I get a sense they just don't understand the matchup but they get the basics I'll go at it full force, except I'll sometimes abuse the same setup or frametrap multiple times in a row until they start blocking it to get it ground in their head. For a lot of players this is basically learning to block F2D13.

If they're absolutely cluelesss I'll usually pull out my shite superman and try to start getting them to understand the importance of spacing and the neutral game. Usually its as simple as wait for jump in, walk back, wiff punish. Do that enough times and they start to get a grasp that they shouldn't be doing that constantly, which is basically the first step everyone takes I think. We go from there pretty much.

Where is the "I troll the shit out of them" option? Usually I b2 scoop them to death

Noobs are just combo practice

I'll go hard on the first round, if I sense a lack of knowledge will sandbag to make it go to round 3. Then slowly up the gears.

Once the match is over, I'll always send them a message, saying to keep practising / add me for future games and of course a good game.

We all have to start somewhere, I always think it's my contribution to a bigger FGC : ]

I think the true competitive nature comes from trying your best no matter the skill level of your opponent. I believe Justin Wong was asked a question similar to this and said something like, "You should treat your opponent like they are the hardest opponent you will ever face."

From my experience no one wants to be stuck in a combo movie for the entire match if they are a complete noob. People who I don't know that well, or are friends. I generally just relax, and take it easy during the fight. I can't really find it in me to purposely lose. But I'll not finish combos, or do small punishes. Wait and let them act for a bit. So they feel like they have a chance. And the more they play and improve, the more I can slowly increase the difficulty for them. Let them ask questions, or whatever. If they talk trash if they win or something, that's when they get destroyed. This is only when playing in person.

Online, I generally just play however I feel like playing. I don't exactly feel any obligation to help them out, unless they ask. And online has been pretty iffy for MK Arcade Kollection, MK9, and Injustice. So it's rare to find a good connection in that anyways lol

depends if we are talking mk9, I give no fucks I will show no mercy. If we are talking injustice, I just hurry up and win, but I show some mercy, if it is someone that is completely new to fighting games, I let them take my life bar.

I just spam IA Party Crasher.

i body them but will explain what aspects of their gameplay are lacking and what to improve, if they are willing to grow. if its the guy who picks deathstroke after 1st lose and tries to mash on every wakeup - goodbye after 2 games

Depends on my mood. Usually I will show no mercy for the first round to test them. The following round I take it easy just to see what they can do/see what they know depending on how the first round went.

Depends, ill pick an alt to kinda see how they play. If they pick a online doucher. Ie. Scorp or Ds, ill see the first 10 sec if they only do an online tactic. (Tele, sword flips. Etc.) then I'll go hard and let them know that stuff won't work on competent players. If they genuinely try and just have hard time doing combos or the match up knowledge ill take it easier and if I face them. Again ill pick a character i think they could handle. Then after I send em a ggs and see if they need help or tell them how to get pass whatever I was doing. (frame traps, setups, etc)

If it's a friend of mine who isn't particularly good at fighters I'll stick to characters that aren't my mains or do hidden random select for fun. And I'll try and teach them any cool stuff I know about the character they are playing.

If it's a random noob online I just play like normal. If they send hatemail I ignore it, if they send GG's or something nice I'll respond in kind and offer to help them learn the best I can.

Usually i just pick characters im still learning and try to help them the best i can So it more fun

Everyone was a noob at some point, so i tend to go easy most of the time. However, it depends on the attitude too, because if someone is a dick then it's all guns blazing until a rage quit is given Online is not to be played seriously, as it's a different ball game compared to 1v1 human opponents offline.

Gone are the arcade days of real punch up's back in the 90's of SF, KI and MK1, 2, and 3 on a Saturday afternoon, if someone stole some credits, got their ass delivered on a plate and couldn't take the banter and the best one was joining in on someones 1 player vs cpu without asking. That got the tempers flowing back then...lol

I hold back in every 2.d fighter that's not MK regardless of who I'm playing... How else am I supposed to block?

If they are usually on mic, i will go full out and not stop, if they dont i will let the get a few hits but i won't lose.

I usually just pick a character other than my main. This way I can still help them learn fundamentals and such but the game play is less intense and they can keep up better

It's rare that I play without practicing a technique, combo or punish. Online is a training ground for me. Last night for example I was working on stage awareness. The higher the skill level of my opponent the more quality practice I get in because it forces me to practice around my game.

What about the handicapped/disadvantaged...

A beginner should never hold you back to be honest. Who levels up on beginners? Obviously if you come across one you are put in the position of a teacher at that point. But I know many people that dont make good teachers to the game. They will either just brutally beat you and leave or just not waste their time with you at all lol.

I give them my standard offense but I focus mainly on punishes and anti air practice when playing less experienced players. Whereas when fighting someone who is more advanced or someone I'm familiar with, I don't play as conservatively.

I feel like if I intentionally make mistakes or don't execute my usual mixups/damage that I'm insulting the new player and taking away from their chance to learn.

Depends, if it's a kid that clearly just likes having fun mashing buttons I'll make the matches close but let them win more often than not. If it's anyone else I play my main character and go in hard for the first match but if they're clearly not good I just use it as practice for my 2nd, 3rd, etc... characters.