What's new

Question Tournament Jitters, choking, and everything else that blocks you for being a successfull player

Eddy Wang

Skarlet scientist
I have this friend who enjoys MK a lot, but he is a worker and never before he meets the MK titans community he ever played to a competitive level.
In MK9 i didn't spent much time with him, but he is really willing to learn MKX, so everytime i can use, i use it to spend a time with him trying to find him a character that feels easy to adapt to.

We tried Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Flamefist Liu and everyone who i can think of having an easy execution as a step in stone for him, after completlely failing to all those characters, i gave him bone shaper shinnok and teached him how to zone, and use his 50-50s although he is does alright in the training mode, i recently noticed that his problem is not just execution alone its something else.

When he comes to matches of any kind against a human opponent, i notice that he can't keep himself together, he mashes, he becomes lost in the game, he chokes and the result is a complete disaster.

I honestly dunno what to do with him, but i can see he really wants to learn, i feel like Shinnok is the main for him in this game, as far as the progression goes, he can land the combos and te 50-50 mixups on controled environment 40% of the time, but in matches only 10% off it works, is the far he ever went in this game with any character i've see him picked.

As a person who play fighting games ever since i can remember (maybe 10 or 11) i never got to face this issues before once i mastered my execution to a decent level, my first vs match ever was on the arcades KOF 94 and just by watching other vs matches i established my game pretty well that even persons that were 10 years older than myself back then confessed that they got intimidated by my mexico game (team ryo)

So i'm asking for help because i dunno what to do with him honestly, i keep my teaching plan to keep working on his execution first an get him used to fight other persons, and occasionally as i slowly explain him mechanics of the game and general fighting game strategies, i teach him what punishes are too.

But it pains me to see that his development is being kinda slow, so i'm asking myself if i'm doing something wrong, this is my current challenge, and i've notice that he is not the only one, there are a few more willing to learn that are just raw to the same level, and i dunno what to do with them.


What you guys would advice for my friend?
 

TKB

Noob
Not everyone learns at the same rate man. Also if he's new to fighting games then this problem is only exacerbated. It will take time for him to become comfortable in any sort of competitive setting. If you're willing to keep helping, let him learn at his own pace and be patient.

Also if he's only landing combos 40% of the time in practice, it's no wonder he can barely keep anything together in a match. He needs to get it down 90% in practice at least.
 

Derwood1979

Professional Procrastinator
Practice.... just more experience. What youre describing usually goes away with time spent in game. More time = higher comfort level.
 

Death

Noob
My only advice is for him to keep grinding. Mk9 was my first fighting game ever and it took me nearly 3 months to figure out that jump in punches lead to combos....he just needs more experience.
 

TheGabStandard

The anticipation is killing me
My only advice is for him to keep grinding. Mk9 was my first fighting game ever and it took me nearly 3 months to figure out that jump in punches lead to combos....he just needs more experience.
Firstly, that's an amazing avatar :D

Second as for advice is what everyone said, just have to keep practicing. For experienced players like most people here it is actually hard to remember the early days of when we struggled to get competent at fighting games. It can be a slow process for some people so as long as he doesn't get too disheartened and keeps his desire to learn and improve, things will click and then you can move on to the next stage of your training plan.
 

ruff321

Noob
It's simple really. He doesn't practice alot.

The key to completely get rid of jitters or choking in any fighting games is to make yourself feel comfortable when playing the game. The only way to do that is to play ALOT of matches against human players. We're not talking about 100 I'm talking 1000 games at least.

"We fear what we don't understand". This fear can easily be remedied by watching matches, spending time in training mode, and applying everything that you know in real matches.

Of course not everyone has the time to do this and unfortunately there is not much that you can do. It's up to the player to decide if he want to invest time into the game.
 

Under_The_Mayo

Master of Quanculations
there are honestly some people that physically can not play fighting games. I tried to teach my neighbor Deathstroke, and after 2 hours, he couldn´t do Down1 SwordFlip.
 

jharris

I'm not surprised, motherfuckers
play online as much as possible. i know its not the same as playing irl but you need to real match experience. mkx is the first fighting game i took seriously and would spend so long in the lab the first week, get online and just panic under the pressure, lose all my execution and lose the game. a cool head comes over time
 

Tim Static

Adminerator
@Eddy Wang I always suggest a little alcohol, but not to the point where it's becoming a problem. Too much isn't good but just enough can take the edge off. Same with flying :)

Also, there is about 9 pages in the Fighting Philosphy section. I know there are some threads in here that will help. :coffee:
 
mkx was the first fighting game i ever played. i did what any scrub would do first, mashing, uppercutting, grabbing, teleporting. but after 100-150 online matches it got better. i learned to consistently execute my combos without any problem. its really jsut comfort. get used to the game, get used to all the characters, get used to the bullshit that sometimes happens and you wont be as stressed/discomforted while playing (getting rekt) online. less stress -> more combos
 

Groove Heaven

Jobber-baron
Encourage him to have fun and not worry about results this early in the learning process, he just focus on playing his game under duress and having fun.

I do find one beer really eases the nerves but still leaves you in control of your play. Try that at a local or regional.
 

llabslb

R1D1_998
This is all psychological and a form of social apprehension. To put this on a level we can all relate to would be playing at tourneys, we choke because we feel as if though we need to prove ourselves for some reason. This is because there is an element of competition. To keep it simple, get rid of the thought of competition and this will reduce choking. If you want to get rid of the thought of competition you have to make the environment feel as natural and calm as possible for your friend.
 

Eddy Wang

Skarlet scientist
Hey guys, just giving you a heads up, my friend is slowly getting better and definitely there is a notable improvement everytime he plays.

Your advices are paying off, and i'm excited, my current goal is to ready him for the next event where i will want him to qualify to the elite division if i believe he can do it.

We still have a lot of work to do, but he is getting there.