Hate Speech: When Worlds Collide

[Mamoru_Hasukage]

True online can not compare to offline. However, one must remember what kind of thing we are talking about here...

A VIDEOGAME!

No matter how many tournaments, no matter how many butt hurt fans, no matter who is acting like what, at the end of the day we are talking about a game. There are people who just play online just for fun. Yet people bitch and moan because they fought in 11 tournaments and it messes up their concentration on online.....then do not bloody play online if it pisses you off that much.

Sure, it can become frustrating when people are cheap or lag rears it's unwanted ugly face. However, negate those 2 problems and it is a fun experience only meant to be just that, a fun experience. Why people do not get that perplexes me. It boggles my mind on any series (not just soul calibur), that these are games and you do not need to waste your life worrying about a mechanic or two that is not perfect.

No games are perfect, period. It may seem that way but it is simply not true. Is it a shame? Yes. Is it the end of the bloody world? Far from it. That being said, I would like to see online become more properly handled in SC5. For now, just make due with what we have and for the love of all that's decent, just enjoy the game in front of you instead of bitching and moaning that it is a travesty on the face of gaming.

Also, I respect the level of thought that is put into this weekly rambling. I mean that, seriously. Keep it up Hates.

 

[Dr. Hates]

Also, I respect the level of thought that is put into this weekly rambling. I mean that, seriously. Keep it up Hates.

Much appreciated!

To address the substance of your post, I think people get caught up in the little differences between online and offline for a number of reasons, but a major component is simply how one defines fun. For me, there's a richness of experience that the game provides offline which is pleasurable and, just as importantly, that richness makes my victories themselves seem more fulfilling (and my losses more agonizing, of course, which is actually a perverse part of the aforementioned fun).

In other words, online just doesn't give me the high (look up an emotion called "fiero" or the concept of "hard fun," both likely to appear in future columns) that offline play does, and that's primarily due to technological issues.

 

[Juez]

Online creates more problems for you in the long run than good. You screw up timing on moves because you are use to buffering in commands, you throw out unsafe moves because they don't get punished online. You lack the ability to duck grabs because online even if you see the grab coming you don't have the ability to duck so you have to mash and try to break it. The majority of players you see online aren't near the level of tournament players so any match-up knowledge you get doesn't do much good offline (learned that the hard way in MVC3)

I'm not trying to bash online, mainly because that's where I started from and if it wasn't for it then I wouldn't have gone to offline tournaments. Its just that people have to realize that it's just a completely different game. Even if you play people who you met offline and you both know how the game works the game is still watered down. How often have you played someone and when they grab you for the RO, you break it and you still get a RO? It's little things like that, that destroy the game to me.

 

[ShadowCollector]

I don't agree with this. I know where you're coming from, because when I first started playing offline, I couldn't go back to online. I HATED it with a passion. And I'd moan about it constantly. But the fact is I learned to play this game online. I learned a lot about combos and spacing and techtraps, and about other characters' potent tools.

Most importantly I met some really good players online, and the most important thing that happened is that we talked to each other. All the time, about techniques, and traps, and ways to shut down options of other characters. A lot of what we discussed wasn't right, but we were learning so much by bouncing ideas off each other and then putting them into practice.

Once we started playing offline, we could put a lot of the stuff into practice. We could start playing without any online constraints, using laglows and spam tactics, and we quickly learned which things were actually effective/ineffective rather than just theoretically so.

And sure, it was difficult to go back to online after this, because it was so much less fun and not much more we would learn from it. But I still think online has a lot of potential for training and learning about the game, especially for newer players, so long as they communicate.

I agree. I put 10 months of pure practice learning tech traps, Frame traps, the Numerical system and the In's and Out's of every character but Zas and Voldo (Yes I know voldo is high tier...)

I've been working my ass practicing day in and day out with Vader and Rock, learning which frames are best for online and which aren't. I've also learned many Tech and Frame traps online by fighting really good players. So in the end simply by playing online that makes me a bad person at SCIV? Granted I never entered a tournament but that doesn't mean by any shape or definition I'm a "Scrub"

I know about lag tactics and I know most lag hits get GI or JI offline. I know how to duck grabs and I know how to do mix-ups. I poured endless amount of time in nothing but Practice and Standard Player match and I honestly feel I've progressed a VERY long way from when I started.

I knew a great deal of what nearly each character can do in the hands of a Pro. Hell once I got my ass grilled by a really good vader, rock, and setsuka player it really motivated me to practice and started using Rock/Vader.

I understand offline is far more fluent that online, But I also enjoy the value of online play minus the douchebags. But EVERY game has those type of players whether it's CoD or even Blazblue. I respect the skill of players whether they are playing online or offline at local tournaments. I can't judge a player by whether they play online or offline and I wish the SC community wouldn't argue over which "side" is better.

I may be rambling now but what I'm saying is this. Online HAS made me into a great player regardless of lag or not. I restrain myself from using lag tactics online because i personally think it's unfair and or easily punished offline. I don't want my lows to become a crutch that will make my gamestyle weaker when playing offline.

So in the end can we all just be happy with the fact we like SCIV and enjoy the damn game at least until SCV comes out. Were all Fighting game fans and we should show more respect to each other whether you are a Tournament player or just now learning the ropes. Nobody's life is more important than the other and I think that's what we forgotten the most when playing Video games. We always have to find some way to be more "Superior" than the other guy instead of just sitting back and having fun.

 

[Mamoru_Hasukage]

Much appreciated!

To address the substance of your post, I think people get caught up in the little differences between online and offline for a number of reasons, but a major component is simply how one defines fun. For me, there's a richness of experience that the game provides offline which is pleasurable and, just as importantly, that richness makes my victories themselves seem more fulfilling (and my losses more agonizing, of course, which is actually a perverse part of the aforementioned fun).

In other words, online just doesn't give me the high (look up an emotion called "fiero" or the concept of "hard fun," both likely to appear in future columns) that offline play does, and that's primarily due to technological issues.

Well I am more so just perplexed over the sheer die hard fandom that quickly turns to butt hurt obsession. How many people have you met in this or any other series that take this kind of stuff more seriously than is needed? I'm guessing quite a bit.

As for the debate of on vs offline, I play both but then again my connection is half n half and I play only with my friends who have fair connection. This is only just to dick around and have fun. Everyone likes what they like, but it is obnoxious to feed the fire to an argument that is pointless to begin with considering it is a new feature. New features tend to not bode so well, which is why they should at least add patches. But hey, what are ya gonna do huh?

I'm also aware of what you mean by Fiero/Hard fun. Those would be interesting topics to discuss, if you would like to have in depth conversation about such a thing or anything else, I would be happy to help with that.