What truly makes someone a scrub?

Dramatix

I've been called a scrub due to being terrible at Tekken, even due to being unable to defeat someone who's more experienced than me and how I never go back and forth with them. I acknowledge that I'm not great of a player, but I'm still called a scrub just for sucking. I will admit, I do have a lot of pride, and I find it terrible to just go home and reflect on my experience while waiting for the next event to come by so that I show off my "improvements". If anything, I just tell myself that I'm competent enough to play the game and that I'm not as completely terrible. I was also told that it takes year to become good at a game, but I don't plan on taking that long.

IgTerminals

Unfortunately a lot of people call anyone who is new a scrub. This is incorrect. A scrub is different to a newbie. A scrub is a state of mind whereby someone is not only not very good, but makes excuses for why they are not very good, or why they lost, and refuses to learn.
A fighting game veteran can also be a scrub.

Dramatix

IgTerminals, post: 7406399, member: 58278 wrote:

Unfortunately a lot of people call anyone who is new a scrub. This is incorrect. A scrub is different to a newbie. A scrub is a state of mind whereby someone is not only not very good, but makes excuses for why they are not very good, or why they lost, and refuses to learn.
A fighting game veteran can also be a scrub.

I've played Tekken for years, but I would say I'm new in terms of being competitive with it. I make excuses, but I'm willing to learn.

ilitirit

Some people use the term scrub to refer newbies or "casual" players, but the term is mostly used to identity individuals who exhibit certain traits and behaviour that don't foster growth and improvemnt within a competitive scene.

eg. Blameshifting, refusal to learn/practice, not deferring to more experience players, inflated sense of skill etc

In some contexts parts of your post might be considered scrubby, eg:

If anything, I just tell myself that I'm competent enough to play the game and that I'm not as completely terrible.

Perhaps you are in fact completely terrible? I'm not saying you are or aren't, it's just an example of why someone who has beaten you badly might consider this a scrubby attitude. If you lose hard often, then consider the possiblity that you are not as good as you think you are.

And:

I was also told that it takes year to become good at a game, but I don't plan on taking that long.

Do you mean you intend to get better (by way of tournament placement) without practice? Or you have a training regimen that will enable you to become proficient at the game in shorter period of time? Or do you just mean you don't intend on getting serious about the game? Depending on your answer, some people might also consider your statement to be a sign of "scrubbiness".

NickRocks

Dramatix, post: 7406352, member: 55248 wrote:

II find it terrible to just go home and reflect on my experience while waiting for the next event to come by so that I show off my "improvements".

with that kind of attitude you're never going to learn anything, if looking back on your losses is "terrible" and not "educational"

If anything, I just tell myself that I'm competent enough to play the game and that I'm not as completely terrible. I was also told that it takes year to become good at a game, but I don't plan on taking that long.

then you'll just have to settle with not being good

w00denTEETH

Scrubs seem to like to call other people scrubs.

Khaosdragon

it's based on attitude. poor sportsmanship= scrub

BlackShinobi

He may just be saying it to say it, but other than that ilitirit is right, from your description the only thing that could make you look like a scrub is your confidence, not that it means anything by itself but high confidence in your skills with a lack of actual skill is one of the trademarks of a scrub. with that said this may or may not be the case, its hard to tell.

Daidalus

A scrub is a person who, you can say, doesn't play to win

• He/She make excuses when he lose, like he only lost because you were lucky, or that he has a live, your character is top tier (bonus points if is not), his character is low tier (bonus pints if is not) etc
• Plays according to some sort of self imposed set of rules, since he can consider some type of play/strategies as cheap or not honorable like: throwing is cheap, throwing to much fireballs is cheap, hitting someone when is dizzied is cheap, winning by timeout is cheap, winning by chipping damage is cheap, Running away/turtling is only made by cowards, etc, etc.
• Everything is spam for them, if you are zoning, you are spaming to them, if you use your bnbs, you are spaming the same combo to them, etc, etc
• For some reason has a disproportionate confidence on his abilities
• Many times they see the experienced players with hate, because they think that they are cheap motherfuckers with no life.
• They think that playing to win is not fun
• They refuse to learn (from their mistakes, how to beat a character/strategy, etc)
• They don't understand well how fighting games works but feel that any kind of opinion that they have is still good
• They see some characters as cheap, even if the character in reality can be considered low tier, they still think that it should be nerfed.

You can have players that are good enough to be considered mid level players and still have this kind of mentality, you can even have high level players with traces of scrubby mentality

thecapsaicinkid

ilitirit, post: 7406432, member: 12740 wrote:

the term is mostly used to identity individuals who exhibit certain traits and behaviour that don't foster growth and improvemnt within a competitive scene.

It's pretty much never used in this way. Even if this is considered 'correct'.

Dramatix

NickGuy0320, post: 7406446, member: 20554 wrote:

then you'll just have to settle with not being good

Well, how long did it take you to become a good player?

Kanta-Kun

Scrubs are the guys who suck and have no intention to stop sucking.

Dramatix

BlackShinobi, post: 7406555, member: 292 wrote:

He may just be saying it to say it, but other than that ilitirit is right, from your description the only thing that could make you look like a scrub is your confidence, not that it means anything by itself but high confidence in your skills with a lack of actual skill is one of the trademarks of a scrub. with that said this may or may not be the case, its hard to tell.

I'm usually doubting myself half of the time, so this is my way of being confident. Is it there to do? My skills are truly nothing to be confident about, and you can't boast about being a terrible player.

Rictorxix

Cable, Sentinel, CapCom

BlackShinobi

Dramatix, post: 7406757, member: 55248 wrote:

I'm usually doubting myself half of the time, so this is my way of being confident. Is it there to do? My skills are truly nothing to be confident about, and you can't boast about being a terrible player.

Sometimes I'm playing someone who has NO chance of beating me and after the match is done they think I got a lucky win or that they made a single mistake that cost them the match, or the controller messed up on one thing that cost them the match when in reality they have no strategy at work no gameplan and no chance of winning even if I'm messing around with them.

This is scrub confidence when someone thinks wins are close even when they aren't. When they compare their percieved skill to their opponents actual skill instead of being able to objectively compare their actual skill level to their opponents actual skill level. I guess one of the easiest ways to tell would be the win count, are you getting crushed when you play him or are you splitting games?

The goal is to get better and you need confidence to do this, the key thing is to have an Accurate guage of your current skill level; again none of this may be the case in your situation.

fizzywoemac

I would say that what qualifies someone as a scrub is more of a mindset than any actual specific way of playing. Id say a scrub is someone who is hostile towards other players solely based on gameplay, is unable to accept and move on when they lose, has preconceived notions about other players/characters (i.e. seeing a certain character and automatically assuming that the player sucks or is trolling you), and is deluded about the tactics and strategies they use to play. Examples of things i would say classify someone as a scrub:

- Someone using turbo calls you a scrub turbo user
- Someone who sends rage mail/insults you just because they are frustrated with their loss
- Someone who talks trash when they are up a ton of games or down a ton of games
- Someone who will talk trash solely based on character usage (i have no qualms with calling people out on character usage if they are talking shit to me but when someone says something like " <insert character name> is such a bs character, stay free fraud" just because they lost or don't like the matchup is just douchey)
- Someone who abuses game mechanics and has a chip on their shoulder (id say someone who just spams but slams with honda, wins, and then gets all cocky is a scrub).

Honestly if someone is losing really badly and then the person beating them calls them a scrub then i would say the person who called the other person a scrub is more of a scrub than the person losing.

eltrouble

Scrub - a player who doesn't want to improve themselves in order to overcome their obstacles. i.e. they whine about characters, matchups, "cheapness", and don't bother ever trying to figure out a solution for their problems.

The term "scrub" does not discriminate between new players or veteran players.

EMR

Scrub....

by DSP standards: A guy who has a bunch of numbers on his gamertag, therefore he has to suck.

by my standards: A guy who plays not to win. And has this mindset of making fun of everything that is not proper in his eyes when it comes to gameplay. Also people who do some random crap and think they are the coolest.

Bento Sento

I have always seen a scrub as somebody who continually uses cheap tactics like spamming moves and they refuse to get better at the game so they just keep resorting to their dirty little tricks, from my experience they cant handle losing either if playing online they will often sent angry and abusive messages because they cant handle the loss. In general scrubs are just bad sportsmen

BlackShinobi

Being a sore loser alone doesn't make you a scrub, some of the people taking money home every major and regularly in top 8 are among the sorest losers in the entire community.

Terry Bogarde

i remember one time i was in an endless lobby. the level wasnt very high so i used ibuki, a character i hardly knew at the time. the matches got a lot closer so a new player to the lobby might have been fooled of my skill level. sure enough this guy saw my 3-4 win streak and probably thought i was a crappy player(my ibuki was crappy!). he ended up beating me which was fine, i just wanted good games with these possibly new ssf4 players? but in beating me he kept tauntin towards the end! why is it always the weak players that taunt when they're winning? i said RIGHT... next game he probably thought he would do the same, i picked my main just to make a point. absolutely oblitrated him, dizzies and all. After that i got nothing but serious hate mail filled with insults from this dude. He thought he was far better than he was and was in for a rude awakening. That imo is a Scrub!

IgTerminals

IgTerminals, post: 7406399, member: 58278 wrote:

Unfortunately a lot of people call anyone who is new a scrub. This is incorrect. A scrub is different to a newbie. A scrub is a state of mind whereby someone is not only not very good, but makes excuses for why they are not very good, or why they lost, and refuses to learn.
A fighting game veteran can also be a scrub.

eltrouble, post: 7406949, member: 50728 wrote:

Scrub - a player who doesn't want to improve themselves in order to overcome their obstacles. i.e. they whine about characters, matchups, "cheapness", and don't bother ever trying to figure out a solution for their problems.

The term "scrub" does not discriminate between new players or veteran players.

Hmmm. Lol.

mega_buster

Some people call people scrubs for getting bodied by someone else,I think that isnt due to that player being bad its mainly due to lack of not knowing what to do at that time with his/her character,now I think scrubs are people who talk shit and sends hate about you doing so and so

Kikuichimonji

http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/intermediates-guide.html

Bunnycap

Need a place to dump a link; Here looks like a cool place. May or may not be relevant
http://pastebin.com/SMrq3Wzp

ShadolooDoll

imo a scrub is someone with very poor or no fundamentals, and zero MU knowledge or knowledge on their character's gameplan.

Daidalus

SniperNightOwl, post: 7411629, member: 23575 wrote:

imo a scrub is someone with very poor or no fundamentals, and zero MU knowledge or knowledge on their character's gameplan.

And it is wrong

ShadolooDoll

Daidalus, post: 7411646, member: 70390 wrote:

And it is wrong

what is?

BlackShinobi

You just described a beginner or a new player NOT a scrub. Everyone starts off not knowing those things, everyone DOES NOT start off a scrub.

Scrubs display combined traits which set them apart as scrubs, which is why confidence, being a sore loser, or lack of knowledge alone don't make someone a scrub.
Confidence with in non exustant skill make you a scrub.
Being a sore loser when you don't even realize you have no chance of winning makes you a scrub.
Lack of knowledge with absolutely no desire to increase your level of knowledge makes you a scrub.

Sent from if my phone deletes this before it sends I will scream.

cheese and chips

DSP is a perfect example
-when he wins he acts so egotistic and brags about himself like "OMG THIS GUY IS TERRIBLE"
-when he loses he makes excuses like "OMG LAG, ONLINE PLAY SUCKS!, I CAN'T DO ANYTHING, etc"

to me a scrub is a person who can't accept the fact that someone is better than him/her and does all these "mental gymnastics" (south park lol) to convince himself/herself that he/she is better than his opponent no matter what.

Necrotrophic

Dramatix, post: 7406352, member: 55248 wrote:

I've been called a scrub due to being terrible at Tekken, even due to being unable to defeat someone who's more experienced than me and how I never go back and forth with them. I acknowledge that I'm not great of a player, but I'm still called a scrub just for sucking. I will admit, I do have a lot of pride, and I find it terrible to just go home and reflect on my experience while waiting for the next event to come by so that I show off my "improvements". If anything, I just tell myself that I'm competent enough to play the game and that I'm not as completely terrible. I was also told that it takes year to become good at a game, but I don't plan on taking that long.

Scrub:
1) Someone who thinks that there are unwritten rules to a game such as no throwing
2) Someone who thinks they play with "honor" by expecting the second round to be given to them if they lose etc
3) Someone who makes up bullshit excuses like "character x is cheap" (if the majority of the community agrees that a character is broken, thats different. Bottom line is, nobody is gonna beat Gill in third strike)
4) Someone who thinks overheads shouldnt be in a game
5) A loss is never their fault, everyone is a "cheater"
6) Someone who hates the fact that they keep getting hit by the same thing over and over while blaming the person doing it to them.
7) someone who hates the fact that there are defensive strategies and that the game isnt mindless button mashing

in short; someone who refuses to acknowledge reality

Daidalus

Necrotrophic, post: 7413638, member: 13951 wrote:

snip

I would also add thos who blame their lose to button mashers, and that the game is to easy that allow mashers to win

Necrotrophic

Daidalus, post: 7415303, member: 70390 wrote:

I would also add thos who blame their lose to button mashers, and that the game is to easy that allow mashers to win

I dunno. There are a lot of legitimate concerns there. You cant have a deep game with a lot of randomness, and randomness is allowed by button mashing, and its frustrating knowing that you out played your opponent, but you lost anyway because they did something really dumb/unsafe that does a lot of damage.

Mr. Unbrockable

Kanta-Kun, post: 7406696, member: 14833 wrote:

Scrubs are the guys who suck and have no intention to stop sucking.

Like a vietnamese prostitute?

Daidalus

Necrotrophic, post: 7415437, member: 13951 wrote:

I dunno. There are a lot of legitimate concerns there. You cant have a deep game with a lot of randomness, and randomness is allowed by button mashing, and its frustrating knowing that you out played your opponent, but you lost anyway because they did something really dumb/unsafe that does a lot of damage.

I don't know man, i have never seen a legitimate good player losing to a button masher, pus i never heard of a game where mashing was something viable.
Every time that i hear someone complaining about mashing is because they are butthurt that they lose to a player that they seem as inferior to them, and believe me, if you are good you wouldn't lose to something like that.
Or simply because they see games with combos as button mashing lol.

Necrotrophic

Daidalus, post: 7415469, member: 70390 wrote:

I don't know man, i have never seen a legitimate good player losing to a button masher, pus i never heard of a game where mashing was something viable.
Every time that i hear someone complaining about mashing is because they are butthurt that they lose to a player that they seem as inferior to them, and believe me, if you are good you wouldn't lose to something like that.
Or simply because they see games with combos as button mashing lol.

I've seen it happen a bit, and even Daigo mashes during block strings.

I would be less angry with the mashing if: the reversal window wasnt as big, there werent ultras and every dumb mashing move didnt have a ton of priority. the ultra is the biggest offender, because the very idea that you can take 50% of my health because I was winning is ridiculous, add to that, they have a ton of priority. Forget going for 1 frame links if they have ultra, its unsafe, we all screw them up from time to time.

Kanta-Kun

Mr. Unbrockable, post: 7415451, member: 62380 wrote:

Like a vietnamese prostitute?

Exactly.

"Me sucki sucki yu rong rong time."

Bakuhakubasugasu

TLC can explain that to you.


*On a serious note though, the people with the bigger posts about being a scrub is spot on.

ShinAkuma204

First and foremost a scrub is somebody who refuses to learn. Additionally a scrub is somebody who refuses to accept responsibility for their lack of skill.

That's basically it. A scrub can have other characteristics but these two are definitive.

Asica

My mate is a scrub. He thinks he is godlike but every time he loses he blames the fact he doesn't practice, or that he practiced on another system, or that his opponents characters are overpowered (he thinks Sagat AE 2012 is OP), and his controller is broken when he can't block crossups/mixups.

Hocd

Usually people call people scrubs if they lost to bullshit tactics. Lol. The type of thing that the player thinks is bullshit is completely opinion-based to the player calling out the "scrub."

Neiburo

Bento Sento, post: 7407067, member: 70385 wrote:

I have always seen a scrub as somebody who continually uses cheap tactics like spamming moves and they refuse to get better at the game so they just keep resorting to their dirty little tricks....

This guy is a scrub.

Hellfromabove

Got this guy in town who quit playing KOF. When asked why he said, "because everyone beats me at it". No effort to get better, just quit when you suck. Major scrub.

-Tha Hindu

huckles98

OP go read play to win by Sirlin. You sound like you have a defeatist attitude and you are putting your self esteem on the line when you compete.

Don't do that.

voodoochild346

Bento Sento, post: 7407067, member: 70385 wrote:

I have always seen a scrub as somebody who continually uses cheap tactics like spamming moves and they refuse to get better at the game so they just keep resorting to their dirty little tricks, from my experience they cant handle losing either if playing online they will often sent angry and abusive messages because they cant handle the loss. In general scrubs are just bad sportsmen

LOL at bold portion. how fortuitous that we should get a scrub reply to a forum meant to teach a person what a scrub is! well OP look no further than this gentle man here who is so bad that he loses to and complains about the same moves being repeatedly used against him. see this individual and try your damnedest to not end up just like him.

the7k

Easy Mode: A Scrub is someone that refuses to take responsibility for their loses.

In other words, everyone is a scrub from time to time.

jebop

Ryu and Ken. I blame them both in the SF4 series!

mowr

Hellfromabove, post: 7417917, member: 809 wrote:

Got this guy in town who quit playing KOF. When asked why he said, "because everyone beats me at it". No effort to get better, just quit when you suck. Major scrub.

-Tha Hindu

I don't agree. You don't have to spend time on every game you play for a bit or feel the need to get better just because you played it for a while.

There is no obligation to get better for the sake of getting better.

IgTerminals

mowr, post: 7418019, member: 30024 wrote:

I don't agree. You don't have to spend time on every game you play for a bit or feel the need to get better just because you played it for a while.

There is no obligation to get better for the sake of getting better.

I agree with mowr. In fact, I would say that accepting that youre not prepared to put the huge amount of effort in to learn, or accepting that you're only prepared to play casually is totally fine and the antithesis of scrub mentality.

Hellfromabove

mowr, post: 7418019, member: 30024 wrote:

I don't agree. You don't have to spend time on every game you play for a bit or feel the need to get better just because you played it for a while.

There is no obligation to get better for the sake of getting better.

IgTerminals, post: 7418168, member: 58278 wrote:

I agree with mowr. In fact, I would say that accepting that youre not prepared to put the huge amount of effort in to learn, or accepting that you're only prepared to play casually is totally fine and the antithesis of scrub mentality.

Hmm... not sure if it would help, but the guy isn't really good in anything he plays. Doesn't take criticism and always thinks he knows what's best even though the people giving him tips are the ones playing against him and beating him.

-Tha Hindu

Cannonspike1994

DSP is a super scrub i may not be good at the game but i can take a loss.