So recently Sirlin book playing to win has been put online for free. I had already read his articles a long time ago and pretty much agreed on everything he said. However now Ive come to realize that 99% of the sf players are not actually playing to win.
According to sirlin playing to win means doing whatever increases your chances of winning. While this is true I think there are very few players who actually do this . I myself thought that I was playing to win but now I realize that Im not.
Example.
3s has been emulated so I have just recently started playing it. Now I know that Ken is considered good( hes top 3 with yun and chun). However the first thing I did was pick Ryu because … I like him and I will probably stick with him. I know that if I pick Ken I have a better chance of winning however I have stubbornly decided to stick with Ryu . So can I really say that Im playing to win. Not according to sirlins statement because i did not increase my chances of winning when I could. I chose to handicap myself by chosing a weaker character.
How many sf player dont play yun chun or ken in 3s or top tier characters in a3 cvs2.
How many sf player can honestly say that they are playing to win.
Are we all scrubs. Yes atleast according to the definition in sirlin article because we all have are own set of rules. And we are fine with that meaning we chose to compete using our own rules/choices/handicaps.
Are we then any different from the scrubs who cry cheap when you throw them 5 times in a row or those who want to remove bugs or gltches from games e.g infintes in a3 roll canceling in cvs2 .
I think the differene between the average srker and thos scrubs is that we impose rules on ourselves but not on others. Almost everything my opponent does is ok with me by which I mean that I wont complain about a tactic , strategy or character my opponent uses.
playing to win is truly
the most important and most widely misunderstood concept in all of competitive games.
I agree with the statement
- playing to win means doing whatever most increases your chances of winning*
However many of us simply do not do this. I know Valle and daigo play Ryu in a lot of games. However in 3s they choose Ken because it’s what they need to increase their chances of winning. Shouldn’t all Ryu players and people who play non- top tier-characters do the same. Most of us certainly aren’t better than the above mentioned players.