1 post tagged “playstation network”

So, I like to play Street Fighter 4 online against people.  I prefer to play ranked matches against (more or less) random opponents rather than player matches against the same person repeatedly.  I enjoy this because you encounter a lot more styles from different people using different characters (even though the usual suspects remain rather prevalent).  Since no two people are alike, you get to learn how to deal with various attacks from numerous angles with varying follow-ups.  Peoples' aggression levels fluctuate, and of course their skill levels.  Overall, it gives you a good picture of how your characters fare against others and what you can do to counter their attacks.  It can be very engrossing.

That said, when coming across different skill levels of opponents, inevitably, you'll also encounter all types of opponents.  Meaning: sourpuss winners/losers.  If someone beats me and they want to make sure I knew they beat me by sending a little message my way, then fine - to the victor go the spoils.  Of course, if it's just stupid, I reserve the right to fire back.  They can always counter and we'll then see who falters with their words.

Basically, the way I see it, if you have to fall back on the lowest common denominator stuff, then you lose, i.e. cursing, mothers, etc. 

Someone named BIGALBZ beat me and messages me, "85 pts...ouch".  Uhh, okay??  Firstly, I really do not care about the online battle points as they come and go and mean nothing.  Yes, they are a good indication of skill level, but only if there's quite a disparity in totals of the fighters (I'd say ~1000 pt difference and you'd think the fighters are a tier difference).  Is that really how he wants to come at me?  Normally, I'd probably let that go, but I didn't feel like it at the time, so I fire back, "yup worth almost as much as your food stamps".  He gets uppity and goes with a mom insult, so he already lost; no point in firing back to such a low-level comeback.

Earlier tonight, I beat someone with the handle Deadly_Venoms_.  I say nothing.  I won, who cares; go on your merry way and fight someone else.  (I might add that I beat him convincingly.)  He feels the need to shoot me a message to voice his displeasure at his loss: "everybody dat picks vega is assssss!!!!!. u have no ground skills. u just wanna jump around all day."  Thank you for the enlightenment, DV!  Who knew that by whooping up on you, I'd also gain a knowledge jewel on my character like that!  I thanked him with a response:  "then you know what to do to win, you just... didn't."  Very graciously, he reciprocated my thanks with a "FUCK OUTTA HERE!!!!"

Really, people?  What exactly do they expect will happen for them by sending out these messages?  If throwing out verbal barbs is fun to them, then at least be able to keep up with it!  One response and they falter back onto generic cursing?  Money Mayweather has some great advice:  "Step ya game up!"  And not just your Street Fighter game.

I've also had some class messages, as well; they're not all bad.  If there's a particularly well-fought match, I might get a message stating how close it was and expressing gratitude in more or less words.  You know, the opposite of what LeBron James did after his Cavs got eliminated by the Magic.   Basically, it's exchanging a "good match" with each other and moving on.  That's good sportsmanship, though I don't expect it after every match because who is really going to type out messages to every person they fight online?  Sometimes, they suggest/request to add them as friends on PSN so we can have future matches, but I don't like adding people I don't actually know.

Just like in real life, it takes all kinds.  But just like in real life, ain't no half-steppin' - come correct or GTFO!