Mortal Kombat

[Typhoid]

For a lot of people playing competitively and winning is the fun part, and playing not to win is unthinkable.

I would call that poor sportsmanship.
Growing up playing sports, lesson 1 was always "Whatever you do, have fun." Maybe my mindset with video games is mainly to have fun over winning because of that, I don't know. I can still really enjoy a game (especially a fighter) if I have lost a good fight. I just play games to play games, have a good experience, etc.

No I'm saying you have no clue what you're actually talking about in terms of what makes a fighter balanced, and I'm saying that in all technical breakdowns of the game mortal kombat, kung lao is a god.

That's sort of my point. Of course I don't know what makes a fighting game balanced, technically. I even went out of my way to say I don't look that up, and I don't care about the actual technical stats of specific characters in whatever game. I play to play, and that's basically the end of that.

What I was saying was that the whole "Kung Lao is the best character" is only valid if you play this video games competitively (Meaning not just with a group of friends, but with a collective of like-minded people all gathering together to win a competition). Much the same way that I would assume the Mach Bike in Mario Kart is extremely abused in competitions, as would be any other easy-way of winning by people who play games only to win. That is life. People will look for the easiest way, with minimum risk. Did the developers make Kung Lao overpowered in one way or another? Sure. Did some people find a way to take advantage of that? Of course. Now it will only be a matter of time until someone finds an even cheaper way to out-cheap the cheapness of that. The game has been out for a few weeks. And while I'm sure there are people who are doing nothing but playing this game and trying to get good with a specific character, I'm just as sure there is at least one dude trying to find a way to specifically out-cheap Kung Lao, and when he completes that, he will post it on the internet - which will give you something else to pick apart about a game you don't like.

But for the rest of us normal people who don't play in competitions, this poses little to no problem because:

A) You can tell a friend to not be him prior to picking him
B) You can agree to not button-mash/over-use one combo, regardless of character
C) Chances are the casual people playing the game won't know how to string massive single-hit death combos.

And what do you mean no one plays Kung Lao? He's a fucking monk with a badass razor hat. WHY WOULD YOU NOT PLAY HIM?!

Enh, I honestly haven't come across many people who like him. In fact a few people I've talked to about this game (very few) actually avoid him for the reason that he's cheap, and they don't feel proper using a character that will ruin other characters with little to no challenge.

And for the record, Liu Kang is by far the cheapest character I've used in that game. Back, back, forward, O. Flying dragon-bicycle kick-thing. It's unblockable, and you can constantly do it. I just choose not to do that all the time when I play because that would be flat out dumb and unfair. Unless I'm speed-playing the arcade on hard. Anything can really be taken advantage of if you try it enough times and get the technique down properly. That practically goes for every video game.

Playing in a competitive fighting environment isn't really about winning either, it's mostly about making friends, and usually the goal of being in a tournament is to get better at a game, not to win.

Well then what's the big kafuffle about? If people play tournaments to get better, and challenge themselves/others, who would pick a character that is leaps and bounds easier to play than the other characters, and thus making the tournament less challenging?

[Vampyr]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

I would call that poor sportsmanship.
Growing up playing sports, lesson 1 was always "Whatever you do, have fun." Maybe my mindset with video games is mainly to have fun over winning because of that, I don't know. I can still really enjoy a game (especially a fighter) if I have lost a good fight. I just play games to play games, have a good experience, etc.

I'm not saying that losing ruins the experience for me - I'm saying I would rather win than lose. "Whatever you do, have fun" is a great mantra, and for me having fun means trying my best to win at whatever I'm doing. It's not poor sportsmanship unless you act like a jerk after winning or losing. Being a competitor doesn't mean you're a jerk. I still share any knowledge or advice I have with other players and try to help them become better, or I ask questions if it's a game I'm a noob at.

Even playing games casually with friends I'm like this, and I hope that they will be too. Making up fake rules like "that move is cheap, don't use it", or "that character is cheap, don't pick him" just serve to degrade the game for everyone since it prevents people from learning how to deal with those scenarios.

I've been playing some competitive Magic the Gathering lately, and one thing you see some experienced people do is let rules slide with newer players, like not pointing out triggers or other things they have to do that might cause them to lose. That's just setting that person up to be a worse Magic player further down the line, which I'm sure they don't want to be.

Of course there's a nice way and a not nice way to tell people these things, and that determines if you're a bad sportsman or not.

[TheSlyMoogle]

You can beat Liu Kang's bicycle kick with a standard jab, and get a free combo.