Sharing or Keeping Tech (Setups, MUs, Strats, etc): When is it OK?

General Discussion
1

This is merely a thought that I’d like your guys’ opinion on.

I grew up in an era where if you wanted to learn a game and be good at it, you had to get bodied. In the process of learning, I would ask something along the lines of how to do “insert special move”. The response usually something like “iunno”, as they continued to do said move. Keep in mind, at the time I was somewhere between 8-10 y.o. (I don’t remember). That following week, I stepped my game up and crushed my whole neighborhood in whatever fighting game they threw at me (MK2, TMNT:TF, SF2, etc).

Fast forward to now, as communities such as this one continues to grow, every so often I find people learning a fighting game, and they’ll ask certain people (and even pros) questions regarding the game, and they may or may not get a response. Or even worse, they’ll get a negative response, preventing the new player from learning and ultimately dropping the game altogether. That isn’t to say that this happens all the time, as I’ve personally witnessed, and have taken part of helping new people learn new games and have watched them flourish.

I get it, some players need to keep some tech to stay “relevant” or to “have an edge”. In my opinion I feel like if someone is learning the character your playing, share the tech, but always continue to create more. If someone is trying to learn how to fight your character, share the knowledge, but work on ways to remain a challenging opponent. The new player learning should still continue to figure their way out in said fighting game, but they shouldn’t be left floundering per sé. I translate this all even in the tournament scene as well…

What are your thoughts???

2

I feel like this thought process of “keeping tech” was an arcade mentality. I think now now than ever the FGC is opening up to now leveling up and player engagement. Back then, there were limited avenues to gain knowledge on your own. Now with the internet, you really can’t hide thing for face value.

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3

The obvious answer is, that we should be nice and share tech with each other.

But…

Go look at the top 20+ players from the Texas Showdown tournament, and tell me, how many of them have you seen on these forums?

I’ve seen about 3

How many of them have you seen share tech?

I’ve seen 2.

So if 90% of the best players in the game stay “secretive” all the time, then what conclusion can we draw from that?

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4

My thoughts? We are in a different era now, so sharing tech is a must.

Back in the arcade days, you were meeting strangers “at the place”, putting up quarters (every match was a literal money match), and when you won that meant you got to keep playing. Why would you tell the guy next to you how to beat you? Today, in the era of consoles, the mentality of “the new player” has changed as today people buy a game and play it on a literal free play…for fun. There are two different mentalities here; to different world views on fighting games.

The current FGC (talking about the core and the greater community together) is an amalgam of the old and the new. Many of the current “pros” and “core” players are of that old era, or have played with them to a good degree. When an OG player refuses to help the new player, IMO that is just a remnant of the ways, and to them (and me to a degree) the thought is that it only makes a player stronger when they find there own way. But therein lays the issue, the rub between eras.

Many new players see these games and want to learn…and because the game is on literal free-play, and as such there are no stakes, what is the harm in giving them the answers? I mean, FGs are complicated, and we live in the era of the internet where if you want an answer, just look it up and get it.

So yeah, IMO the old way of thinking just needs to change and adapt to today. Share tech. Work together. Grow the scene. Make everyone stronger.

…

PS - I guess I should also mention the fact that some people just don’t like to, or want to, share, and that is their prerogative. If your concern is strengthening the scene and the people around you, share, but if your end goal is to give yourself a “leg up,” keep your tech and do your best. IMO though, I think in the long run that the former strat is the better strat, but again, that is just my opinion.

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5

I don`t mind secrets of masters. I just wish people would not be ■■■■■■■ to each other.

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If I was a tournament player that was playing to win, I would be keeping any tech I find to myself. If I am playing to win the tournaments, I am not going to upload new tech I found to youtube for everybody else to see/learn/practice against. I would rather keep it a secret and break it out on unsuspecting opponents at the tournament in hopes it will give me some sort of advantage.

Though I don’t enter tournaments so if I ever found anything, I would be sure to share it with everybody lol

7

The part about the top 20 is funny. Some of them even go so far as to say they made a combo. Like no one else is smart enough to figure out a combo or setup. The top players hurt the FGC just as much as they help it. Some of the streamers are the worst. They ask for money, but will not help any player at all. If good players helped others as much as they bash them, then this would be a great community.

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8

Sensei’s never teach their pupils their best moves on day one.

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9

its good to share tech, but if you have your own raging demon so to speak, obviously keep that one to yourself. there should be limitations i suppose, me personally i do not care. if i know something ill tell you about it, i am not a tournament player by any stretch though. i work too much, i have another project that keeps me busy year after year, and well no time lol.

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That’s what I’m getting at. We’ve got some really strong players who don’t post up and help the community grow, and it’s a “crying” shame (I’m being nice right now lol). Now granted, some make youtube videos or they may host training sessions for their subscribers, but then the question becomes “Why should you have to fork out dough to be a better player?”. I get that those who support said people get benefits and all— that’s great. I don’t feel like people should have to go through rings of fire to learn something.

As for the youtube videos, sure, some people learn visually as opposed to reading. That’s ok. However, why not put some of that info on the forums where others can learn as well. It doesn’t take too long.

The thing is, there are some cats out there that don’t really care about the community like they say they do. You don’t even have to say who they are, you can kind of tell by what they actually do. They may talk about the community and how much they love it, blah blah, but at the end of the day, they just want to get on stream and place top 8 for whatever tournament is happening. Now there are cases where some of those people are actually in the “streets” helping people learn the game. To that I commend salutes. Not everyone is like that though…

I’m not here to tear down walls and flip tables (although the last part is fun from a non-troll standpoint lol). I just want this community, and the FGC at large, to grow. The only way for that to happen is for us all to contribute in whatever way we can.

Can the KI community rival that of SF or MK? Yes, I believe it can. It took MK quite some time before it became prominent and comparable to SF in multiple aspects. It’s not even about that for me though. It’s a passion and a purpose to see the FGC do great things within the community, and it starts with things like helping each other out in whatever aspect we can within the FGC.

I hope I wasn’t rambling too much, lol…

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11

Knowledge is power. However, knowing how to use it is key. Someone can know your tech but you can still outplay then.

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12

And that’s how it should be. I’m sure there’s tons of tech to be found even in S3’s infancy… IG promoted creative gameplay with the implementation of S3. Why not share and showcase this said creative gameplay for the overall growth of the community.

There’s tons (exaggeration?) of articles on sites like SRK talking about max damage combos, setups, glitches, etc… Why can’t that be done/said here???

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13

I used to post every little bit of Aria tech I found. No one cared. Then sleep would use it on stream and everyone would be all like “omg the tech is so amazing!!” so now I’m just like “well screww you guys then.” and toned down how much I post. I’ll still share if I use something on someone and they message me afterward though, or if someone has a match up specific question on the forums.

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14

That’s a circumstance of popular play. Ppl are more inclined to follow what the “winners” do. It’s a really sad mentality.

15

Sometimes IG does. HOWEVER, in the risk of IG doing that, they unknowingly make players follow their format instead of coming up with new technology. I think it’s good to encourage players to find their own tech. There’s this video I want you to watch that discusses this very topic. Here you go:

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Honestly I agree that it is sad a lot of the top players don’t come to the forum and interact with their fellow KI community. They don’t seem to really care about anyone but themselves.

Then again, I’m very spoiled by the Skullgirls community where the top and low players talk to each other all the time on Skullheart.com and how much we share stuff wit each other.

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17

Smaller communities tend to be more “close knit” than others. I experienced that with the Virtua Fighter community, even the Tekken community.

18

I’m okay with them keeping their tech. It’s not gonna be secret for long if they really wanna use it in tournaments. So let them have the advantage of finding it.

19

I like to share tech. :slight_smile: But I’m not vested in tourney results to make my living.

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20

It’s fair not to share your tech knowledge of the game, especially if you are a tournament player. You can’t really hide things nowadays, it’s going to be on video somewhere. Someone else will figure it out and share it.