Geno (Aaron)

Max very eloquently describes the ambiguous intangibles that come from learning a fighting game you care about. These hit even closer to home on fighting games you end up liking more than expected. Imagine, if you will, the 1st time you booted up your favorite fighting game ; ------------------------------ The publisher and dev logos show up, maybe a dope trailer to intro the first time you turn the game on, then the title screen with a "PRESS ANY BUTTON TO START" or something like that. You find your way to a story mode or arcade mode and are filled with excitement on where this journey will take you. No matter what path you take you know that you signed up for an experience where you get to control and basically BECOME a character that kicks ass. Maybe after a while you decide to jump into training mode and start labbing, "I should really figure out a combo or two" because you don't want to mash forever. And then finally, you jump online. After grinding games for what felt like just a few minutes, you realize hours have passed, you're addicted. The grind only goes on harder and maybe you even find out about locals or tournaments in your area. Perhaps you even discover MAJORS - basically tournaments so large in scale that people from all over the world attend. Your competitive drive is at an all time high and then, suddenly, you hit it. The Wall - coined by @Bri4nF Now every game you lose, every local player that edges the win over you, ever single mistake just feels so heavy... It's because you are stuck. You are not growing. You are stagnating. And it sucks. It really sucks. I coach a lot of students and it's one of the hardest things to explain to someone "You're doing everything right, you just have to do it a - a bit quicker - a bit more confidently - with intent These are the intangibles, the hardest things to teach but the things that become so critical at the highest level, where inches become miles in terms of player skill. It gets so frustrating too because by this point, it's so tough to have fun when you just keep losing. You can't go back to day 1, at least not physically. Knowledge is a burden – once taken up, it can never be discarded - Stephen Lawhead Awareness is step one though and although it can feel incredibly suffocating, once you push through your plateau in fighting games you truly unlock a part of yourself that feels untouchably satisfied with all levels of play.