The TRUTH About Competitive Splatoon...

[@Coelhagrr]

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time" is a saying I try to always carry with me, it's super easy to fall into a toxic mindset of productivity = good / enjoyment = bad.

[@Fenyx_Birb]

I always hated that mindset, I just makes me feel guilty whenever i go to relax and enjoy something, like i'm "wasting" my life on pointless things. But if you don't enjoy yourself in life, why are you even doing stuff to begin with?

[@seabirdflutter]

i know this is a comment about competitive splatoon, but that saying is really helping me with balancing my classwork and my hobbies. i'm actually coming up on a project due date right now and was looking for background noise, lmao

[@eisasulemankhatri4677]

Tell my parents that​@@Fenyx_Birb

[@agentblackbird9435]

Capitalism ahhh mindset

[@dyingstar24]

But what happens when the sweaty overlords who min-max their perfect load out cause you to stop enjoying wasting that time? That's the conundrum that needs to be tackled.

[@JTsmash1]

I was really bored with the game but then I joined a competitive team and I started to enjoy it more than I ever before. I struggled a year ago to get to s+ but I got it this season in the first week.

[@crazfamily6931]

TLDR: consider what your mindset is before you commit to being competitive I will admit, I tried to be competitive. I REALLLY wanted to be competitive, but on top of me being the age where i have to learn how to live and do things mostly alone on top of living in a family/ community where videogames arent part of it, and then on top of that going into college for a super competitive industry, and I had to realize i couldnt continue. While they played a role, I realized the main reason I left was because of my personal mindset. I realized i was too competitive to where it started to become unhealthy for me mentally and it put me in a sour mood often as I just couldn't keep up/ didnt meet expectations because of things i stated above. On top of was a nightmare for me personally and I personally was up really late for events as im est for a pst teamates. I eventually had to realize that even though i had goals of being a competitive guy; I ultimately dont have a great mindset for being competitive when i tried it and it ruined the fun for not smash bros (which i was also into at the time) and some of Splatoon.The lesson im trying to share is that even though it can be really fun and all. Sometimes you gotta stop and look at yourself and ask if you have tla healthy mindset for being competitive. It saved me more pain and grief than it had to. If you read thanks for reading all the way

[@Ringoismybirdo]

Can you do a rework special video

[@Bowser6495]

I already sleep deprived as it is (not of my own choice might i add) so there is absolutely no way i'm doing competiitive even if i wanted to.

[@rubberchickensfoot8912]

I usually hear people refer to "competetive" as playing with a premade team, in a scrim or tournament setting, but what about someone who just takes soloq seriously? Do you think that also falls under "competetive" or should there be a different word for it

[@mushroomdude123]

I wish we could ditch this mindset that being competitive and having fun are 2 things that don't go together. If someone doesn't doesn't enjoy competitive, that's fine, but they don't have to have this superiority complex about it.

[@HolyAlondite]

Exactly. Competitive and casual are basically 2 different flavors of fun. Each one is perfectly valid, but some people will prefer one over the other just due to the nature of personal preference. When it comes to 'fun', no one is better than anyone else

[@Otaku03494]

Agreed, and same thing with how being casual apparently means you can’t have fun. Just let people play how they want to play, it’s literally not any deeper than that. You’re not “better” than a casual player for being competitive and vice versa.

[@CosmicSkyes]

Idk about splatoon competitive from pubs but in other games (primarily battle royales) if your not going with the meta you just dont win, so its more of an issue of people who dont have time to learn the metas to enjoy the game playing public matches but still getting stomped

[@joshk147]

⁠@@MissingNo2k Nah fr this mindset is extremely common, especially in the splatoon community

[@joshk147]

@@MissingNo2k Holy projection lmao

[@coffee_2234]

I love that niko clip like dang his bamboozler usage is scary

[@Shuck34]

No one shall match his bambooga power

[@bungacowa3851]

in fairness, niko DOES win.

[@cielosphere]

niko wins !!

[@noahemane]

we love the nikoman

[@CocatGaming]

Niko man is the best

[@TGCPhilip]

I got into competitive because I wanted to be better at the game, so I watched Squid School's "How to get out of __" series and adopted a mindset of self improvement, self assessment and just a generally positive philosophy (Yeah, it impacted me THAT much)

[@Stingrayolu]

I can’t stress the importance of the friends you make through comp enough. I joined my college’s Splatoon team a year ago and now my teammates are some of my really good friends. Even though we’re low level and not doing anything crazy, just being able to compete with them is fun

[@goobergecko]

NIKOLINI SPOTTED

[@TorayNix]

THE NIKOMAN IS REAL IN THE CHARA LORE

[@lucifer0_0]

BOOGA SIGHTING

[@peril10111]

🫵🫵 NIKO SPOTTED

[@goobergecko]

@@peril10111 are you saying i am twitch dot tv forward slash nikolini

[@peril10111]

@@goobergecko no lawl i’ve been overusing 🫵 a lot,, but you might be niko i wouldn’t kno

[@Isaiah-NoelOtto]

Chara has such good background music. I love it

[@joy-anneotto2458]

I agree. The choice of music makes the videos more relaxing and entertaining at the same time

[@thebostonyears5002]

The hollow knight soundtrack is a masterpiece.

[@ChargedBonsai98]

​@@thebostonyears5002Top 3 video game soundtrack by far

[@desmondruhling]

This is more of a squid school-type discussion video, but I really like it coming from you, too! Being in this community is just so cool, and that’s personally my favorite part of it still

[@cooperbaker6755]

Chara being a chem E major just makes sense and I can’t explain why.

[@TGCPhilip]

Arashi we need to cook

[@ShurikanBlade]

could be the editors pov

[@OliyTC]

yeah that's not chara that's me the editor :)

[@TGCPhilip]

@@OliyTC I wanna say something positive but I can't come up with anything so pretend positive vibes do something

[@BeakAtPeak]

@@OliyTCyou are really cool, positive vibes your way

[@GUSplatoon]

There are studies about why people love games and one of the findings is that people enjoy progression. In a competitive environment, like physical sports, it creates memories. So, whenever I hear people say "just have fun"; honestly, my response is just mind your business. Let people enjoy the game how they want.

[@ShadowSkyX]

Or just have fun. They just mean loosen up, stop stressing out so much in other words. even if you don't realize you might be; self pressure to do well and all that if peer pressure wasn't already adding to it. Can't play well if you're too tightly wound up in _"needing"_ to win and taking any losses way too seriously. Real worth and value is not determined by those. Your willingness to adapt, learn from your mistakes and how to accept losses and to persevere is. _Every single player makes mistakes that cost them, no matter who they are._ Being a competitive player doesn't exempt them from making stupid mistakes and they definitely shouldn't be looking down on anyone for doing the same. We all started somewhere once upon a time, perhaps playing a different game, but we were new at it and barely knew what we were doing.

[@GUSplatoon]

@@ShadowSkyXI’m not stressed out & I don’t need someone to tell me to loosen up. Let me enjoy how I want it. Stop telling people what to do & assuming how people feel with the game. It’s pretty simple honestly.

[@justsomewheel9379]

@@GUSplatoon I think you may want to consider being more open to words and like human speech in general

[@gametugboat3985]

just let us have fun is what i say. i dont want to see great player in a casual game sweating their ass off just to claim they are having fun their way. yes you are having fun but its killing it for the rest of us who dont want to be fighting like its a malevelon creek solo run no ap rounds.

[@tarosykes]

@@gametugboat3985then don't??? lmao this game has zero communication features, you're not going to have someone screaming at you to push up unless you look for ways to play with other people, with comms

[@PiercingSight]

Fantastic video! Though I feel it misses an important part of the discussion. When top players talk about competitive, and talk about getting better at the game, there are inevitably statements like "this weapon is NOT competitive" or "this mode is NOT competitive". As if to say that, if you want to get better at the game, you need to give up your favorite weapon, or your favorite game mode, or your favorite map, and so on. As if there is only one true way to be competitive, and straying from that means you're not competitive. For me, it's this wall that leads to players like myself saying that we play for fun. I ABSOLUTELY strive to get better at the game, and I am 100% driven to win, but if someone is going to say that playing Jr as a slayer weapon isn't competitive, if I'm going to get flak for choosing it with an aggressive kit, then screw being "competitive". "I play for fun." What I want to see from the competitive scene is less statements like "this weapon isn't competitive" and more statements like "if you want to be competitive with this weapon, how could you do it, and what obstacles should you look to overcome?" Until that kind of change in the discussion happens, the wall between "competitive" and "for fun" isn't coming down any time soon.

[@blehrg8638]

In my experience, people tend to say "competitively viable" or just "viable" and what they really mean by that is if you can realistically win a major tournament with it in the current meta. Not everyone has the same goals when it comes to competing, but if your goal is to win a major tournament, what weapon you use is a very important choice as some weapons are just going to be better suited for that enviroment than others. And since being as far in tournaments as someone can is an important thing for a lot of competitive players, I don't think it's really unfair for people to acknowledge some weapons may eventually limit you once you get to a high enough level and some weapons are going to have an easier time in a competitive enviroment than others.

[@PiercingSight]

@@blehrg8638 While that is true to an extent, it only really applies to like the top 50 teams in the world. Below that, literally every weapon is viable. Some are more difficult to use than others for sure, but you can still absolutely win with them if you know how to use them well and coordinate well with your team. Playing the meta is not the only way to be competitively viable, and pushing the idea that it is will maintain this wall between "competitive" and "for fun" players, even though both groups absolutely want to, and can, win games and continuously improve.

[@blehrg8638]

@@PiercingSight "Playing the meta is not the only way to be competitively viable" I never said it was, but that doesn't mean every weapon is competitively viable if your goal is to win tournaments. Even off meta picks that are used at top level are viable weapons, just not the top meta picks. And tbh, I don't know if I agree with the idea that it only applies to the top 50 teams. Realistically I do not think a custom goo tuber will ever win a low ink tournament in splatoon 3 anytime soon without significant buffs, and that's a tournament series that's specifically designed so lower level teams can play against each other. Yes, I think that it is possible to win games and improve with unviable weapons to an extent, but there is going to be a point where your weapon limits you and that's the point people are trying to say something is "viable" or "unviable" and I don't agree with the idea that a valuable resource such as what is and isn't viewed as viable in the current meta shouldn't be stated just because it upsets some people. If I'm being extremely real about it, I don't think someone who would get that upset by that is ever really going to join the "competitive" community anyways, the reality of playing in a competitive enviroment is that there is going to be setbacks and disappointments in performance, as failure is the greatest teacher. If someone is going to be discouraged and upset by a top player saying their weapon may be unviable, how are they going to handle any of the climb to get better? I'm sorry, but I do not think this is what's causing the "wall" between competitive and "casual" players, there are a bunch of other things that will get in the way before that stuff is even mentioned.

[@gametugboat3985]

too add to this some people like me dont have anything aganst comp players but i do have a problem with heading into casual games where people just want to relax and act like its the final game of the world cup because while they may be having fun steamrolling everyone it sucks the fun out of everyone else.

[@gametugboat3985]

​@@blehrg8638im of the mentality that there is no bad weapon just people who dont want to sink time into learning a different maybe unusual playstyle. in actual war the odd stuff sometimes wins because it catches people off guard or has a nishe that was tapped into. a "meta" gun is one that is easy and unskilled since most people dont want to sink 5 hours into learning a new playstyle. however when one person proves the meta is false by mastering one of these unusual weapons it usualy shifts the meta on its head as the unusual weapon has its pick rate upped by copycats. who knows maybe one day a comp player will master the goo tube and it will become meta

[@RoseofBattle]

I'm in low-level competitive with a goal of getting into mid-level, and mostly this is the first "shooter" game I've actually felt clicked with my brain well, and it's been so fun to play. I've made great friends through my team, we've made a lot of connections, and going to LANs always reminds me of what I love about the scene. The energy is contagious! I get bummed out some nights wishing I could get tournament results that reflected my improvement, but the community aspect keeps me coming back and wanting to learn more. I played A LOT--but noncompetitively--for most of Splatoon's life, and that was fun for a while, but I decided the best way for me to enjoy the game in a sort of Phase 2 way for myself was to learn teamplay and decision-making, which are a huge part of competitive.

[@ICantSpell]

Oliy really snuck as much bamboozler content into this one as possible lamo

[@alias_hallow]

and of course the boogas

[@TGCPhilip]

Existential crisis arc?

[@NorthernDruid]

From an outsider perspective, it's really easy to see only the frontmost discussions from top level about how to best and most efficiently succeed at the game. While the shared joy we're looking to connect with is harder to spot. We want to feel like we're playing the same game, ultimately, and in a lot of ways it can feel like competitive play leaves behind parts of the game that is still important to non-competitive play (like turf war). I like to see pro/competitive players play things they enjoy the idea of on occasion, to connect with the sense of "I feel like playing Brella today (setting aside consideration for how it will impact my performance or results)". I want to end on a positive note, but i'm not quite sure how. I think it's important to bond over what we have in common, so we can more easily enjoy each others' differences as well. And remember that connecting over the game we all love is a mutual goal.

[@inline885]

It’s so depressing that young people today are conditioned to think their hobbies aren’t worthwhile if they can’t be monetized. Play Splatoon. Get your friends together and make a terrible movie. Pound on some drums until your parents scream at you. Live life and enjoy it without worrying about how you measure up to others or making money every waking moment.

[@camoking3609]

It's double edged sword If you monetize your hobby it's not a hobby anymore it's a job, maybe you love it, but what happens if you get bored of it? burnt out of it?

[@DHVF28]

Lmao the editor keeps trying to sneak in boogas these last couple of vids

[@_Helio_Art]

Props to the editor, the HK music crushed my heart

[@RandomThingsInc.]

Pizza Rolls.

[@PowerSynopsis]

I agree

[@MR.Salt7]

🤝

[@moth.cinnabar]

Pizza Rolls.

[@NapaCat]

Baco' bits

[@golden_scorpion3436]

Truer word has never been said

[@Iinneus]

I'm reminded of something Gem said once in a Squid School video-- likely a tier list-- where he was talking about a really weak weapon and said "If your only goal is to win, you probably shouldn't pick this." ...And I thought, you know what? His statement is a lot more direct than people realize. If you think the weapon you play is something you want to bring to a tournament or X Battles or S+50 or even just high Turf War or Challenge scores, then your only goal _isn't_ to win. And that's... fine. Every single person playing any game on the planet is doing it for their own reason, their own MIX of reasons, and that's great, actually! You can be both competitive AND casual without your only two goals being the somehow-mutually-exclusive "i'm just here to win" or "i'm just here to have fun". Though what some may be surprised by is, well, the truth is that I think the competitive scene already knows this. But hey, even a number of casuals and "i feel like some other third thing"s know this, too, so I'm always optimistic!

[@1specified]

I don't think it is unfair to make a "competitive versus fun" argument. You had fun playing Stamper, and you stopped playing it as much because it was less competitively viable. Your competitive edge took you away from playing a weapon you had fun with. Arguably, competitive limited what you were doing to have fun regularly. This didn't feel like you were combatting the argument in that comment, it felt like you were trying to argue against completive being useless and unfun, which nobody really said it was. All that was being said was that it took you away from something else that you found fun., which you reiterated in this very video.

[@sagittariusa2145]

I think Chara's point was that stamper _became less fun_ when he realized he wasn't doing well with it, and he'd have _more_ fun if he switched to something else. It's similar (but not the same) to the idea that a weapon might get less fun if it gets nerfed. If your favorite weapon gets nerfed, and it becomes less fun, does that mean that "competitive is limiting what makes something fun"? Maybe there's a hint of truth in that, but I think it's more accurate to say that worse weapons are just less fun. In this case, Chara's weapon wasn't nerfed.... but his _perception_ of how good the weapon is for him did go down. That's why it's similar: since his weapon is worse than he thought it was, it became less fun. I don't think that means that competitive and fun have to be exclusive. edit: weird youtube formatting issues

[@mariemain7351]

The information and mindset you project and present are so wonderfully fresh and sincere. That might sound weird, but essentially, it's absolutely delightful to see a competitive person who is not only enjoying themselves, but still actively encouraging and supporting the growth of the scene, while also being fantastic about speaking on the genuine issues the scene has in total earnest and honesty.

[@clipso9061]

when talking about this, the unfun half of doing anything competitively. Is the fear of failure, the fear of stagnation and the fear of inability. its not that playing competitively is unfun, its that in enables unhealthy views of ones own self worth.

[@IamCharlotteey]

competitive is a really wide genre. you can be competitive for fun or just for the sense of winning and the pride you get from it. good point chara. (ps. that’s hollow knight music, right? i don’t know any splatoon and hollow knight fans lol)

[@jmb594]

Yes it is, at least the song at the end of the video! You can mark me down as being one both-Splatoon-and-HK-fan :)

[@TGCPhilip]

"I'm just a hero for fun"

[@meggy1162]

I would be one of those fans of both. I play comp splatoon and im working on the ascended and radiant hall of gods completions for hollow knight

[@IamCharlotteey]

@@meggy1162 honestly me too ahaha, they’re both amazing games

[@meta4240]

Playing high level matches where everyone can pull their weight (aka not solo queue) is what makes this game fun for me. Becoming a comp player was my gateway to that. While I'm not currently in the competitive scene, the skill I've gained and the friends I've made haven't gone away as I've stopped doing comp.

[@megametexe5129]

For me it’s The elitism that makes competitive not fun. So what if somebody likes to play lower tier weapons that’s no reason to Ostracize and mock them for that if they want to improve with that weapon sure they’re not gonna be world champion material but I don’t understand why people belittle others for not useing top tiers and meta picks in non-tournament settings. People constantly talk about how kind and inclusive the Splatoon community is but that has never been my experience with it. Either you have to love squid partying or you have to constantly be playing like you’re preparing for a tournament. It’s either one or the other and if you’re neither of these there’s just no place for you. But that’s just my two cents

[@j.corbygaming]

1:22 NIKO WINS! Memes aside, I have to agree with everything you said man. Keep up the excellent work!

[@OlmiOP]

I think that so long as you enjoy playing the game, be it in a casual or more competitive mindset, it's all good. But one thing that worries me is that a lot of people keep pushing themselves too hard when they don't really enjoy it anymore. I've seen people let their mental state get DESTROYED over something as small as their X power A lot of people don't know when to stop, even if it's unhealthy, and it's concerning It varies for everyone though, and at the end of the day that's a decision that the individual will have to make, or realize they even have to make it, at some point in their career

[@OlmiOP]

I think it'd be pretty interesting to see a longer video tackling the mental health aspect of competitive Splatoon honestly

[@tinyy_shortcake]

NIKOLINI MENTION 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

[@Mantorp86]

I play 99% turf war because I don’t like competitive modes.

[@MandrakeGuy]

i love how nikolini is used as the example footage for "top 500 players that dont consider themselves competitive", i dont think you could have chosen a better example :KEKW: thats great

[@VTEySAG]

Whenever I hear about any sort of casual vs competitive "discussion" I'm always reminded of this one Magic the Gathering match I had. It was at a Prerelease, which for those not familiar, is a tournament featuring cards a week before they're available for purchase. Thus, no one have been able to play with the cards yet, and so, in most cases, it is a tournament in name only; as casual as it can get, and why I attend these events. I'm a casual Magic player. So here I am, up against this guy I've never met before, and it quickly becomes clear that my opponent for the round is very competitive. Which I find weird, again, this is typically a very casual setting even if it is an official tournament, but it sorta comes to a head when I make mistake: I try to kill one of his creatures, but miss that it has hexproof at the time, meaning I can't target it. Now, mistakes happen, especially when it's everybody's first time playing with the cards, so the usually people are kind enough rewind that kind of misplays. Not this guy though. He insists that I lose the spell. I'll admit, my knee-jerk reaction was contemptful. Like, really? You won't give any sort of grace while we're all learning the new cards? Alright then. Fine. If you wanna do this the hard way, we can do this the hard way. I'm gonna teach this guy a lesson. I'm the kind of autist that reads the comprehensive rules for fun, and I know that that's not how that interaction is supposed to go down. So I go full rules lawyer on his ass and explain to him that actually, because his elf was an illegal target as I cast the spell, the game wouldn't allow that to happen, and the correct process would be to rewind the game to before I tried to cast the card, leaving it in my hand. He doesn't believe me, I call over a judge. We give him the situation, the judge proceed to give the exact process I just explained. Now, how did he like that? Well, he gave me a big bright smile and said "At least I know you have that in your hand!" While it wasn't as big an advantage as he thought, in the end he still had an advantage from my mistake and in addition to that I... literally tought him a lesson. Which he appreciated. Huh. Not only that, the whole interaction clearly livened him up. I ended up giving him his favourite match of the night, because once I got in the mindset of "I'm gonna beat this guy" I actually gave him what he wanted and what no one else there that night would or could give him. It was really eye opening, especially with some time to reflect on it. What I once would've called "try-harding" he found fun. And while that's not my thing (I'm a casual through and through, in MtG and Splatoon), I can still respect that. It's all cool for other people like different stuff, that's no problem. The problem is in communication, going in to something with differing expectations and not addressing or even knowing that those other perspectives are a thing. Luckily, that's a problem that can be fixed. TL;DR: People can like that same thing you like for different reasons. Talk to other people and especially try to listen to them, try to understand them, instead of assuming the worst. Worst case you learn a new thing, best case you make a new friend.

[@xpload]

Even though finding time to do tournaments (low-level ones) is more difficult, it still feels really great to get a team together and push as high as we can. Casual play is fun! Goofing around on Open is fun! Getting better at the game is also fun! It's great to look back on a result and see how far I've come in the ~4 months I've played competitively. Really hope when I have more free time I can keep playing competitively! Maybe when the next season of LUTI rolls around?

[@Verdugo_Arulaq]

NIKO AND BOOGA SPOTTED Personally I’m super casual, I have played Comp in the past but it’s mostly when Turf War feels old and I want to play another mode I don’t have a problem with it but I definitely am not one to play for competitive progression or climbing the ranks or anything I just want to play a different mode is basically all it is. Now granted, I’ve seen some comp players have this “having fun is not productive and that’s bad” mindset, seems like they bring it in from those “alpha male” podcasts that tell them if they do something for fun it’s a waste of time and money and they shouldn’t do that, only talk business and do stock trading (ironic they bring it into a VIDEO GAME) It’s not causation but the correlation is there So I think casual or comp, whatever reason it is usually you’ll have fun with it, trying to climb the ranks and see how far you can improve has it’s moments of satisfaction and pride of seeing the progress made And casual you can go in and good around and laugh with friends or even try stupid memes or you can simply play as normal

[@MickTemple]

I am Top 500 and am not competitive. I have school and sports to attend to...

[@mr.random3943]

At the heart of this - people disliking competitive players aka "tryhards" - is a mismatch in intention and what people want to get out of the game. For the competitive player, being competetive is fun. For the people who dislike them, a more relaxed environment is fun; and this the part were we have to acknowledge, that being competitive indeed diminishes fun for these people and they are valid in feeling this way (this does not invalidate the wants of competitive players). I have yet to see a game that manages to mend this problem (making modes or queues just for them does not work, since there are too many toxic people who would take advantage from them).

[@n.lawrence456]

One of the best ways to escape free agent hell is to create your own team. It’s easier to respond to a team post than post into the FA void.

[@catboywizard]

Casuals low key ruined Big run for me by complaining enough to get the gold badge requirements lowered. I was having a ton of fun grinding with my friends, getting well into top 10% every time and just enjoying improving our strategies together and getting hyped about getting closer to that goal, and then... I finally get the gold badge and trophy by just messing around in solo queue while waiting for my friends to join me. It took a lot of the joy out of big run for me, now it kinda just feels like another grind to get bonuses. I hate the idea that it was just "Tryhard Overfishers" getting top scores, like obviously some of them yeah, but if I as a casual player could consistently close in on that top 5% it's not entirely unfeasible for everyone else if they're just able to put some effort in. What's the point of a shiny gold badge if all you need to get it is a bit of luck? That being said I finally unlocked x battles last week, so I'm focusing more of my energy into pvp now. It used to really intimidate me but I just love playing it now even if I lose a lot, and it motivates me to use my head and think about the game more. Really hoping to play in a tournament some day, the competitive scene seems incredible!

[@JRTmain]

How will nikolinii respond to these allegations that he is a sill non-competitive booga?

[@MegaManNeo]

My issue with comp is that I always think *I NEED TO BE GOOD OR QUIT FOREVER.* Wouldn't it be for that very reason, I'd actually like to try comp more often with others. Had the chance to play Eggstra Work with others using voice chat - something I never do normally - and it felt amazing and refreshing.

[@NOxluffy369]

The Hollow Knight themes are beautiful, awesome video btw❤🗿

[@Yahoomst]

I wish I could find a weapon that I'm good with other than the big swig lol

[@_psyf0rk]

keep trying new weapons and playstyles !! im sure your good at a lot of weapons!! also big swig W

[@megamasta6462]

For some reason I'm only good at one weapon and it's the Luna Blaster the one that no one's good at

[@WiggglezMr]

lmao "solo" this just confirms the game match making is trash considering if you just have 1 other person to coordinate with, you win. People that only play with their tight group DO NOT understand.

[@michaeleanthonyjr]

Some of those comments complaining about competitive players/tryhards are interesting to me because some people are just better than you at a game and they may not have even needed to try very hard or be competitive. I get frustrated when I lose to a player/team that makes me look/feel bad, but I'm not blaming them for my loss.

[@magic3734]

Video 30 of commenting on Chara videos till brella is good

[@Olavi_VLIi.47]

Lol you changed it to “until it’s good”

[@magic3734]

​@@Olavi_VLIi.47 yep 😭

[@ACKSonic6261]

I got into comps for a while and honestly for me this isn't a waste of time, the sense of progression is something i really enjoy, i play my main weapon because to me they are my favorite weapons and i main them because you maked me want to take these weapons as mains, i play range blaster, S-blast 91 and splatana stamper and i want to improve even more and get higher ranks and power !!!

[@Grenze_Splatoon]

The gigachad bamboo user compared to the three boogas.

[@KenKnowsIt]

Good video!

[@Sugar6D9]

niko wins

[@roomismoor]

when you run a fun weapon that can’t win, eventually you get sick of it and it’s not fun losing anymore

[@dyingstar24]

It's also not fun when some godmaster fun-leech thinks it's okay to go on a rampage in a basic turf war match all for the sole sake of seeing a 25+ kills on their results screen

[@roomismoor]

@@dyingstar24 to be fair, it can be fun in turf war and some people just prefer it and don’t like other modes, but i do see ur point cuz normally turf war is the casual mode. just today i went into turf war with the sole purpose of getting ink and barely got any kills but it was still fun!

[@aAmorously]

omg it’s niko

[@buriedinbooks881]

A lot of the problems I have with the competitive community is the atrocious attitude lots of them have online. There are a lot of competitive players online who take time out of their days to just shit on people who haven’t played in a tournament before solely based on that fact. I’ve never been condescended to more online by a group of people in my life because I can’t do tournaments, no matter how good at the game I am. Obviously it’s not every or maybe even most competitive players but it’s a real issue that has often led to the memes about competitive players you’ll see floating around from the rest of the community. These people have genuinely thought of themselves as authorities on the Splatoon community when they are *not* and *shouldnt be* just because they play in video game tournaments. Just because someone is a competitive player doesn’t mean all of their opinions are automatically correct (these types of comp. people always think so) which is an attitude we need to see change online

[@nathaniallarkin6060]

NIKO MENTIONED NIKO WINS!!!!!!!!!

[@RoxasDreamkey]

Comp is fun but this community is extremely toxic and not safe for players If you get involved the only way to succeed is to not engage with the social aspect AT ALL

[@maplemiles3381]

So that makes joining league of legends a nightmare

[@travisbrown6598]

I try so hard to have fun with friends on Splatoon but it is hard when your opponent is mowing you down.

[@henrydiamond3435]

This video pretty much sums up, most of my thoughts on the game and me improving as a individual as much as possible, thanks for the breakdown Chara, your my go-to content creator for Splatoon.

[@ShurikanBlade]

The problem with why I think people see competitive as toxic is purely because of the matchmaking. People want to enjoy this game casually but at this point in the games life most players are higher level/comp players since the huge wave of casual players mostly moved on to other games. So casual players run into more competitive players when they just want to have a casual experience but that experience they want taken away from them by the matchmaking. It's the same reason as to why casual players complain about big run and eggstra work. SInce theres no real way a casual player can win in that situation. It's set up as a competitive event and usually the highest a casual can get is top 50 or bronze. The matchmaking is truly the biggest detriment to the community imo.

[@theghostcreator776]

Except there's literally a ranking system... No one undeserving will face off against comp players regularly Don't bring up turf, comp players don't play turf consistently it's a rare treat

[@ShurikanBlade]

@@theghostcreator776 if you play with friends it tries to to queue you with other people who are playing in a coordinated setting. Meaning i can be casually playing with friends and i can get queued up against a team. Also, Splatoon 3 has the EASIEST ranking up system out of every splatoon game. It genuinely is not hard to make it to S or S+ because of it. So yes, even if there is a ranking system it still fails.

[@theghostcreator776]

@@ShurikanBlade you are in that rank for a reason. Don't wanna play against teams? Don't play open. There can't be a "okay you can play with a team but NOT competitively" mode. Sure you can get to S easily but comp players doing X battles don't play S series dude. You can't blame people for simply being good at the video game. All that does is shift blame from yourself and your mistakes to people you will never meet to stop yourself from having to reflect.

[@ShurikanBlade]

@@theghostcreator776 How am I shifting any blame? The only way you can play splatoon with friends (excluding salmon run) is in Open. So its my fault that I want to play with my friends and the devs decided to make open the new league battles? Yes, most comp players play X or series but when they play in a coordinated setting their only options are either scrims, sendou or open. It 100% is a matchmaking problem. Yes, i deserve my spot in S but that doesnt mean im on par with coordinated teams when im playing with my casual friends in open. and yes there can be a "play with team but NOT comeptitvely" that was the whole point of inventing anarchy open. What they shouldve done is left open as simply the no risk casual mode for ranked modes and then made League battles its own mode again for actual teams. Then you can "play with a team and have it NOT be competitive" Plus i literally never blamed anyone. I blamed the matchmaking.

[@theghostcreator776]

@@ShurikanBlade so... You're blaming the matchmaking for... Not putting competitive players in some magical rank that's only for comp players and only when they're with a competitive team? If you're not looking to play with people on or above your level play turf or something. No the only way to play with friends isn't salmon or anarchy, you can play turf or PBs as well. Really I don't see how this is anything but senseless complaining about not being able to have your cake and eat it too

[@peril10111]

this is something i’ve needed. im about to begin searching for a team, and i’ve felt like ‘oh i have to be S+, i to S+’ etc this WHOLE SEASON. i needed to hear ‘this should be fun.’ thank you chara, i needed this a LOT. niko wins!!!!!!!

[@Cypherlord]

I doubt you’ll see this chara but I’m -14 points in S rank rn and I just can’t win any games do you have any advice for me?

[@crazycanyon3028]

I’ve never wished to be a serious competitive player and only play in solo Que anarchy series and salmon run and while I am competitive when it comes to it I’m also not very good The point is I was playing a LOT when the game first came out but at some point I was burnt out and couldn’t play anymore(About when I reached A rank for the first time when the second season started because despite playing splatoon 2 my rank was so low in that game I started at C) and it took until final fest for me to seriously start playing again

[@hyper_pyro]

Coming from a fighting game player, this is actually a really great mindset to have. Focusing on improving rather than winning will eventually lead to more in the long run, especially if your having fun with the game. Good vid, chara.

[@LockyLawPhD]

Excellent points! Agree that FUN is the most important motivation! This is transferrable and relatable to anything teaching and learning. Thank you for making this video, Chara and co.

[@dark_moth7]

This was a seriously wholesome video and it's reminded me that being competitive in anything is more about getting better and improving yourself as a person, whether it be physically, mentally or socially. I'm really glad you made this video Chara. 😄

[@nathanwright6282]

It really depends on the person. Personally, I don't think being a competitive player is good for the long run. Sure it's good to improve at the game but some people don't have the time for it. Plus, most people really have some big gripes with esports in general considering how much it has negatively affected multiplayer games in the past few years. Every game is a sweaty, tryhardy mess where you can't just kick back and just play for a couple hours, instead it's a mindset of (if you aren't on the level on so and so, youre throwing the game) this is a very toxic mindset to have. Believe it or not, competition can bring out some very big toxicity in alot of people, and that's not healthy. I would check out the latest video from Dr.Dankbot who gives some good points on this.

[@Princeton_Spl]

Thank you for this amazing video, it reminded me why competitive splatoon and just being competitive and having fun with close friends is all about

[@TGigachad-i9y]

Because of Anarchy battles giving me so much bad luck and not having a good team or having fun, I literally rage out and broke the left sticker of my switch. At least is good that I'm going to be off for a while without playing Splatoon :)

[@superstarv.v.3810]

Its official You and i are rage buddys

[@coffee_2234]

Same the three of us ​@@superstarv.v.3810

[@wolfyspl]

It’s official part 2 Me you and you are rage buddies

[@Clover2a4688]

Its official, matchmaking sucks

[@PowerSynopsis]

I haven't broken a controller, but my chair is worse off because of Sploon rage.

[@The-Eddster448]

This is why you’re the goat ❤

[@bittybuggy]

i really appreciate this!! i competed in the juniors draft tournament recently and even though we only placed 3rd i really wanna keep going.

[@willwunsche6940]

For me this video really hits home. I feel like I have gone back and forth living and doing both sides of playing games for their intrensic fun casually and extremely hyper competitively fun while improving with people. There's really no right thing just do what makes you happy. There are so many amazing deep experiences to have competitively vod reviewing, thinking about the game, pushing yourself to do the best, and fighting alongside friends and people. Yet at the same time I do think there is a slight risk to lose some of that blissful intrensic joy you get from games if you aren't capable of leaning into the casual side occasionally. The structure and underlying problems of a game fracture and expose themselves to you when you are playing it at its most extreme. At the same time, playing it competitively can provide some of the deepest experiences you can truly have outside of experiences with deep social connection. One of my close friends I initially taught Overwatch went on to far exceed me becoming a consistent (4400/gm1) Top 500 NA tank player on PC and I fought alongside him pushing hard at the higher ranks but didn't push as deep as he did or get as far since he leaned more into the scrim organized social competitive aspect than me. Eventually for a little while he struggled to play to enjoy games casually or some games at all since he got a little too far into it. But eventually he learned how to have fun in other games again just for awhile he lost the capability for some of that joy. At my peak of trying competitively I was a mid-high diamond flex player studying the game constantly and pushing hard. Now I am more of a casual player but I have still improved over the years and am a mid masters player and a top 5000 player in Splatoon. I still lean into my competitive side occasionally and feel like I have learned a lot from it that goes beyond just the games and I have met tons of great people. I may not play as often now but I am happy with where I am now mindset wise pushing competitively and casually; for me I am happy. Some of my competitiveness has transferred over into being a little more competitive in games like beatsaber vr or some stuff in life than I would've otherwise which I think is cool

[@Cosmicmoonnight]

Ty ProChara for making this video and i fully agree with you. Competitive is not that bad tbh. Sometimes it can be fun to be a little competitive. And i'm happy with that. I know there are some players that don't like competitive. well... let them. There's nothing wrong with dislike competitive play.

[@BlackF0x_]

2:46 quite sure it is booga who needs to be on top there)

[@OliyTC]

booga is literally a splatoon 3 day 1 screenshot they're just a baby

[@GenericSteve764]

"this splatfest was everything to me" Like... really?

[@agent_7e862]

I think there are two big problems with your point of view, coming from a causal player. 1, You see the pink-tainted part of competitive, where you can make friends, and have fun by besting each other and comparing skills. That's fine, you've been in this environment since the first game, you've got comfortable in it, and I don't want to take it away from you. The problem with this is that you tend to dismiss big problems that plague the game. Yeah, a bad kit, few amount of kits or hallway maps are bad, but the biggest problem with 3 is the horrid matchmaking. And that brings me to my second point 2, There is this stigma in the Splatoon scene, where competitive and casual people alike put "tryhard" and "competitive" under the same umbrella term. But that is not the case. The tryhards that most casual players complain about are people, that really grind this game and it is basically their personality/life at this point. Which I would be fine with, but this is where the matchmaking problem comes into the picture, if they were separated by their own skill level. The matchmaking (to let people play with friends, I assume) completely has been ruined, more than ever, because the matchups are horrible. As a casual who just wants to have fun, I am paired up (like 60% of the time) with full X rank and golden badge players that know the game inside out. Yeah, now there could be the argument of "git gud", but I think pairing up a B/A rank against some X rank players is unfair. And sometimes these players just use Turf War (which I actually like and is the most causal mode) as target practice or just to feed their superiority complex, the case is not better in ranked either, there are a lot of X smurfs in C/B/A ranks. In conclusion, I don't want to win, I just want to have fun. And it is hard to have fun when the players I am matched with splat me in a microsecond because they can use the motion that precisely or know the ink patterns/sound cues. It's not fun if it's not an even or slightly even match-up and I can't feel accomplished or admit that I messed up something, and with that mindset, it is hard to get better or to want to get better. I can't try out new weapons, strategies or anything, because the X rank squad chose me to be their target practice. THIS is the biggest problem of Splatoon and this is an opinion a lot of my friends share too.

[@Eggmancan]

Progression is fun, but the competitive mindset becomes toxic when it becomes about winning above everything else. For example, I've seen streamers throw absolute hissy fits because they get matched with a low tier weapon on their team. Like, your X rank isn't that important, bruh, let people play whatever weapons they want.

[@Lil_pichu747]

2:47 those who know, know bogga

[@arttukettunen5757]

The competitive or speedrun scenes of each game find meaning by pushing the game to its limits. The very least its existence does to less competitive players is raise the expectations of skill, like "you have to be following the meta somebody found", or "don't do x" or "this is how you should play the game". Game communities these days are more interconnected and the mindsets spread because they look like they have good reasoning. Worse cases those senitments get toxic or overly controlling. In a single player game, people can freely ignore the community and what it has to say no problem. But in a multiplayer game not looking up what the community says is often a disadvantage. Majority of players you will encounter at almost any skill level in any game these days will have knowledge from the community, what is the meta etc (this is even more significant in games whose advertisement mainly comes from content creators who are part of the community). Basically you gotta commit to the game in more ways than just playing to be on the same level with other players. And then the fact that competitive scenes require more and more commitment to enter and their strategies become even more refined when time passes. Fear Of Missing Out hits, because people can't experience the game with everyone having the same amount of knowledge of a new game. Because the early game with new mechanics to learn and so much to see is for 99% of games the best part of the game. And nobody likes to lose too much.

[@lee1130fromtwitter]

I've played Splatoon since 2. Never made any friends. No in game voice chat. No in game messaging. How can you make friends. I am bitter with how poor the matchmaking is. I can top every stat in a match but get matched with people who don't understand the basics. And the frustration that I can't help them by telling them what they can do to help.. I want to be in x rank but almost every series is the worst matching for team mates. Like 3 snipers and me. For zones... Wut.

[@crumbsii]

great editing from oily, really impressed, chara basicially just talked and the editing did make the video so much more interesting

[@Otohime457]

1:47 THATS WHAT I’VE BEEN SAYING FOR THE LONGEST TIME

[@Breeze926]

Shoutouts to casual players that call people like us "sweaty tryhards" just for playing the game we find fun and then saying we're the ones making the game toxic by winning.

[@emilyquinn9691]

Congratulations for ruining Splatoon 3 hope you’re happy !

[@Breeze926]

@@emilyquinn9691 You are the exact person my comment is talking about. Winning doesn't ruin Splatoon 3. Putting other players down because of their playstyle and goals does.

[@emilyquinn9691]

I agree with the original comment. The competitive sweaty try hards have completely ruined this game

[@Veckle]

Oh boy! A new prochara video! And can’t wait to see what it’s about considering I’m starting to really get into the competitive side of- oh no. Nevermind, video is goated.

[@natologic]

Nice video (and nice editing Oliy) At some point I'd love to see a video on the toxic side of the community - the people - itself. It might be a hard topic to breach but it would be nice to hear your opinions on it.

[@Duckmadeofrubber]

My main goal in this game is literally just getting better with specific weapons is really interesting, because I’m basically a very indecisive one trick

[@weebsquit347]

I think this Fun and Competitive divide comes from other multiplayer games. Overwatch for example. That game has been overhauled to be played in a specific way. It's competitive first and casual at the very last. Messing up isn't forgiven. So for the casual player, it's not fun. This can go for any genre. Fighting games are a big example. They're naturally competitive, so for many there's no fun to be had, and it's automatically a completely separate thing. Splatoon blends both sides effortlessly. You can be competitive or casual, and you can have fun regardless. I joined Splatoon 2 pretty late. The Octo expansion had been out a good while. I had fun winning, losing, and just playing. I went through the journey of reaching X Rank. I dunno how hard it was to actually reach that. I still found myself enjoying the game casually, but i discovered why competitive players enjoy competitive matches, and why it can also be just as fun. I think for many newcomers, Splatoon 3 will be the same.

[@camoking3609]

yeah that's my qualms about the competitive scene of every game. Not necessary from the competitive itself, but rather, the competitive mindset that has completely destroyed fun games, like the case of Overwatch where the devs forcing esports down the players throats created a massively toxic community and ruined the game, and Dead By Daylight where the community's own competitive mindset fostered a toxic arua where if your not tryharding out your guts every game, you're not going to have fun altho Splatoon has done an overall solid job of keeping both sides happy and balanced so i appreciate that here

[@ezra6490]

You were already one of my favorite youtubers lately, but the Hollow Knight music made me even happier. You got amazing taste! :)

[@loyaleling]

Oops I forgot to listen to the video because of the hk music in the background. Always the best background music in your vids.

[@crunchysalmons]

solo Q feels terrible, the matchmaking never makes balanced teams so it’s always a shutout either way. there should never be 2 long range weapons on one team and 0 long ranges on the opposite team

[@CobiaCrossink]

@5:16 Is that supposed to be Calculus or Chemistry?

[@OliyTC]

Oh you innocent soul who thinks that they are not fundamentally intertwined

[@CobiaCrossink]

@@OliyTC Now now, I have taken multiple science and math classes. I know they are intertwined. I am by no means innocent. Also, good to see you again Oliy. Hope you been well.

[@momopenguin9735]

HK MUSIC ❤

[@am987ab2]

I think that the main problem is that casual players (like myself) have trouble determining the difference between players who are playing the game competitively and "competitive" players who use meta-defining weapons to basically be a scumbag to players who aren't as good as them. Like I can understand wanting to improve yourself, but if you're being a jerk in Turf War with Crab Tank/Trizooka spamming, ELiter/ZF Charger camping, killing people the frame they superjump anywhere with no opportunity to react to it, etc, people aren't going to like you. "Competitive" players constantly complain about Turf War being too casual of a gamemode, yet they continue to play it and spawncamp "noobs." I rarely even play any of the PvP gamemodes anymore because of these type of jerks.

[@dyingstar24]

While yes, competive is nice, its when it progresses into absolute pub-stomping and going for the "sick, epic 25 kills" that it becomes toxic. Solution: give comp players their own separate turf war lobby set (like they do during splatfests) where they can be competitive without stomping out the youngsters and 9-5ers that play the game at lower skill levels. OR nintendo could implement proper skill-based matchmaking.

[@WelfareCenter]

How are people allowed to squidbag other people? I literally spent a 14 day suspension for squidbagging..

[@t00nvisi0n]

Great video! However I do have some criticisms. TL:DR Warning Now I for one am not interested in competitive Splatoon, nor do I have the patience to be into competitive play. I adore Splatoon for its lore, unique gameplay, and characters. I play how I want, and use my favorite weapons or any just to try them. I have much respect for people like Pro Chara, Chase247, and Squid School to name a few who have much better patience than I do when it comes to Splatoon competitive play! They are passionate However my criticisms is mostly the fact that ProChara has not touched any of the bad sides competitive players can be at times. My gripe is mostly that some players can be WAY TOO serious in video games that just ruins the fun for me, some of my friends do that with other games (Not all act like this of course) and not to mention on Twitter I have seen other players bully others simply because they enjoy a special/weapon in the game. I’m sorry but that is a huge pet peeve of mine, people should be allowed to play what they want, which is why I like about ProChara, he always did say play what you want, we need more people like that IMO and its not just Splatoon any team based games will have players like that. The other thing too about competitive stuff is the tone of voice, like do I have to play certain weapons because the pros say that it is the best weapon or avoid what they consider the worst? Do I have to improve in the way they want it? Do I have to use motion controls because Chara or other people say it is the best? It things like these is what I find questionable in the competitive side. Like IDK gamers can be some of the best with the skills I can’t do or they can be the most obnoxious people on the planet which is why I am mixed. I am certain ProChara does know about it’s annoying side cause no community is perfect, especially with a game that relies on nerfs and buffs, nobody will ever be satisfied in these types of team based games. Great analogy overall and it shows why he is passionate as a pro Splatoon player. Everyone is passionate about something, hell my interests is more EDM/Dubstep music more than the competitive side of Splatoon. A lot of people may not understand my music taste but it something I defend like what Chara is doing with the competitive side of Splatoon. It would be nice if he touched the negative sides more cause competitive players (NOT ALL FYI) can be very toxic. Hell ProChara also have proved a point that it can be a great journey, meeting up with people that have similar interests in all. So not everything about communities is a bad thing! He did shed some light on some of the positives. It is important to understand both sides good and bad IMO which why I am disappointed he didn’t tackle some of the bad players can be at times