I have this intense fear of playing fighting games online. It’s an odd fear to have, especially since I’m fine playing things like shooters or PvP in MMOs against other players. With a fighting game, I usually don’t make it past the “Searching for players” menu before I quit out in a nervous fit. Something about a game that I don’t feel competent at makes it impossible for me to jump online against other human beings.

I know how to beat this fear. I shouldn’t be afraid to lose a few (hundred) matches against another human being. I shouldn’t worry about how I’m just going to mess up my moves or block at the wrong times. All I need to do is force myself online and just learn by doing. It’s the only way.

Persona 4 Arena is my game of choice, Yukiko my character. I plan to practice intensely for the next week offline. After that, the terrifying world of online play. Stay tuned for further updates.

I have this intense fear of playing fighting games online. It’s an odd fear to have, especially since I’m fine playing things like shooters or PvP in MMOs against other players. With a fighting game, I usually don’t make it past the “Searching for players” menu before I quit out in a nervous fit. Something about a game that I don’t feel competent at makes it impossible for me to jump online against other human beings.

I know how to beat this fear. I shouldn’t be afraid to lose a few (hundred) matches against another human being. I shouldn’t worry about how I’m just going to mess up my moves or block at the wrong times. All I need to do is force myself online and just learn by doing. It’s the only way.

Persona 4 Arena is my game of choice, Yukiko my character. I plan to practice intensely for the next week offline. After that, the terrifying world of online play. Stay tuned for further updates.

All I can say is: Go for it!

I generally don't have this fear when playing shooters and fighting games because I know I'm bad at them, so losing isn't a big deal. It can be frustrating when I constantly get trounced though, and I've gotten to the point where I completely gave up on the game (MW2 in particular, despite the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed MW).

I will say that I have a certain amount of fear that I feel is similar to yours when it comes to Starcraft II. This probably stems from the ranking system and my own perceived level of skill. That is to say, I think I suck a certain amount at the game, but in fact I actually suck even worse! This leads to my so-called "ladder anxiety" where it can make it difficult to queue up for games despite the fact that I love it and want to play more of it.

Hopefully you have more luck overcoming this than I. I'll be sure to stay tuned.

@wchigo: Oh man, I think SCII is even worse. I tried playing that online twice and I was practically shaking after each attempt. That game is so intense and complex that I just freeze up entirely. Luckily, I'm not even going to try that one!

I used to think similarly, now I've just stopped caring. Just don't worry about it too much.
Playing against other people is key in getting the most out of fighting games, it's really different to playing the CPU. If I have a few good games with someone I often end up adding them to my friends list now.
 
Good luck!

@wemibelec90: We have a really fun bunch of duders that play together from time to time, you are more than welcome to join us for some matches to get a feel for the online mode.

@wemibelec90 said:

@wchigo: Oh man, I think SCII is even worse. I tried playing that online twice and I was practically shaking after each attempt. That game is so intense and complex that I just freeze up entirely. Luckily, I'm not even going to try that one!

Yeah, tell me about it, haha. I shake a fair amount from games that I played, mostly due to adrenaline, and it gets even worse in super close games. It's to the point where I think it would've been more beneficial for me to get up and walk away for a couple minutes until I cool down a bit, but of course like an idiot I jump right into my next match and my hands are still literally shaking as I'm going through my early build order.

It got better for a little while but then I came to China for work last year and didn't have a computer powerful enough to run SCII at the time. I finally do now, but it's been about 19 months and I'm so far behind the meta-game that I honestly feel that I will get crushed (I used to play at Diamond league level before Master and Grandmaster were available) so that's kind of keeping me away from the game again now.

Go for it man, like @_Soki_ said you can play casuals to develop your play. Also training mode is your best friend. Don't worry about losing, it happens, you learn bu playing against others.

Also when you learn a fighting game, whichever, learning other will be easier because you learnt the "basics"

It's been happening to me a lot lately but don't get discouraged if you win and then your opponent disconnects.

@IrrelevantJohn said:

It's been happening to me a lot lately but don't get discouraged if you win and then your opponent disconnects.

I would be amused as hell if that happens because I'd know they got whupped and frustrated. Odds are, that won't happen for awhile yet.

Go for it duder! Just remember that losing will make you better if you learn from your mistakes. Eventually the fear will go away and you'll have fun, even when losing. And as Soki said, feel free to pop into the IRC and ask people if they'd like to play. Usually there are a few people in there with a casual room set up.

http://www.giantbombing.com/chat/ Channel: #GB_P4A

Edit: Should probably mention that the people playing on the IRC are on PS3.

@wemibelec90: If you have it on xbox 360 then feel free to add me and we can have some casual matches.

We all started off not knowing much at some point. If you feel like getting past some of your fighting game anxiety and are on ps3 my PSN ID is MikeFightNight. I'd be happy to teach you what all I know in a no pressure environment. Just play to have fun and learn. If you play to win you will learn nothing xD.

@cannonballBAM: I am actually on PS3 but thanks for the offer!

@MikeFightNight: I may take you up on that at some point but I want to start with some offline training and maybe force myself into a few online matches where I know the other player is completely random. I feel it will help me get over this anxiety I have.

I used to play a lot of TCG tournaments, which was all like face to face dudes but after I left that to go school, I had this weird regression where playing against other people (in person or online) caused me a bunch of weird anxiety. I've kinda gotten over it over the last year or so but for a bit there it was literally a matter of even the thought of playing with strangers online terrified me. No idea where it came from. Though I've played some P4A online (and really only stopped because time) and overall it's been pretty good other than some lag issues (my internet is teh suck ;_;)

@wemibelec90: Just come hang out in the IRC some night, even if you're too afraid to play some matches. If TFP(TheFakePsychich) is streaming you could check that out or you can hop in a lobby and auto-pass just to watch some matches. The community here for P4A is great. We've got pretty much all skill levels represented and a lot of people are willing to do what they can to help others get better. Just jump in man. I probably would have quit the game by now if not for the community around here for it. Especially after last tournament, I was PISSED when I lost. It's always a good time though so I'm trying to stay in the game.

Also, we've got another tournament coming up on the 6th and 7th of October that will be in part streamed by TFP probably. So if you're still not comfortable by then you can check that out. Like I said though, just jump in. Odds are you'll feel a lot better after 1 night of casual matches with a couple dudes.

That said, I really need to go practice my Yosuke.

I know how you feel. And the people I play with tend to just win a lot >_>;;

I'm sure they'll end up reading this soon enough.

Most you can do is try and work on trying to get better o:

And I also don't want to be called free when I enter a random lobby .-.;;

I wish you luck when you enter the online world though. Fighting the computer is one things, fighting a human is another.

I'm like you, i get pretty nervous playing fighting games online. I used to shake and stuff for some reason, it's really weird. It's gotten a little better, but it still takes a considerable amount of convincing myself to go online.