Why People Spam (Please Read)
I want to start off by saying this: this isn't a flame thread, nor is it an open door for everyone to explode as to who they think are the worst spamming characters in-game. Nor is this thread meant to 'bash' anyone who does spam, or to call out all the people who 'rage quit' this game because they hate being spammed on.
I posted a thread about a week or so ago about the indifference to spamming, and why I thought spamming was ruining the game. After plenty of practice, spammers don't bother me much anymore, but I got to thinking; Why do people spam to begin with? The answer. albeit taking a serious amount of common sense, doesn't require much logic. They do it to win.
Now, I've spent the past hour scouring the forum threads, and about every third or forth thread is someone crying and rage quitting this game because they got spammed online and pretty much gave up all hope and quit.I've been down that road, but I never wanted to quit, so now I'm here attempting to give people an explanation and logic behind spamming, so maybe it won't be so hard for people to swallow when they lose a match to someone who does.
Anyone whose anyone has played an online match at least ONCE on MK9. I don't know much about MK vs DC, that game was total and complete garbage, but thats another story for another time.
But, I know it sucks when you spend hours in training mode or in arcade mode kicking ass, and then you go online to showcase your skills when suddenly someone picks scorpion, noob, smoke, kung lao, etc, etc, and starts spamming their specials ( mostly teleport ) like crazy, enough to a point where you don't know whether to attack or defend, feeling hopeless because it seems like no matter what you do, they'll end up just punching you in the face. I know if you're reading this and you've been...for the lack of a better term...a 'victim' of spam, you've already read the forum posts and replies of people telling you to 'block this' and 'punish that', which is all words because without the right amount of practice, they're meaningless.
So here's a few tips to help you out, and a few exercises to help calm you down. First off, the people that tell you to block and punish aren't lying, but it's not as simple as that. Well, it kind of is, but for the most part it comes down to two things; timing and prediction. If you want to catch a spammer in a good block + uppercut/combo trap, call them on their ********. You may have to lose a few times, but I've noticed this game is a lot more about strategy than it is beating your face with the controller to press random buttons and perform amazing combos...it just doesn't work that way. MK isn't a spamming game, albeit it may seem that way when people over-abuse someone's specials. But, in reality it's the opposite; the game gives you the tools to counter and fight back, you just need to practice, fight back, lose a few times, get up, learn from your mistakes, and press on.
And I can't express that enough. Learn from your mistakes. Don't fly into a rage when someone spams the crap out of you. If you try hard but lose anyway, sit back and rehearse the match in your head over and over again and ask yourself "What could I have done differently? Should I have just turtled and blocked liked that? Maybe I was too aggressive..his sub zero kept spamming ice clone, and I kept walking right into every time because I rushed my attack...next time I see that coming, I'm going to step back, or jump over it and counter it with someone else...sweet." You should be thinking along those lines, not "OMFG FGLKFDHFLJGJFDGLKFLKJLFDG THIS GAME!!!! RAWR!"
I mentioned this game is all about strategy, and it's the truth. I played a best out of 5 match with this one dude playing sub zero, and I picked scorpion, and as I chained along combos, after the second match he started spamming ice clone. Now, this guy was by far not a newbie, but since I kept rushing him, he kept locking me into ice clone, and like a sucker, I kept falling for it. So sometimes you need to ask yourself, "Is this person spamming because they suck, or is it because I'm dumb enough to keep falling for the same trick over and over again." Eventually I caught on to what he was doing, so I just distanced myself and punished him with hellfire or a well timed spear. It took some trial and error, and I lost a few times, but I eventually won 3/5 matches because I studied what he did, and countered.
Which brings me to my last point; prediction. Spammers are most notable for doing what? The same thing, over and over again. I know it seems difficult to counter now because your either new or frustrated at this point, but just relax and think about it. If you learn to time your block/counters, its all gravy baby. If he jumps back, uses ice clone, then crouches and blocks, step back, jump over it, use your own special, do something to punish him for it. Say for example, he picks smoke, and spams teleport + smoke bomb. As far as I know, his teleport doesn't break your block, so when someone cries imbalance because they don't block and get hit by the same spammable thing, I can't feel sorry for them. Anyways, he's spamming teleport, so what do you do? YOU BLOCK! SQUEE! See how easy that was? But, the question is, when to block? If he's all over the place, he's going to make it harder on you, but with all spammers, he suffers from pattern behavior. Even if they get their ass kicked, our you uppercut them every time, they will repeat the same move over and over again because it's what they do...they are spammers. Now that you know what they are about to do (because they keep doing it over and over again) you know when to block, and youll eventually learn how to properly counter with combos and such.
On a quick note, I have nothing against sub-zero, he is an amazing character, I was just using him and smoke as examples, and I'm not making fun of anyone or any kombatant.
I hope this thread helps. Sorry if it's long winded, but I put a lot of thought into this and I hope it helps some of you out there not only in the game, but helps you rage a little less too. MK9 is an amazing game, and I'd hate to see anyone quit because they got mad about something that happens to them online.
Cheers!