There's more to Fighting Games than ranks or tournament results

(Inspired by Terrence Tao's There's more to mathematics than grades and exams and methods. It's really good, please give it a read.)

As I get better at Fighting Games, I've noticed that there's this self-inflicted pressure to obtain good results in tournament, or to achieve some kind of strong rank (2k MR, anyone?). Apparently, there's something negative to be said about you if you can't obtain these kinds of things. Maybe you are the scum of the earth. Even worse, you might be bad at a video game.

This is not a cushy, fake positivity "your rank / tournament doesn't determine your personal worth! You can do it! Rank / tournament results don't mean anything!!!" Because at some point I would be lying. Unfortunately, you are not a "restrained genius," who is just one breakthrough away from becoming the next GOAT. You are at 1557 MR and you think footsies don't exist.

(No, your rank / tournament results don't determine your personal worth. Yes, you can do it.)

(There are a lot of nuances to this topic, but I don't really want to talk about them here. Maybe in another blog post.)

I would also be lying to you if I said these sorts of things meant EVERYTHING, because they simply don't. Think about getting an A in school: You can either get one with rote memorization (and then forget everything immediately after finals), or you can get one through a deep understanding of the material. Even though one of these students may actually be considered "smarter" than the other, we (unfortunately) evaluate the two equally. 

There are multiple ways to the top of the mountain, but getting to the top of the mountain might not actually mean anything ("when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure"). So, there's really no need to rush. In my opinion, you will only truly enjoy Fighting Games when you take the time to actually learn them, and that the discoveries and "eureka" moments are far more valuable than any MR milestone will ever be.

Maybe you saw something really cool that another player did, and you want to be able to do the same thing.

Maybe you think a new skill will compliment your already existing game plan, and spend a really long time trying to learn it. Maybe that requires playing another character, maybe it requires playing a completely different game altogether. 

Maybe the way your opponent plays is really stupid and annoying, but for some reason you don't know what to do about it (trust me, I've been there).

But until you let go of the shackles of MR milestones and getting through pools, you'll never experience the real joys of discovery. Even more, you're never actually going to achieve those milestones or tournament results that you currently want. So, just have some fun and try to experience Fighting Games in their totality.