Hiya!

I’m back playing Street Fighter 6 but I’m still feeling some of the doldrums. Even after taking a long break from the game, it only took a few gaming sessions with it to bring me back into that funk. Since coming back, I’ve kind of hit a character crisis. No, it’s not like I’m going to switch away from charge characters. I love using them too much! It’s more of the grind of trying to level up a character to Master Rank. I simply don’t have the urge to put a lot of effort in that endeavor. I just feel tired of the pressure of facing off against really strong opponents and hoping to eke out a victory. I don’t like putting a lot of effort anymore to get other characters to Master Rank at the moment. I already have a bunch on them at that level. I feel that’s my limit. It’s been a good run.

Even so, I still like playing Street Fighter 6. I blame Capcom for making the game too enjoyable. I thought about playing Casual matches exclusively. I tried it and I grew out of it quickly. Winning a casual match is good but there’s just not the rush of competing in a Ranked match. Maybe it’s just me but I couldn’t get into it. At the same time, I didn’t want to plunge back into Ranked matches and feel the stress of trying to get another character to Master rank or even face off against other Master rank players.

I just don’t have the mental fortitude as of yet to go through the grind of ranking up at this time. I just wanted to play to relax. So, I came up with a weird plan. I would start intentionally losing Ranked matches but with a little twist. I’ll explain the latter part later but the main idea is I would think a lot of players would just love to earn Ranked points!

However, it didn’t really make a whole lot of sense to lose Ranked Matches against high ranked players, such as Diamond ranked players. They’re already close to reaching Master and they don’t need the boost. They’ll get there eventually the same way I did. My idea was to help players at Platinum ranks as I do believe the biggest hump in the ranks would be from Platinum to Diamond for most decent players. This is around the time when opponents will start anti-airing and countering Drive Impacts on reaction after all.

I mentioned I have a secondary account when I tried using Modern controls. Since I was done with that failed experiment, I haven’t really touched it. I do remember, however, I still had a 5-star Platinum Juri on there. So, my plan was set… but I did have to throw in a little deviousness into it.

I wouldn’t just lose like I would let go of the controller and let my opponent wail on me throughout the match. No, I still had to fight back with as much skill that I have with Juri. Seeing that my main account does have a Master ranked Juri, that amount of skill is fairly significant. So, as an addendum, I would try my best during the 1st round as well as subsequent rounds. When it came to me finally winning the match, however, I would just stop and… taunt my opponent.

In hindsight, this probably wasn’t the best idea but there was some logic to my thought process. Taunting in Street Fighter 6 is one of the worst things you can do for a couple of reasons. One, it leaves you wide open to attacks and, two, you can’t cancel out of the taunt animation! My idea was the taunt was supposed to be a signal for my opponent to go ham as they should know I’d be wide open to attack and, possibly, a killer combo. Make sense, right?

Well, that wasn’t what was happening, to say the least!

So, this is what would happen most of the time. I would get into a Ranked match with my Juri against someone like a 4-star or 5-star Platinum player. Juri isn’t my main so I would kind of struggle a bit, especially if it was my first match of the gaming session. I might even lose the first round. Once I get my bearings and get a bit of a feel of the opponent’s habits, I’ll start to win… and start to win big and I’ll take the round. In the next round, I’ll still try my best and take the life lead during the final round.

Now this is where my plan of using the taunt to tell opponents I’m wide open and ripe for attack would be the downfall. I would start beating on the opponent, get the life lead and then I would abruptly back off and perform Juri’s forward taunt. Why? I just thought it was the most appropriate one for the character as Juri practically beckons her opponent to come close with her feet. This isn’t what happens for the majority of the matches, weirdly enough.

What usually happens is my online opponent would just stop fighting. They don’t attack. They just stand there and do nothing for some strange reason. It’s almost as if doing a taunt immediately stops them from fighting!

For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out the reason why. Here was my Juri, utterly defenseless while she has to go through the entire taunt animation. They could start just beating on me right then and there but they just refuse to attack! I’d even go the extra step of walking up next to them so they can try to kill my Juri off but… nope! They’d just stand there and do nothing! Why? Don’t they want to win?

After a while of this happening, I do have a couple of ideas why they don’t want to. The first one being they don’t want a “mercy” win. It’s the feeling of knowing they should lose and just wait for the timer to run down to accept the loss. The second reason is they might think I’m intentionally throwing the match for nefarious reasons. Maybe they’re thinking I’m intentionally losing so my Juri can stay as a 5-star Platinum ranked character. Both of these reasons are utterly absurd to me.

For the first reason, I don’t understand why you don’t want to win when you were supposed to lose? Is it silly pride wherein you would rather snatch defeat from the hands of victory? Do you think you’re Ryu and you’re following the “warrior’s code” or something? That just seem very naive. When it comes to the second reason, I don’t see how remaining in Platinum benefits anyone. Why? Is it because I can dominate those League division tournaments? Even if I win those, I get the same amount of Kudos just as everyone else! You don’t even get any Drive Tickets for winning those tournaments!

So, yeah. I don’t get it. Here I am, actually giving away Ranked points but there aren’t many takers. It’s just weird! You would think trying to lose in a Street Fighter 6 Ranked match would be easy. Apparently not. All because they got hit by a taunt. Amazing.

Byee

What are your thoughts about getting a “mercy” win in a competitive game? Would you accept it or not? Let me know in the comments section below!