Competitive Battling- How to Stop Being a Sore Loser

[Mr.Munchlax]

This is a problem I have with games in general (not just pokemon), & it's why I tried to avoid online battles for the longest time, but lately I've really been getting into competitive battling so I want to know how to handle this problem before it gets any worse.

Generally, I'm a good player when battling other trainers. I don't get cocky, I don't gloat, and I generally have fun playing the game whether I win or lose. However, whenever I have a losing streak (especially when the other players sweep my team), I slowly start to lose my cool and become more enraged with each battle. I then get into a cycle of doing as many battles as I can until I can finally win, but the more my loses keep piling up & the more my rank goes down, I start getting really competitive. I get in a mindset that winning's the only thing that matters, I become really upset when the match doesn't go my way, & I yell at my console over how pathetic my loss was.

I'm at least calm enough to know that my opponent beat me fair and square because they were genuinely better than me, and I don't take the blame out on them, but it still doesn't help that I lose my temper when I get in a losing streak and practically become the poster image of a sore loser.

For anyone who has more experience with online gaming & competitive battling, do you have any advice on how to handle this? Also, if this isn't the right area to post this, could please let me know where it's supposed to go?

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

I'm not into competitive, but I've run into some sore losers.

Once, while I got done battling someone at a Pokemon event.

I beat them in a battle of Pokemon Red and Blue. They had a fit over losing.

Another time was during a competition, and the person disconnected during the battle. Was thinking it was either a sore loser or someone with a bad internet connection.

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I'll move this into General (Other video game discussion), since you want to talk about sore losing in games.

Just moved it.

 

[Ignition]

I’ve been playing competitive Pokémon since Gen 5 and other competitive games like Smash since I started going to local events with my friends in my early teens so I have some experience and advice that would help.

I have experienced frustrations with losing streaks. However, before I inevitably trash on my skills, I acknowledge what I did well and remember at the end of the day, I’m here to play for fun. There’s an ever growing stigma of competitive gaming nullifying all fun from casual play. It’s not unwarranted as you’ll see tryhards who take it too seriously. But you seem like someone who cares about enjoying yourself over winning despite your frustration.

I’m not saying become complacent or just say “Hey, I lost! Oh well lol”. I’d just prioritize giving yourself props and look back to see if you had fun. Leave the constructive criticism for a little while so you’re not overreacting on your feelings. Acknowledge that every pro had to experience loss to know what they need to improve on.

I’ll use my experience with Pokémon as these are the games I put the most effort into competitive wise. With Pokémon, I often overpredict a move and it costs me the game or I’ll only think about what’s currently on the field and not how to plan ahead after I deal with the current threat. I play Monotype a lot and with that comes the raised likelihood of one Pokémon sweeping my team simply because of a type advantage. I have a Mono Fire team atm and often get swept by Choice Scarf Dracovish or Dynamax Gyarados/Kingdra. I, of course, laugh at the chances of me getting matched with a rain team but also remember how many times I’ve easily dispatched teams who had Rillaboom or Galarian Darmanitan as their backbone. So in addition to working on bettering yourself with your reactions, also realize sometimes you’ll be at the mercy of RNG. You don’t know how many times I lost a speed time or got a min roll that cost me the game.

That’s another thing: mix up your strategies. Chances are it might be either your team’s synergy or the lack of consistent strategy that’s causing your frustration. Try changing out a move/Pokémon/ability/item or just create a new team. I’ve created countless boxes full of Battle Teams and I had to acknowledge on several occasions that this team’s gimmick isn’t cutting it so I just rework from the ground up. Part of the fun, for both casuals and competitive, is the virtually limitless customization for your team. So don’t be afraid to bench your current team to figure out what went wrong.

TL;DR:
*Acknowledge both your strengths and weaknesses
*Don’t be afraid to try out new strategies
*Remember to have fun above all else.

 

[Divine Retribution]

Every loss is a learning experience. If you're playing on Showdown, save a replay and watch it. Try to identify what you did wrong, and what you could have done instead to have a better chance of winning. Try to identify what your opponent did right, and any particularly clever plays they made.

As for dealing with losses, my rule for tilting in any game is to simply stop playing when I feel it coming on. If I lose a few games in a row and I can tell I'm getting frustrated, I'll say to myself "if I lose this next match, I'll go play something else for a while". And if I do lose that match, I'll do exactly that.

At the end of the day, RNG has a significant hand in the outcome of Pokemon battles so some losses will be out of our control, and that can feel unfair. However, that's just the nature of the game, and the only thing we can do about it is accept it.