Spamming

Well thought out argument, and I do agree with you.

However, for a new player, it's annoying to spend 2 hours in practice mode learning combo strings and mix-ups, coming online to examine frame data and get strategy advice, then lose to a Noob player that knows "all three" shadow moves. To know that all that effort is being countered by someone who likely hasn't played the game for more than 15min is frustrating. Is spamming a viable tactic? Yes. Does it require a lot of skill? Nope.

And therein lies the problem. For a beginner or intermediate player to get past aggressive spamming, it's hard. There needs to be a lot of dedication to the game to learn appropriate strategies, and most people would rather throw their controller in the air and yell "fucking spammer" then put in the time and effort.

I'm thankful for all the spammers because they make up for some of the things the training mode lacks.

I think that spamming only exists in casual play where people are indeed mindlessly spamming something because its super effective without any real understanding as to what they are doing or why it's effective. This is different than in high level play; in high level play, people may be "spamming" but they understand why they are doing it and why it is effective. High level players also have the ability to adapt to someone who gets past their spamming. In casual play, most spammers get exposed really quickly when you get past their spamming. High level players have several different playstyles they can employ once someone gets past the spamming. This is the difference in my opinion.

I do hope one day, when an advanced training mode is available, it would allow us to create situation simulations on the battlefield so we could train on the specific situation more. Like such as a Noob Saibot that just constantly sends clones at you. That would be a great practice mode, but too bad its not realistic

being a Sindel player this happens all the time the "spamming" debate. So i always just pose the question:

"If i time my IAF and LFs to the point where i hit you and you never hit me, should i use something else?"

Is it spamming when the person knows the character to the point they can time projectiles as counter and offensive weapons so well they do not need another attack?

Yes i know all of Sindels BnBs and can pull most of them off blindfolded but her main weapon is her zoning so should i drop that weapon because people say its spamming?

just my two cents on the matter.

The difference here is that you know what you are doing and every fireball you throw has its purpose. I don't think that's spamming. Spamming to me is just mindlessly doing the same thing over and over again regardless of whether it works or not.

In fighting games, if you do something and it works, you're going to do it again. When I first started playing I had no idea what kind of character noob was. My friend beat me with clones and jump kicks. I jumped over the clones only to lose the air battle and be 3/4 screen away. After 3 lost air battles I just started walking into the clones. This was pre-patch johnny I was using and didn't really care since I had no definitive main. The point is I didn't know how to get past his game and lost for it. I've said it once and I'll say it again: if you die to spam you deserve to lose for not getting around it. People won't play the way you want them to for you to win. Its your job to make them play in a way that's favorable to you.

Only thing I hate about Sindel zoning is Noobs teleport can only hit her if she uses IAF. If I do it on the other 2, it whiffs and I get punished.

Same goes for Kabals projectiles... well at least just the ground saw. Not sure about the gas balls.

Spamming is only a viable strategy because it wins.

You will never however convince me to respect someone for winning with it.

I hate it when Sindels and Saibots 'spam' projectiles because when good ones (which are a rarity) do it, it's EXTRA hard to get in and stay in.


....But it's a completely legit strategy.


Bothers me as a player, but I can't do anything about it but cry or learn to work around it. I choose the latter.
Not to mention I throw my share of fans. Gotta build that pressure and meter! Don't be hypocritical!

I once was accused online of "spamming" all of the different high damage combos with Reptile. Like, not the same combo, but the whole array of setups. I'm still trying to figure this one out.

My friends get angry when play with them because I "spam" Kabal's BnB :\

how do you know they aren't just guessing wrong

sometimes several correct guesses followed by a couple wrong ones looks scrubby but it could mean that they were on a HIGHER level than you.

if they think that you already know their counter to the fireball spam counter you were about to use, sometimes that counter's counter ends up being more fireballs. Or that they thought they had threatened you enough with a counter to your counter that you would realize you shouldn't approach the same way, so there might not be many visual clues of the mind games at that particular moment AT ALL.

or like when people get caught in 20 kung lao 24 low hats, its not because they can't block high or the kung lao is a scrub....

Here is my take and I agree with what someone said earlier. I watched a lot of Street Fighter and it definitely revolves a lot around "Zoning" which is chucking a lot of plasma,building meter, making it hard for the other character to get in on you. So, it's the same for MK. If I'm using Quan Chi, I'm going to throw Skulls and build as much meter as I can until the other person figures out to shut me down. But there are people that don't use spamming or zoning becuase it builds meter or use it for any strategic purpose. I don't care what anyone says, you can tell when you're playing someone that has no idea what their doing and they do a bunch of random stuff. People that play like that are pretty easy to beat because they don't time or think about what their doing and I can get an easy jump in and destroy them. But when someone actually knows how to keep you out, it's a whole different battle and I can respect anyone that knows what their doing, wether it be good zoning or great rushdown. I don't exactly agree with Kung Lao players that chain ground hats into everything because I think it's cheap and lame but that's just my opinion. Everyone will do what they want to win and I have to figure out how to stop them. I main Sub-Zero and people get so annoyed about jumping into ice clone after ice clone. That's not really my fault, if you're an agressive player and you don't think about what you're doing, you're going to jump into an ice clone. It's not cheap, that's just how Sub-Zero works. Figure out how to shut me down, stay up on top of me so I can't get an ice clone out. There are players that know what their doing and know how to effictively use zoning etc. and I can respect that, it allows me to better my game so that next time if I come across that I know how to go about it. But there are players that don't know what their doing and I've played the game long enough, it's easy to tell and they are spamming. When I play against a Scorpion, I automatically assume Scrub in my mind because that is mostly what I see scrubs play. No offense. It's just 9 times out of 10 when I play a Scorpion, they don't what their doing and it's obvious. There are good Scorpions out there and I know it. I've played a few but I'm sterotyping because I've what I seen and my general experience with Scorpion players. Overall, I'm just saying there are people that know how to play and I don't consider it spamming, if I see that someone doesn't know how to deal with something, I'll keep doing it. But there are players that don't have any clue as to what they are doing and it's obvious. I don't respect that at all and I damn sure won't lose to some player that doesn't take the time to learn the game and button mash.

I sometimes do this, give my opponents too much respect. I just started picking up scorpion and use the safe jump resets, after a few f+4 into spears I think my opponents will wise up and start blocking low so I break out the b+2 overheads, yet some people never do learn and I punished hard for my wrong guess.

I keep telling myself, to just keep doing something until the opponent has demonstrated they can stop it, and not a second before.

Been lurking around this site for a little bit and made an account because of this thread.
I wouldn't say I'm a great player, intermediate probably. I know how to read a player. I've learned how to play fairly well with every character because it helped me learn all of their moves and the best ways to fight against them.

If you're a good player who throws out a lot of the same stuff, but can switch up your game to counter my counters and punish then I don't consider you a "spammer". But it's those players who only play one or two characters and do only the same move over and over again that I can't stand. It's those players that stand out as spammers. They're immediately recognizable because once I notice a pattern, counter and punish they go right back to throwing the same projectile or throwing out the same hit combo over and over.

If you mix things up a little bit, and at least demonstrate some sort of proficiency with your character I'm totally fine with a little spamming. If you're throwing projectiles back to back without even a seconds pause to try and catch me off guard then I'm going to punish hard, call you out on being a cheap spammer and never fight you again.

To quote one of my favorite comedians: "They’ll hit one button 87 times and win every game. “I won! Yea! I’m a ninja!”
I get mad. “You’re not a ninja! I’m the only ninja of the house! I do flips. You kick me in the shin 87 times.” -Robert Kelly
That's how I feel about actual spammers. Don't kick me in the shin 87 times, do a flip bitch.

Let me reiterate, because I really want to make sure I'm not being taken out of context. I can get successfully counter people that spam projectiles. However, this took me A LOT of practice.

If I were to only have 15min to teach someone the game, teaching them to spam would be the quickest way to get them to a certain level of proficiency, because spamming is an easy tactic to learn and a difficult one to counter.

Idk why but in recent weeks the frequency of "spammer" hate mail in my inbox has decreased (i play sektor almost exclusively) but i am not sure of it is from people accepting it as a tactic or from me evolving my fighting style and improving my game. Either or education is always a good thing and i approve threads like this one. Keep up the good work.

Sent from my Gameboy Color

Spamming in MK is awesome because as soon as you find a counter, theyre fucked

Spamming is when you do it

Zoning is when I do it