Why do people Taunt? (MSC Special)

taunting is a staple let's Super Smash Brothers series starting from the days of n64 all the way to the Wii U so in this analysis video I'm going to discuss the effects of taunting from my point of view and how I can change the tide of a battle in the realm of video games taunting stretches far beyond smash and into many other games of different genres I've always found it has been interesting mainly for competitive games whenever developers decide to include some sort of taunt it affects everyone differently but by definition it serves one purpose to provoke your opponent whether it be peach expressing how sweet her last kill was or sonic telling you how slow you are we've all been on the receiving end and more often than not it doesn't evoke the most pleasant of feelings though why is this in games and actually a lot of other things in life when we put effort into accomplishing something we tend to get a good effort or nice try it's courtesy and respecting a person's effort go through your mocks for your failure after you poured blood and sweat it's natural to feel upset or discouraged this is the basis of taunting when used at the right time making cos frustration which in turn can make the opponent play more recklessly taunting usually has different effects based on the situation if you're just sitting around playing some a player smash with close friends and you see your buddy throwing out like 10 taunts after every kill no one's going to get mad because everyone knows each other so well you know there's no disrespect and the taunts are all in good fun on the other hand in a more competitive setting perhaps the tournament match taunting suddenly might have a bit more weight mentally all the times you spend practicing all the travel expenses and entry fees you've paid and the placement goals you've set for yourself are all put on the line now of course most professional players are probably not really fazed by taunting due to how much experience they've had in a competitive environment but nonetheless it can still get the better of any of us in certain situations personally I find defensive characters get the most out of taunting especially when they have a considerable lead they wand you to make it no decisions and go for reckless approaches and if taunting can help with that that's an extra tool at their disposal it's funny though because I feel the effects of taunting can go both ways sometimes since taunting is regarded as a sign of confidence there can be added pressure on at 'enter to back it up with good performance if the tantra gets destroyed right after that can be quite embarrassing hence the term conjugate body combo Taunton can reach far beyond the simple character animation and voice lines developers put in as an example I'd like to bring up a pretty intimate set which I hope most of you guys have already seen between lesson and chillindude at the apex salty/sweet for those who don't know this is a highly anticipated match between two Pro Fox players which was riding on a lot of hype going into the set the pressure on both players was very high trash talk was rampant and diss tracks were made which garnered a lot of attention from the community throughout the set you can see lesson was confident both in game and on camera so confident they threw out a talent in the first game and giving up an edge card opportunity when you was three games up he went for a very punishable Firefox which somehow managed to land and kill in the last match he randomly spammed lasers and illusions on stage although they weren't erect on they essentially had the same effect as a taunt when your opponent uses such punishable and predictable tactics it's usually a sign that they aren't taking you very seriously and in a supposedly serious set with so much pride on the line I would imagine it negatively affected children lose mentality quite a bit even in games that don't have any kind of designated taunt buttons players still find a way to taunt tea bagging and shooting games is a pretty well-known example watching your lifeless corpse hump by the person that killed you in the killcam definitely does not conjure up the most pleasant of feelings as a result that player who got teabag may lose sight of the objective and target the teabagger for revenge we can see this exact same behavior replicated in even single-player games like the provoked ability and finals fancy which forces the enemy to target only you and not your party or the move taunts in Pokemon which enrages the foes so much that they can only use attack moves no doubt counting is widely not regarded as the most respectable thing to do in a match despite the impact it can have on the opponent's mental game which makes it even more interesting when a taunt has actual properties throughout the smash series there are few tones that have a tangible impact most notable would be Luigi's with hands behind his back couples of a very bored expression he lightly kicks the ground and if you've played any smash since melee you probably know what happens next despite the taunt being a potential kill move it's extremely difficult to land due to its tiny hitbox and slow startup if and when your opponent goes for this in a competitive match you know they're not taking you very seriously and if they miraculously manage the land the meteor that's double-whammy and salt in the wound we can actually find taunts like this applied in many other games too namely Tekken and Team Fortress Miguel's taunt can one-hit kill as well as the characters in tf2 but in both cases the hitbox comes out very slow a very interesting application of taunting I'd like to bring up is in WWE every time you taunt your finisher meter would build up though if you get interrupted you'll lose it I felt this is a really nice touch from the devs we can affect more than just a mental game but the actual meta game itself all this brainstorming about the effects of taunting while I was working on this video kind of had me thinking can it all just be in our minds when a person gets haunted by a CPU they won't get angry because they know that's what it's programmed to do there is no ill will turn the tables around and if it's a human player taunting you suddenly it's disrespect but in reality it's the exact same action being performed from another perspective what is tons in Smash were called emotes instead would people still be provoked if the action assigned to the d-pad had a positive meaning simply by its definition for example in overwatch there are no tones instead their emotion however some of them can essentially be interpreted as taunts as a gesture the hero does can be quite mocking though no one that I've ever encountered an overwatch ever saw emotive taunts rather just small actions that gave the hero more character my point is maybe some people are affected by taunting simply due to the fact that they're called taunts in another fighting game guilty gear xrd the devs actually designated a taunt button as well as a respect button where the respect animations are very positive I think this is a very nice addition which I hope other games will adopt as I face players in the past who taunted not to mock but it's a way to communicate and express something in the end I feel taunting at the right time can definitely sway the momentum of a match the keys and not let taunts mentally affect you when you get salty over a taunt you're giving your opponent control over you and they will take advantage of it or you know just turn away if you're just having a good time well that's pretty much all I have to say about the topic these antigen my thoughts on taunting what are yours how does taunting affect you thanks a lot for watching I hope you guys enjoyed this episode and of course a special thanks to my patreon sylveon Bay broke me at big titties Ethan Stevenson Poston Lau I've met Aloha and many others with that said I'll see everyone in the next video

Channel: My Smash Corner

Views: 852,624

Rating: 4.8968306 out of 5

Keywords: super smash bros, super smash bros melee, super smash bros wii u, 3ds, ssb4, smash 4, melee, combo, nintendo, smash 64, taunt, masahiro sakurai, video games, 720p, ssb, smash, tutorial, guide, walkthrough, playthrough, games, bayonetta, corrin, mario, msc special, metaknight, my smash corner, how to, wii u, wii, techiniques, tech, tournament, sonic, zelda, donkey kong, pokemon, kirby, star fox, street fighter, megaman, cloud, pikachu, Ryu, evo, rosalina, fox, falco, link, msc

Id: ByACtRKr-MM

Length: 8min 3sec (483 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 23 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/SSBM_DangGan]

I appreciate the video length added to the title

[u/orangedress]

I have to disagree with AI's taunting not affecting people. That makes me want to wipe that smug little line of code out of their class a whole lot more than a human's taunting annoys me. When a human does it, I know they're probably trying to get in my head, so I don't let it affect me. When a bot does it, it's because they actually think they did something clever, when all that happened was that I messed up my QA angle >=(

[u/Anthan]

The main use of Taunts is to draw attention to something and to add personality to the fight. I've always seen them as emotes rather than disrespect.

It is the universal "emote" tool used to show appreciation after something funny happens like a flashy combo, janky kill, accidental footstool, weird luck like Peach pulling a MrSaturn or Luigi missfiring twice in a row, suicide KO or even just a suicide, see somebody playing the same character as you in For Glory, or even just as a mark of "GLHF" at the start of the match...

If something funny happens like you SD and the other guy just stands there doing nothing with a dead eyed stare while they wait for you to respawn then that's just depressing.

[u/Jaqana]

I only taunt if I'm getting bodied and my opponent SDs.

[u/[deleted]]

I taunt to feed my own ego

[u/Bradyhaha]

SMH at people not understanding the object of the game. The object of the game isn't to take all of an opponent's stocks, its to taunt as much as possible. The only reason you should be trying to get an opponent off stage is so you can spam taunt between stocks.

[u/WRECK-IT-MUNDO]

I know I love my D-pad buttons and I know the usages of them, but I also use them to calm my nerves slightly bit which is quite nice in tournament bracket.

Wario's Bike Taunt also has an usage. I use it to decrease the acceleration of the bike and can even read miss tech and other options with this. Or just troll.

I'm just glad Wario is one of those characters who are OK to taunt if they want or can.

[u/DonSerrot]

In earlier Smash bros games taunting as the match ended gave you extra points in 1p/classic mode. Even though doing so doesn't give extra points anymore that habit is still ingrained in the way I play.

[u/NerdCasterGaming]

I enjoyed his thoughts and appreciate the effort. Great video.