“…MCs is crabs in a barrel, pass the Old Bay…”

—MF DOOM

At every level of play, smashers do whatever they feel is necessary to win. Whether they put on the headphones or the hood (or both) to block out extra sound, wear a silly shirt, or go for a quick smoke break before grand final, a competitive smasher will not hesitate to put themselves in as advantageous a position as possible before they sit down to play. This competitive mindset isn’t always limited to only what a player does to ensure they’re in the zone when they pick up the controller, though. Skilled smashers—most notably Leffen—will sometimes leave good sportsmanship behind in order to win tourneys by any means necessary. This type of poor behavior is not always as obvious as outright verbal abuse…many talented players, including some in our very own Midwest smash scene, will attempt to psychologically manipulate and mislead their opponents through sandbagging or other tactics that might be considered underhanded. This lack of respect for the smash community is indicative of a very dangerous mindset: crab mentality.

Pictured: the Midwest smash community

Crab mentality, for those unfamiliar, is a metaphor for the tendency of people in a competitive situation to resent and sabotage their peers. The origin of the phrase is illustrated above. A single crab, placed in a wooden bucket, could use its nimble claws to escape. In fact, any amount of crabs, if they cooperated and were patient, could easily reach freedom. However, when placed in a bucket together, crabs will pull each other down and become involved in a useless struggle for dominance, ensuring their collective demise. The existence of crab mentality in competitive communities is well documented, and the psychological tendencies that lead to crab mentality are universal. It wouldn’t be a stretch to call the smash community “competitive”…but why is crab mentality dangerous?

As a quick reminder, with a few notable exceptions, Illinois players as a whole are not very skilled when compared to the broader smash scene. Also, the Midwest is generally agreed to be the worst region of the Big Five regions (Midwest, South, Cali, Florida, and East Coast) in both Melee and PM. A number of factors influence our poor performance compared to other regions…the Midwest’s large geographic size makes attending tourneys even within our region difficult for many players, we have a smaller and perhaps less organized player base compared with other regions, who all have large dedicated TO organizations, and our big-name players also don’t face off frequently enough to generate hype-fuelling rivalries. I believe the biggest issue holding back our players from greatness, though, is very simple: our attitude.

Let’s take a look at the Smashboards PM player power rankings. (shoutout to Oro?!, what a guy). PM is a game that has gained an immense amount of popularity over the past year with the release of 3.5, and its player base continues to grow. Unlike Melee, PM has not had 13 years to develop a metagame, though, so many of the top PM players are newcomers to the scene who have been competitive for only 2 or 3 years, compared with Melee veterans, many of whom have been active for 6 or more years. About a year ago, the Midwest was reppin’ a whole lot better on the PM power rankings, so what happened? Every region has a whole slew of PM players of beginner to average skill level, but it’s clear that the top players in other regions have put a lot more effort into improving, and their players improved together. The Midwest’s best players haven’t gotten much worse, but where are our up-and-coming challengers? Where are our proving grounds for great players? As a whole, our region has done a shit job of encouraging competition and improvement among our own players, and it shows when we attend nationals.

I know that the Midwest is better than this. I know that Champaign is better than this. The point of this blog isn’t to call anyone out—nobody needs to be called out—but tournament results speak for themselves, and it’s clear that we are not improving as much as we could be. Just take a look at the results from the past few EXP tourneys in Chicago…with the exception of a few interlopers, the same players have been placing consistently for at least the past 9 months. Mediocre players may do their best to improve, but without guidance and friendly challenges provided by top regional players, our overall skill level is going nowhere fast. I believe that a lot of the best players in our scene are content to win their local weeklies and monthlies routinely, secure in the knowledge that they are indeed the biggest fish in their tiny little pond. Besides, players in other regions are just so much better, so what’s the point of putting in extra effort if losing to them at big tourneys is inevitable? This short-sighted thinking and apathy is crab mentality, plain and simple.

This is what it should feel like when you see your homies from other regions

If being a crab in a barrel doesn’t appeal to you, don’t worry. There is so much room for improvement in the Midwest, and I know that we could kick everybody’s ass if we had the dedication to improve as a scene. That’s the flip side of crab mentality…instead of failing together, you can succeed together, and often much more quickly than you could as an individual. Numerous psychological studies have shown that playing video games can encourage cooperation, and even though smash is a game that is usually played alone, a dose of friendly competition could be just what the Midwest needs to step it up as a region. We could be just as great as or greater than any of these jokers from the coasts, but our top players need to get out of their comfort zones enough to stimulate improvement.

So go ahead, talk some shit at the next weekly you attend. Put $5 on the table and challenge your town’s resident buster to a money match on stream. If you’re a newer player, maybe you could beg one of your scene’s elites for some 1v1 time in friendlies or outside of a tournament setting. In my opinion, there’s more you can learn in 5 minutes against a great player than an hour against an average player. If you’re more experienced, maybe you could take 10 seconds out of your very busy day and suggest a simple DI solution to a setup you noticed your opponent last friendly was getting bodied by. DEFINITELY DO NOT sit smugly at the next local smashfest you attend and think you’re hot shit because you play on autopilot and can 3-stock a smasher of mediocre skill—do you honestly believe that continuing with that kind of play will help you improve in a meaningful way? Each and every player, regardless of skill, can do something to increase the overall skill level of their local scene, and from there, we can level up as a region. Don’t be a crab.

PS: for the uninitiated, the original Crab Battle