So I'm gonna talk some about Fighting Games and specifically, my experience with teaching newer players. This is long, rambling, with no point to it, so skip it if you don't want to hear me Say Words.
@PattheFlip made a real good post about running into players who are stronger than you at the same character (go read it here) and while he spoke at length about the merits about playing the mirror match and why it's so cool and good for new players to get that experience, there's another point it got me thinking of: patience and expectations when you're new and starting out.
It's a trend of more modern FGs of "let's try to accelerate new players past the stage of learning how to pilot your character, and get them to the Real Game where you Make Decisions and Engage in Neutral" and that's something that's definitely appealing to new players. It's understandable, no one wants to spend a ton of time feeling like they're learning how to do the cool thing, they just want to do the cool thing. But, and here's the problem, at least from my point of view, is that it's not a long-term committed hobby.
This is something I've seen in non-FG related hobbies too. Plenty of people getting into the art grind, which is cool to see, committing to learning a creative hobby as an adult especially is something to be applauded. They'll get through the early parts of learning how to hold a pencil or what have you, and there's a huge serotonin hit of learning a new skill for the first time and seeing all your improvement. But then you hit a wall, and suddenly getting better is getting a lot harder. The same thing happens in lots of things, learning the basics might come quickly, and you'll feel good about that, but getting into the nuances and learning how to truly master something as complex as fighting games can take years, and people don't want that.
That's what makes modern FGs so much more appealing for a lot of players. They get past the "fundamentals" and the studying phase and get straight into the decision making, but after that massive feeling of "OH MAN I'M SO GOOD AT VIDEO GAMES", you'll quickly run into walls harder and faster because ultimately, yes, modern FGs are also massively complex and take years to learn nuances of. It's at this point I think most people either drop off the game, or if they're lucky, find a group of players they can hang out with that all kind of accept they're not there for the competitive self-improvement grind.
To me, and from what I've seen, the former group that drops off and just stops playing FGs altogether, is the group of people that don't realize where they're at. They might bounce around from a bunch of different games and characters trying to find one that "just clicks" and they'll be Good with, but really they're just going after that high of learning stuff fast. I can't blame them, that's the most fun part of doing stuff. I've started picking up a bunch of different characters in GGXrd, and I'm sure most people who have been playing a single FG for a long time have got a solid random select just from enjoying playing different characters and learning new things. But in those cases, that's from people who have already put in the time and know their fundamentals, what works, what doesn't, and they know what their limitations are.
There's a saying I use for these cases, because inevitably, it comes to a head where frustration boils over, and they're tired of losing or feeling like they're not good even though they're trying to get better, the same thing that everyone who has ever engaged on a journey of a hobby focused on self-improvement goes through:
"You're not the chosen one, you're not the kid that's falling into the giant robot to be the rebel hero, you're just a student like the rest of us."
There's so many times where newer players just want the validation of learning fast and being good and getting the praise. Call it Gifted Child Syndrome or whatever, I'm not trying to diagnose, but ultimately, it's to the point where you have to ask them what they want out of what they're doing. It's ok to not be a competitive player. If you just want to mash buttons with your friends and do a funny overhead and feel good for being the king of the playground, then that's fine. But be honest with yourself about it. You don't get to complain about being Bad when you've never tried to be Good.
I should know, because I've been there too.

