Psychological warfare

**mongoloid** · May 07, 2013, 06:19 PM

Discussion about psychological warfare. Let's face the fact that it is used in real warfare so why not in virtual warfare too? Do you use it? What kind of? In what situation? etc. I like using good old trash talk when I'm the underdog. I'm still pretty new to this game so I have to use all the tricks possible to succeed. I'm surprised how easily some people fall to my verbal "abuse" and I honestly think that this has been sometimes the small needed key to victory (getting people to attack me in "rage" and so on). Of course some people (those with not so thick skin as mine ^^) see this kind of provocation as shameful. Don't get me wrong. I'm pleasant guy in real life and say "ggwp" after a good battle..usually I get back "Go **** yourself, you ****ing *******" etc but that's just a sign for me that my PSYWAR was successful. Tell me you'r tricks and tips to good PSYWAR.

**mongoloid** · May 07, 2013, 06:53 PM

"If your opponent is of choleric temper, try to irritate him. If he is arrogant try to encourage his egotism." Sun Tzu

**zaript** · May 08, 2013, 05:40 AM

Overall, I think you pretty much nailed it - being an arse hole is a good way to irritate people and make them loose focus. Drawback are of course the fact that you will only be welcomed in trash-talking communities and you will improve slower, since you never fight your opponents in their best shape.

Also, quite obviously, there is no place for "gg" if game wasn't pleasant. I mean, who cares how "pleasant" you are in "real life"? You will be judged by behaviour you show.

**mongoloid** · May 08, 2013, 07:42 AM

Don't get me wrong, trash talking is not just about calling people with names (sometimes it is) but also talking opponent to do foolish decisions. Don't know if that is really trash talking, guess manipulating or something like that is a better word. If that makes me an ******* - fine.

What I meant about being a nice guy is that outside the battle I think that I'm a good guy. Trying to help new players (as much as I can since I'm new myself) and I really do respect my enemies, if someone beats me in battle I don't keep ranting etc.
I think that a game can be good even that it's not "pleasant" and isn't it great to beat a trash talker?

I see PSYWAR in it's many forms just as a tactic like a well timed cavalry charge and so on. Also I see it quite interesting that people fall to words

Like in hockey there are agitators in teams who annoy opponents to take stupid penalties. So called a-holes in matches but respected by teammates, loved by fans and sometimes pretty soft guys in their personal life.

**SODK** · May 10, 2013, 05:23 AM

“One’s soldiers should not yell abuses at the enemy. Arouse a bee and it will come after you
with the force of a dragon.”
From Opinions in Ninety-Nine Articles –
Takeda Nobushige, 1558 AD

It could backfire.

**Pariya** · May 10, 2013, 03:41 PM

The only benefit i could see from this is if you were camping some sort of defensible position and wanted to anger your opponent into attacking you. But it could just as easily have the opposite affect and make him determined to NOT attack you but to counter camp and wait for you to make the first move out of spite for your words.

I think YOU are the one more psychologicaly affected by your own words. Not to mention that you could be missing key information or have delayed reactions because of the time you are wasting in typing insults.

heck, you could be facing someone who is half drunk and doesn't even care if he wins or loses but once you insult him he now becomes determined to try his best to beat you.

**Hesus de bodemloze** · May 14, 2013, 12:14 PM

Originally Posted by Pariya

The only benefit i could see from this is if you were camping some sort of defensible position and wanted to anger your opponent into attacking you. But it could just as easily have the opposite affect and make him determined to NOT attack you but to counter camp and wait for you to make the first move out of spite for your words.

I would personally go for this approach when someone tries to trash talk me.

**Lancy** · May 14, 2013, 11:38 AM

Benefits and drawbacks to psywar and the type you choose.

For trash talking you might unbalance a sensitive player causing them to make mistakes. But you'll benefit less in pure skill from making them play worse, and if they're a better player than you and still win, they'll be less likely to share tips, tactics etc with you, or to play you again outside of a tournament. So you'd be burning bridges in that sense. Other players might just ignore you altogether, or instead of playing casual decide to completely wreck you for your insolence. In which case your psywar would fail, but least you'd benefit in actual skill.

Now there are other ways of course. The main benefit to trash talk is distraction. So you could just pester them with idle chat rather than insults. Might work better vs someone who will ignore trash but would respond to a conversation. You'd need to be faster typist though so you don't waste too much time on conversation.

Another form of psywar is simply pretending to be less skilled than you are. Many players get lazy when they think they are playing a less skilled player. In RTW - where it's easy to fake your way into other clans - experienced players have got recruited as lower ranked clan players, and so been able to surprise their opponents in tournaments with skill unexpected from a supposedly newer player.

I don't engage in psywar though.

**Lancy** · May 14, 2013, 11:48 AM

"If your opponent is of choleric temper, try to irritate him. If he is arrogant try to encourage his egotism." Sun Tzu

Your quote here really exemplifies the whole psywar approach. Knowing your opponent allows you to better choose which psywar to employ. If they're known to be easily provoked that's easy. if they are arrogant you can just downplay your own skills and flatter their's.

I'd say psywar is best employed in a match were the game has some meaning, so a tournament or a 'war'. But a tournament you need to be cautious since most tournaments have player conduct rules. For a casual match I don't really see the point unless it's a rival or someone you hate. People might like to employ psywar to climb the match made ladder but why anyone would care about such a randomised ladder is beyond me.