In the TA/Zero-K community, "unit spam" just meant building large amounts of the same unit and someone would usually say to just build counter units. Here it's considered defeatist.
The difference is, that in Fighting Games, what is considered "spam" in other places isn't actually happening most of the time.
- If I spam you with text messages, I send you 5 letter notes nonstop: Message, instantly next message, etc, with the goal of just getting out a ton of texts as soon as possible.
- If I spam Footmen in an RTS, I build 3 Barracks and mash on [F] nonstop until I hit the food limit: Again, the goal is to get out as many Footmen as possible, as soon as possible.
- If I spam Nukes in an MMO, I am pressing Q every time my Thunderbolt gets off cooldown: You get the picture, damage maximization by casting my spell literally whenever it is possible.
When someone "spams" jMP with Painwheel, or "spams" Hadouken with Ryu, or "spams" Napalm Shot with Parasoul,
that is not what's going on.
Spamming jMP would mean you hold upforward and wildly mash on the MP button, to get out as many jMPs as possible in a given timeframe.
Nobody with more than 10 hours playtime in any Fighting Game is gonna do this (unless the Fighting Game they are playing is utter shit - else this is obsessively easy to beat).
- Because, unlike in other places, spamming by itself provides you with nothing (20 text messages instead of 1 is more annoying, 20 footmen instead of 1 make my rush more likely to succeed, 20 nukes instead of 1 is 20x the damage; .. 20 predictable fireballs in a Fighting Game just means the opponent jumps over all of them and lands free hits on you)
MAYBE they only use one Button, or only one skill! That is certainly possible. But they will 'never' do it in a "Push this whenever possible" way, and as such it can't really be classified as spamming.
The difference between "spamming" and "only doing one thing" is that the latter still carries thoughts and positioning on every action.
Maybe I defeat you as Parasoul doing nothing but Napalm Shots!!, but I won't be doing them 'anytime I can' - Instead, I'm going "Let's move a bit closer now, he is scared! Gives me some positioning" and "I think he will jump, so do M Tearshot instead of H Tearshot" or "Let's delay this next Napalm Shot a bit, to bait him into moving forwards" or "He expects H Napalm Shot, so I will do L this time to throw off his timing" or "I am too close to safely Napalm Shot, let's backdash twice then try it again" or etc
This is very very different from "H Napalm Shot, H Napalm Shot, H Napalm Shot, H Napalm Shot, H Napalm Shot on repeat whenever I can hurr durr", which isn't really a factor if you spend 5 minutes in training mode with your character.
And that is pretty much the entire point of complaint vs the term "spamming" in fighting games.
I am waddling back and worth, staying out of your optimal ranges, controlling some space, predict a jump so I decide not to toss a fireball and instead antiair you, backdash, predict another jump and AA you again, expect you to be scared of jumping by now - so I use a slow fireball and bully you into the corner by advancing behind it, land some free chip on you while you are sitting frustrated in the corner, etc blabla
- And then after the match, rather than being impressed by me controlling all parts of the screen and expertly reading your every action in advance, your thought process is "Wow this stupid guy did nothing but spam fireballs and DP sometimes! Anyone could do this!" which means not only will you be incapable of ever finding a counter (as you are going to be blind to the ranges and timings at which I toss plasma, and unable to recognize that your jumpins are too predictable - since you believe I am just mindlessly doing shit and it is magically working) but you are also straightup insulting me due to your ignorance
If someone is really "spamming Painwheel forward jMP" then
1) You know exactly what they are going to do next (since they just do the same thing over and over)
2) You know exactly when they are going to do this (since they do it on repeat with the exact same timing)
3) You know they have no concern about their spacing at all (meaning they will both do it when they are very close to you, and when it will just whiff)
4) You know that it is an extremely slow normal (22f startup)
- So what you do is:
1) Stand at far range, wait for them to jMP (should be a waiting time of around 1 second!), let it roll through, then dash in as they are landing
2) You now got very close to them for free, since they just did a move at a range where it does nothing and you were ready for that happening
3) Now you know they will jumpforward jMP AGAIN! Since they are just spamming it
4) Recap: You are very close to them, they are going to press a very slow normal
5) Push a button. Any button.
- Tadaa! You just won.
You will meet very few people where this exact course of action actually works this easily.
.. Because most people aren't actually "spamming", they just know that X is very good at Y range, so they will attempt to get into Y range and then do X. With some varying delay, to not make countering it too easily. Or maybe not, if they suspect you to do a thing that would beat X.
Which is very, very different from mindlessly pressing the same button over and over no matter what is going on anywhere, as "spamming" would imply.
