When do you know it's a skill issue vs a game issue?

I think most people feel like if it happens to them it's a game issue, and if it happens to someone else, it's a skill issue.

But seriously, I think it depends on a lot of things. If you're consistently losing chases quickly as a surv, it's almost certainly a skill issue. If you are having long chases as a killer and losing them, it's probably a skill issue.

As far as why people lose games, that could be any number of issues. As a surv, it can be low skill, bad matchmaking, and getting stuck in MMR hell.

As a killer, a bad map combined with bad RNG and the wrong killer can put you in a really tough spot. But if you're continually losing as killer, it's probably a skill issue, since you'll end up at a low enough MMR it can't really be anything else.

Survivor is a tricky thing because even if you are good, if you end up at low MMR with bad teammates, you can still struggle to string together wins.

I think generally you have to be mindful of sample sizes. You can be good and have a demoralizing losing streak, but in a large sample the average will indicate more.

If you could have done something better in XXX situation, then possibly a skill issue.

If there was just nothing, no alternative course of action, that could have possibly affected the outcome in a positive way, then a game issue.

But then there's also the possibility of it being neither, like when you mindgame and the other side won the gamble. It's a gamble and anyone can win or lose at "rock, paper, scissors" regardless of skill. And that's probably the most balanced game ever.

Tell me more wrong things, please.

I enjoy reading so many untrue statements and misleading, mistaken affirmations

When it fits our agenda.

I typically analysis the situation and break down what could have done better, or what was out of my control. Think about it like this, let's say Im Billy on Garden of Joy (for the sake of this example)...

• I curve around a car and miss... Is it the loop or is my skill? Well in this case, the car can be curved around like other cars. So using that to deduce the available options, I can determine that I messed up the timing and my skill (or lack there of) was responsible for me missing the hit.
• Alternatively I am being looped around a bush. The survivor stands still and doesnt move from a single spot but I still hit the bush instead of the survivor for the collision. Could I have been patient or maybe tried another approach to chainsaw'ing them? The collision for the bushes in comparison to the collision for characters doesnt like up properly and makes it so chainsaw'ing does nothing. So in this instance, it would be the game having issues that need to be resolved.

This is of course a very face value example but you need to try and be self-aware as well as avoid using as much bias as possible to be able to come to the conclusion. Sometimes even looking from both point of views can also help. There are game issues. There are skill issues. I feel as if people, even myself sometimes, fail to come to the right conclusion as to which it is sometimes, which is fine as long as the person can acknowledge their mistakes made later down the line.

If you lose, it's a skill issue. If I lose, it's a game issue. Simple.

From a general perspective for killer: If you have the same build and strategy as someone who tends to do well with the same killer and on the same tiles you do badly with then it's either a skill issue or a matchmaking issue where you're put against survivors who are out of your league. On a mikro-level: If you then miss hits that others are able to land then it's a skill issue on your part - most likely pathing and timing. If it is you not being able to even get to that part then the survivors are likely out of your league and have a better understanding of the overall tile / map layout and how to move between tiles and run and mindgame them. On a makro level: If you see gens popping well spread out, you didn't keep track of where you were going/following for chases to be able to force a three gen in late game. Losing on a makro game level as killer is nearly always a killer skill issue, one of the few exceptions being a killer without something to help with map-traversal on a big map.

From a general perspective as survivor: Easiest way to tell is to equip Bond+Open Handed and stay after spectator mode. Since there are more survivors than you it's rather easy to tell on a mikro-game level: take first chase, last as long as you can, get hooked, get unhooked, heal up and repeat until you're dead, then go to spectator mode. If they fare significantly better against the very same killer on the very same map; it's you who lacks skill. Alternatively/additionally watch teamies chases via Bond and compare to how you do/did on the same tiles against the same killer (across matches) and you'll get a sense of where you're at skill wise. I for one know I suck at chase on most tiles; I have my juicer moments but they are usually far and few in between. On a makro level: keep track of where teamies are/were and where gens are and you should be able to avoid a three gen / identify a killer who tries to force a three gen and act accordingly to avoid it. Also keep track of perks and avoid them. - Being hit more than once by painres e.g. is a skill issue on the surv part.

It can be hard to say. Survivor is especially nebulous considering how all over the place skill level and playstyles often are in the same match. And I think the community as a whole doesn't understand good survivor play all that well. You see really basic mistakes at the highest levels of pubs that are drilled out of players on day 1 of their first comp scrims.

There's a major complication with differentiating a skill issue from a game issue; if you knew what you were about to do was the wrong decision would you have done it?

That's why self reflection is important. If you knew it was the wrong play to begin with you wouldn't have done it. It's only by looking at it in hindsight that you can hope to see the mistakes.

Put another way, losing to Old Dead Hard was a most often a game issue, while losing to Current Dead Hard is more likely to be a skill issue.

Typically if its from a surv its a skill issue, but outside of that i only see it as game issue.

That's my whole thing, it's a game issue rather than a skill issue most of the time.

If you're playing as a survivor then u can't just count ur skills alone. You need to count ur teammates as well and if you have played this game long enough, your biggest enemies were never the skills killers... It's your dumb@$$ teammates. If ur teammates are iri 4-1 and can't run killer for more than 30s and don't do gen at all... Trust me it wasn't your fault that u got killed that match. It was ur dumb@$$ teammates. I mean the point at the end of the ground speak for itself. If u did good even if u lose u should have around 12-15-20k blood points. I've lost so many game where I have 15-20k BP and the lone survivor get around 12-22k BP.

I'm sorry if you're the guy that's iri 4-1 and can't run killer for more than 30s and always crouch around the corner when u hear heart beat... Now you're the problem your teammates lost the match.