sparring dummies

[askaran]

when you attack a sparring dummy its safe to assume your not going to actully hurt it. in fact your blows bounce off it. But im new to training with these. And i was wondering how you could tell if your advanicing in skill if you only train with these?

[Synthesis]

As with all skills, the only way you can tell if you're improving is by going out and testing it.  Good luck.

[askaran]

alright thank you. oh and one last question. does using a sparring dummy help you more or less than actually sparring with another person?

[Synthesis]

If it parallels real life, I'm sure sparring dummies are much less effective.

Think about it:  you can stand around slamming a heavy bag all day, but is it really going to make you a better boxer?  You might improve your endurance and your striking power, but it's going to do nothing to improve your technique or your tactical thinking.  The only way to become a better fighter (in any style) is to spar real opponents.

[askaran]

alright than. thanks again.

[Fathi]

I have no idea if this is how the code works, but one thing that I haven't seen touched on much about dummies is the fact that hitting a dummy and learning where to strike it only helps you with your offense.

After all, if I go to a gym and knock a sandbag around for an hour a couple times a week, I can learn to hit things pretty good, but it won't teach me to learn to avoid getting hit by an actual opponent or to build up resistance to an opponent's attacks.

Just food for thought.

[jstorrie]

I would say that sparring against sparring dummy objects is so ineffective that if there's anything, anything at all that you can do instead of sparring it it will be a better use of your time, whether that's shooting the shit at the Gaj or just wandering around looking for something to do.

Sparring dummies are for those times you're in a ghost-town of a city and there are only three other players online.

[spawnloser]

Sparring dummies, currently, are for the inexperienced new characters.  They aren't as ineffective as jstorrie suggests, however they are useless for learning how to defend yourself, only for practicing hitting someone else.

Remember, we learn through mistakes in Arm.  It doesn't hit back, so we can't fail to avoid those strikes.  When you can't fail to hit it, though, you have gone past the usefulness of the dummy.

[Hymwen]

Sparring dummies may or may not help your coded skills, and if they do, it's very little. They're very useful for group training though, especially things like guarding and rescue drills. That's pretty much the only thing I'd ever use it for. Also remember that most players and staff prefer that you emote often while fighting a sparring dummy, so don't just attack it and go afk for five minutes.

If you have access to a sparring dummy you're most likely in a combat clan. There should be a thread in your clan forum with information about training drills, and you can probably find something about the sparring dummy in there. Or send a mail to your clan imm and ask them how they prefer their players to use the dummy.

[Lizzie]

Sparring dummies are also a good way for a PC who *wants* to obey the rules of the clan, stick to the schedule. Personally I'd like to see a dummy out at all times except at night, in clans that have sparring areas, for no other reason than to give a PC something to do other than stare at a wall waiting for their evening off. Often, when you have non-combat duties in the afternoons, you don't need that much time to accomplish the tasks (such as armor and weapon cleaning, barracks cleaning), or they require a senior ranking member to do them (such as drills, field training, etc.). Having a sparring dummy available gives you something to do when all the armor is clean and in good repair, there's no sawdust on the floor, all the raw meat has been cooked, and the Sarge hasn't logged in to take you out on a run of the desert.

Social interaction is very important too, but some places just don't have that much of it regularly and you end up staring at that previously-mentioned wall for a couple of hours.

L. Stanson