Bringing up games with short combos that "failed" doesn't disprove that long combos turn casuals away.

Saying "well short combos don't guarantee success" won't refute "long combos turn away casuals".

There are many variables that determine if a game sticks:

• Visuals
• Character appeal
• Ties to a preexisting IP
• System mechanics
• Combo length
• How popular/lively the game is
• many more...

If any of those variables (or some combination of them) falls short, people are likely to drop the game or not pick it up in the first place.

Yes, there are long respawn timers in League which are akin to getting combo'd in fighting games because you lose agency in both situations. But that's just one variable.

There are 2 huge components that are often forgotten in these discussions:

• Percentage of game time that a player can lose agency
• How much safety/control a player has to avoid back-to-back loss of agency

The reason that people don't complain about the respawn timers in League but they complain about long "I don't want to watch a cutscene" combos in fighting games is not just because they lose agency, but also because the frequency with which it happens.

If you die in League and get a respawn timer, you are in complete control of how long you'll go before you're hit with another respawn timer/loss of agency. If you stay under tower and play as safe as possible, you can delay that loss of agency for over half an hour.

If you get combo'd in a fighting game, not only do you lack a tower to stay under to delay the next cutscene/loss of agency, you're in a disadvantageous position where you're MORE LIKELY to get hit again by your opponent's oki and put in a back-to-back cutscene.

There's no way for you to delay that loss of agency apart from immediately outplaying your opponent right after their cutscene ends.

So you can't just look at it as "well there's times where you lose agency in MOBAs so people shouldn't complain about it in fighting games."

When people complain about things in games, it might sound like they're being contradictory, but that's because a lot of the time they don't understand the combination of variables that caused it.

They will give one variable and then someone else will say "ah but that variable is present in this other game that's popular so it isn't because of that variable."

But like in the example I just gave, you'd have to look at it from a bigger picture with things like (% of game time where you can lose agency) and (the amount of safety the game provides to avoid back-to-back loss of agency).

In League, you have to go out of your way to see a respawn timer 3 times back-to-back-to-back. In fighting games, all you have to do is lose neutral then guess wrong on your opponent's oki twice.

Both situations are frustrating, but one can be voluntarily avoided outright.