I watch a lot of Vesper Arcade streams when he’s learning new characters, and he always starts back at Rookie.

He plays to learn, and he’s not just styling, playing with his food, or tea bagging the lower ranks. Even in Bronze his matches tend to be meaningful because he’s taking it seriously.

I think if you do it that way it takes the sting off the player losing the points. It might even be instructive for them, and a sample of what a match feels like when you’re playing somebody who understands the game.

I’m too lazy right now to set up a family account to test new characters out with a fresh account, but I probably should follow suit while the game is still active at the lower ranks.