I made a thread like this back in the v0.9b days, but it was very poorly worded. Let's try this again.

The Smash fandom can be split fairly cleanly into the casual audience and the competitive audience. SSF2 has a lot to offer for both, and we have many of both kinds of players here. Which are you?

As a reminder, this is about preference, not skill level. A recurring champion can be a 1 and a total novice can be a 4.

0: The True Neutral — Does not have even a slight preference. Is exactly as likely to play a casual match as a competitive match and vice versa, depending on what's available at the time or on their mood.
1: The Dabbler — Naturally gravitates towards a given playstyle, but is perfectly happy playing the other. (ex. Will tend to choose neutral or banned stages when it's their turn to choose the stage)
2: The Preferent — Will freely participate in any playstyle, but will generally focus on one in their own time. (ex. Will play one-on-one matches online but plays free-for-alls with friends or CPUs, or vice versa)
3: The Loyalist — Has a strong preference for or dedication to their given playstyle and has little interest in the other. (ex. A tournament player that passes over free-for-alls and enjoys study and practice, or a casual player who gets bored when playing without items or limited to certain stages)
4: The Exclusive — Believes one playstyle is inherently better than the other in some way, which may include a belief that some aspect of it harms their own enjoyment of the game (ex. Believes that a development focus on competitive balance is limiting new content, or vice versa)

why did you ask

Competitive Preferent probably fits me most accurately.

I never use items or stages with intrusive hazards or layouts, and never play more than 1v1s. But my friends tend to like all of those things more, and I'm comfortable using them when they want to, though I would generally rather not.

That said, I don't care about getting better, playing online very much, entering tournaments or really even winning. I just find the game more enjoyable this way, I'm not actually interested in the competitive scene outside of a passing curiosity.

That second bit sounds more like a dabbler.

I myself only play casual because I don't play games to win, I play to have fun. That said, I wouldn't mind trying to play competitively but I probably wouldn't go all out and besides that I'm too busy for comp until my exams are over. Not having any real mains also makes me more casual than competitive.

This is pretty much exactly what I had in mind with the Preferent definition. I just had difficulty wording it.

This is about match settings and not stakes, after all.

It doesn't matter for me. I do whatever I feel like doing, for the most part.

The only reason I play 1 vs 1 with no items on is because I'm playing online most of the time. Whenever I'm playing with my friends or just playing offline, I play with items, smash ball, hazards and everything. That has been the majority of what my SSF2 experience has been, it's only because there's no smash ball and I'm not around my friends as much that I play online. But I still love playing online in a competitive nature and don't mind it at all, although, I've never joined a tournament before so I guess I don't take it as seriously as some others do. I guess as of right now I'm a Competitive Dabbler but once smash balls come out, I'll lean more towards being a Causal Preferent again.