I never really understood the idea that you have to play bad people to learn the game. Playing people better than you is how people have been learning fighting games since their inception. As someone who plays fighting games in person, I just can't entertain "matchmaking" criticisms as a barrier to entry. Especially in your first few days of play.
You don't really learn anything playing people in bronze SFV. That's why like 80% of the playerbase is still at that rank a year later. You just win more while knowing less.
I don't think it is a hard thing to understand, but I guess it depends what prespective you come into it with. There are people who are silver ranked in SFV who say they are bad at the game, and maybe to some people they are bad. They are nowhere near as bad as someone who picks up a fighting game for the first time. That is the biggest problem, someone who is an actual beginner to fighters will join a "beginner" room and people who have been playing fighting games for 10 years will be in there because they are "new" to that game, or don't think they are "good" at it.
In games with smaller communities it is very hard to join as a true newcomer or someone who is actually bad at fighting games and find decent matches. For a lot of people that is where the fun is, playing other players and not getting the shit kicked out of them over and over. That isn't the best way for someone to learn who doesn't even have a decent grasp on their character. They will learn basically nothing after getting smashed over and over again by a pro.
Looking at it simply, we can say they are two ways to learn fighting games. Put in the time, train, lose, whatever you think the proper way to learn is, and then there is slowly climbing a ranked ladder. Sure the ranked ladder will most likely be the slower of the two. Maybe you learn bad habits while climbing bronze, but then you hit your wall and will play against people of equal level of you until you can break through that wall.
Maybe that takes a long time, and it probable is the longer/harder way. At least this way is most likely more fun to more people than the other way. Hell I ask myself daily how people can continue to be bronze in League of Legends (and I am sure pros of league of legends ask themselves how people can be as shitty as my division) but at least they are playing against equal opponents and are having fun.
It takes a certain mindset and a certain drive to pick up a fighter and train, train, train to get better instead of "playing" the game. Now people are probably going to take issue with saying training over and over again isn't "playing" the game, but to most casuals it probably isn't.
Oh and 80% of the player base of SFV being bronze probably has more to do with people stopping than it represents the actual player base. If you haven't played SFV for 5 months it isn't like they decay your ranking or stop counting you in the numbers.
