How do you feel about competition in games / sports / social settings?

[LadyS]

Have you tried cross-country skiing against serious competitors? I highly recommend it. It's not really fun until you can taste blood in your mouth and someone tries to pass you.

Annnd..that's why I stick to board games. Less bloody..... usually

 

[Misery]

For me, it really depends.

It's mostly video games for me, and specifically I got good at fighting games. Like, *really* good. It became very rare that I'd lose, and even if I did, well... rematch, but with more effort should do it.

The problem to me though wasnt the experience of playing with others, mostly. It was watching how others interacted with each other, particularly new players. If you know what "scrub" means in this context, then you might have an idea as to what I'm getting at. The community around fighting games is very toxic. Always has been. And they would pick on newer players the most often, because of course those newer players would just lose immediately to the already skilled players who were the ones being toxic. And then the newer players would give up. The toxic players couldnt see why, either... to them it was always "LOL they gave up because they know they cant win", but... "no, they gave up because you're being a bag of cat turds at them" is what I always wanted to say.

Wheras for me, if my opponent isnt having a good time, neither am I. Regardless of the nature of the competition. Friendly and goofy or serious tournament, whatever, it's supposed to be a good time.

The most ridiculous thing though was that many of them seriously couldnt handle losing. Mangle that sort of player badly enough in a match, and then repeat that a few times, and... yeah, suddenly you're the new target of their very unsportsmanlike wrath. Saw THAT a lot. Particularly if you werent playing the "right" way.

Eventually all this nonsense got on my nerves a bit too much, and I mostly lost interest.

Other types of games werent much better, really. And certain specific genres (FPS), I'm like, spectacularly terrible at, and so I'd get hit with the full brunt of ALL of the insults if I tried to play in any team-based game. Needless to say, I dont play those games anymore.

And I've seriously never been able to understand that kind of attitude. Even in a bloody tournament, they're still games, they're supposed to be a good time. Supposed to be fun! Challenge and competition, friendly banter between opponents.... not the vitriolic screaming and bullying I saw so much of. WHY do so many get that way?

And that's just those games. There are some particularly famous examples out there... like League of Legends... that makes all other multiplayer experiences look like a bunch of happy fluffy kittens getting along perfectly. They are *that* bad. And I seriously cant understand why anyone would even want to play those, when all everyone does with those is type barrages of misspelled expletives into the chat over and over while banging on their mouse.


You know what's usually good fun though? Co-op games! Like Monster Hunter for instance. Yeah, sometimes you still get arguments in games like that ("you were supposed to lay the trap, Steve, not run at the boss with a hammer!") but that really didnt happen much in my experience (and those tended to devolve into giggling and in-jokes anyway, when playing with friends. Nobody would forget the time Steve finally tried to place that trap but fell off a cliff instead). And players seem much more likely to, you know, help each other learn and improve. Instead of just "LOL U SUCK" and whatnot. Not that you dont get jerks here and there, but still.

Though, these days, I still dont do much multiplayer gaming at all. The experience of having dealt with too many toxic players overall just kinda soured so much of it for me, regardless of genre.


And then there's board games, which is my other main hobby, but I only play solo, so... there's no problem there. I only have to compete with the stupid dice that just fell off the table for the millionth time, the stupid little plastic jerks...

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

The only person I compete with is myself do not play games not into sports, Do not play video games.

 

[Kisa the tea]

I strongly dislike competing with people. I'd rather work together.

 

[Ken]

I don't like games. I don't like to compete. I don't think it is because I'm afraid of loosing, because I don't like it either way. I feel this way even if I'm playing by myself, (although that is an extremely rare event.). I don't like the idea of performing any task with the intent of causing loss to anyone or anything. I feel that very deeply, like it's a core element of my soul. I've never been able to play any kind of competitive sport without feeling sick inside. If I'm having fun in any kind of activity and someone starts to make it competitive, even just a hint, I will quit. -That totally ruins it for me.

There have been times when I could not get out of playing a board or card game. In each case, I turned it into silly, laughing fun. With card games I would always show everyone all my cards and getting them to decide my play. I would try to make it silly enough that everyone lost any interest in winning. Always tried to make it a laugh fest. If that doesn't work, I will find someway out.

I don't even like watching competitive sport like football, basketball, etc. However, I did like the movie and story of "Eddie the Eagle", which was all about getting into the olympics. I liked it because Eddie had no interest in winning. He just wanted to be an olympian. And indeed he did not win, but just getting to play was an enormous win for him. Another like that was Maurice Flitcroft (his story told in the movie "The Phantom of the Open") He just wanted to be allowed to play in the British Open.

 

[autism-and-autotune]

I dislike competitions and performances/examinations; anything that puts creativity under pressure immediately kills my ability to function. I just can't perform thinking of all the pressure on me.

 

[abby normal]

i hate it, this world needs more COOPERATION, not the scorpions-in-a-bottle we've been doing to each other for eons now.

 

[Shevek]

I've always been of the opinion that marks shouldn't be given in PE, art and music classes. Those subjects are all about talent and little about learning/ practicing.
Just think about all the different body types competing against each other during PE lesson- not fair at all.

They're definitely needed to balance out the schedule though! All three subjects are needed for healthy development.

Granted, there is a wide range of genetic fitness for athletics, but practicing is still what we need to get above zero ability. Maybe scores should be "handicapped" according to body type, etc, but I think it is very good for people to be encouraged to get to a high percentage of the fitness they'd get from an Olympic training year. Fitness improves both mental and physical health, and will help in any kind of illness or accident.
When I was in school, I thought my body was just a way to get my head to the library, but I re-discovered bicycling at age 20, and it really improved my life. I'd compete with the cars in traffic and forget all about the effort. Canny riding skills can halve the energy needed for a given elapsed time, so it was never boring.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I am not at all competitive. I just like playing games. For instance, in Scrabble, I just try to put words strategically where it will make the gameplay better, so they're not all clustered up. I could care a fig about scoring.

Chess and checkers are fun strategy games though.

 

[WildCat]

If it's friendly competition, the kind where little to nothing's at stake and the idea is more about having a good time, I don't mind it at all.

If we're talking about the cut-throat kind of competition where people play and, worse, behave like they're about to get executed on death row if they don't show a sign of victory, count me out.

 

[paloftoon]

I like some games with a competitive streak, but I like some cooperative ones too.
I dislike party games because they generally lack substance and are too easy-going for me personally.