More ego, more anxiety.

On July 03 2014 19:44 mahrgell wrote:
Considered playing for fun? Why always have to improve, win, experience blabla?

On July 05 2014 05:58 PassionFruit wrote:
Ever think about the possibility that what you're doing is just rationalizing away your fear of failure. I actually see this mindset switch a lot and it kind of makes me want to vomit to be honest.

Sure play for experience, but never lose your drive to win. Of course it hurts when you lose, but that's an inevitable consequence. Your choice is whether you take it like a champ, improve, and try again or tuck tail.

In a competitive game, win=fun, lose=not fun. If you start just playing for fun, it's no longer competitive and just masterbation.

But then again, I'm probably in the minority with this mindset. I tend to be a pretty competitive person.

On July 06 2014 02:40 PassionFruit wrote:
Winning is the ultimate measure of your skill. The objective gain is the clear metric that you are improving over others. If you lose, that means you are not. You play to gain experience because you want to improve. You play to improve because you want to win.

You can short-circuit the ultimate objective if it makes you feel bad to lose or you lose self-confidence by losing. But in the end, you're just rationalizing stuff to make you feel better. But saying that it's nonsensical or intellectually barbaric is being dishonest.

It is possible to play the game like a puzzle. But then it's no longer a competitive game and akin to playing sudoku. If that's your approach, then have at it.

On July 06 2014 03:36 plogamer wrote:


It's a very rational way to look at things. Weigh the pros and cons of playing to win; I have to play to win at work, sometimes with so-called friends and relatives - and playing to win is stressful. For most Starcraft2 players, there is no financial incentive to win.

Getting worked up over nothing but the 'ultimate measure of your skill'. Why measure your skill though?

On July 06 2014 05:04 PassionFruit wrote:


And there's the difference between you and me. Skill may be nothing to you, but it is one of the most important things to me.

You think I'm some club wielding caveman. And I think you're like some pasture grazing docile cow. The extreme stance I take in a competitive game would be akin to a social darwinist. Yours to the extreme would be akin to an existential hedonist.

It's just two different perspectives clashing with one another. In the end, how you view things is a subjective choice. And like all things, it's a greater reflection of the person himself than the choice made. We won't ever see eye to eye on this subject.

On July 06 2014 05:25 plogamer wrote:

Being skillful is undeniably important. Your post is full of assumptions and labels. But anyway, why is skill in Starcraft so important from your point of view? Your post does nothing to show why it is important in your pov.

On July 06 2014 06:23 PassionFruit wrote:


It's not just starcraft, but anything that you view through a competitive lense. Why is it important to be skillful in a competition? Are you serious?

Here's our difference in brass tacks. I play for competition. You don't. Depending on why you play, your priorities change.