"It's just a game" Vs. "Winner's Mentality"

[Realsykes]

So, lately i've been finding that some people chalk up their piss poor game play to, "Oh dude it's just a game, I don't care if I win or lose."

I just cannot wrap my head around the idea of playing to lose. Granted, there are times where's it casual fun with your buds and you're just playing to play, but even THEN I am playing my best to be at the top (see: countless SSB tourneys in college).

Do these people REALLY not care if they lose? Do they REALLY like wasting their time on a match, raid, whatever, to lose and lose and lose? I HATE losing, but that doesn't mean I'm not having fun or can't have fun, but the whole, "I play to play," thing is weird to me. Shouldn't you always play to win? To me, it breeds mediocrity, and seeps into other aspects of your life, and I assume they carry that mentality over into their real lives as well.

[Deleted]

Do these people REALLY not care if they lose? Do they REALLY like wasting their time on a match, raid, whatever, to lose and lose and lose?

Just an excuse for being bad at something

[Deleted]

I don't play competitively, i play for fun.

When i lose, i accept my loss as something that just happens; I'm not a method raider, nor a talented LoL player, or even a good sportsman, but i find fun and joy from everything related to the activity.

But those who are insanely competitive tend to annoy me, often for just not letting things go or being insanely aggressive when losing to me.

Edit, and your assumption is just that, an assumption.

Whilst i play for fun in other avenues, i'm also avidly interested and competitive in others; That being literature or cooking, or even working out (I take it extremely seriously).

[Realsykes]

I don't play competitively, i play for fun.

When i lose, i accept my loss as something that just happens; I'm not a method raider, nor a talented LoL player, or even a good sportsman, but i find fun and joy from everything related to the activity.

But those who are insanely competitive tend to annoy me, often for just not letting things go or being insanely aggressive when losing to me.

It's kind of mixed for me, honestly. If I genuinely get beaten and from good tactics, I will admit defeat and a good game. However, there are many times where people use cheap ass tactics to win, and that's what REALLY irks me, because they aren't better than me, they're just cheap. Mainly only find this in fighting games. I'm looking at you, people who use Superman in Injustice and sit in the corner and laser beam all day.

[Kaleredar]

If someone plays with no intention of winning with four other strangers on their team, then I'd call them a dick, because they're basically either A) wanting to be carried or B) just wasting everyone's time. And it's the latter that irks me.

[Deleted]

I agree, I have trouble playing a game if I'm not at least good at it. I quit LoL because I realised I suck at mobas, and I just can't have fun in games where I know I'm chronically shit. I rarely play my alts in WoW because I know I'll never achieve the experience I have on my main.
I've just come to accept that some people just doesn't value their time at all. I'm getting less and less time to play because of more work, and I have exams right now. I'd never settle for spending 2-3 hours of my day knowing I'm inefficient, doing subpar stuff or just being bad.

[ComputerNerd]

When you are intentionally harming the experience of others, then its a poor excuse to describe it as "just a game".
Do your screwing around with people who joined up for that.
I see that a lot in random battlegrounds.

[twiddler]

I hate losing as well but I hate the supposed winners who cannot realize when the opponent should indeed be winning even more. This is most evident in pick up games in real life sports and pick up groups in video games where participants rage because their team is losing despite their team being incredibly gimped. The story of the underdog is a great source of competitive inspiration but when a rager is incapable of understanding that they could and should lose, the rager's cognitive awareness is more alarming than 8+ people leisurely competing.

[pateuvasiliu]

I do.
I will, however, not use tactics that completely ensure me the win, as such a victory has no taste at all. I do not kill disconnected people in LoL/dota for example, and let them farm at least a level or two before attacking them again. Not much point even playing the game if you already know you've won.

You should.

DotA/LoL isn't 1v1.

It's 5v5.

By letting that person free farm, you cancel the advantage you bring to your team, while not being able to control what happens in the other lanes.

Unless your team mates dominate their lanes as well you risk losing because you were too nice.

[Powerogue]

It's more about putting it into perspective. You should always have the goal of winning, but you need to realize that losing that game of Monopoly did not just ruin your life. You should be able to enjoy a competition whether you win or not.

It's easy for me to say that, but I've still wanted to flip my desk over after being spawn camped in a battleground more than once..

[Jester Joe]

You should.

DotA/LoL isn't 1v1.

It's 5v5.

By letting that person free farm, you cancel the advantage you bring to your team, while not being able to control what happens in the other lanes.

Unless your team mates dominate their lanes as well you risk losing because you were too nice.

It's not like they're letting them get an advantage, just evening the odds. Personally I wouldn't find it fun either, just like when fighting a team that someone already disconnected.

It's more about putting it into perspective. You should always have the goal of winning, but you need to realize that losing that game of Monopoly did not just ruin your life. You should be able to enjoy a competition whether you win or not.

And this, you can aim to win and still lose while just accepting it's just a game.

[Kaleredar]

It's more about putting it into perspective. You should always have the goal of winning, but you need to realize that losing that game of Monopoly did not just ruin your life. You should be able to enjoy a competition whether you win or not.

Someone playing like a putz the entire match and throwing the game to the enemy team because they "couldn't be assed to try harder because it's just a game" isn't exactly holding with "competition."

[mikencarly]

Winning is bonus for me.

[OzoAndIndi]

Shouldn't you always play to win?

Depends on what it is I guess. *shrug*

If there is a situation where someone will be the winner, show me one person who doesn't want to be that winner. Though not everyone looks at winning and losing the same, some are able to take losing in stride, esp on something that isn't even important in the long run.

If it's some simple little win-lose thing, well yeah, I prob play to try to win. But if it's say, an MMO, I really don't care all that much. In my view, it's a fun world to play around in, not just a place to be competitive.

There are times I have loved when me and a few friends were trying to do a dungeon and everything went crazy and we wiped and we all laid there like "WTF was THAT??" and it's hilarious. Losing can be fun at times. Esp in a game that, like real life, you can usually pick yourself back up and try again.

[Realsykes]

Someone playing like a putz the entire match and throwing the game to the enemy team because they "couldn't be assed to try harder because it's just a game" isn't exactly holding with "competition."

Was just about to say that, it's not a competition if everyone isn't playing their hardest or trying their best to win, it's infuriating to be on a team and work your ass off, only to have your teammates treat it with the wave of a hand. That's why i switched to wrestling for my main sport in grade school, because I was tired of losing based upon something my shit teammates did on whatever team I was on, and at least if I lost I knew it was ME, not some stupid safety who can't run for anything.

[Endus]

A lot of games are inherently competitive. Team-based shooters, MOBAs, arena deathmatch games, etc.

Futzing about because you don't care about winning isn't fair to your teammates. If you want to futz about, go play a game that encourages it, or find a bunch of teammates who want to futz about with you. There's nothing wrong about not caring about winning, but don't negatively impact the experience of players who do want to win, in a game that is explicitly competitive in nature.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I always try my best. If I suck, oh well. I'll probably be internalizing how I feel about it. If I lose, it's meh unless it's a really bad game and I get really annoyed. Rarely is it because someone is really bad and I have to tell them to step it up. Most of the time I *lose* it's because people are just so toxic to each other it's sad. I think the most obnoxious is when you can't even understand what your teammates are saying(Dota 2 says Hi in Russian).


I mean if someone does bad I'm not going to be an ass about it.

[eErike]

Just because you are not playing to win, doesn't mean you want to lose.

People are good at different things and I think it is rather rude to have a mentality that is "only do what you are good at". I fyou want to play a game for fun without the intention at beeing the best you should be able to do so.

And remeber, these people are most likely much much better than you on other things besides World of Warcraft, just saying...

[Kaleredar]

Just because you are not playing to win, doesn't mean you want to lose.

If you're not playing to win, you shouldn't EXPECT to win. "Playing to win" encapsulates trying your hardest to perform well and be of benefit to your team. And as long as people try to win and respect what they need to do... I don't care so much if we lose.

People are good at different things and I think it is rather rude to have a mentality that is "only do what you are good at". I fyou want to play a game for fun without the intention at beeing the best you should be able to do so.

And remeber, these people are most likely much much better than you on other things besides World of Warcraft, just saying...

But if they don't TRY in these things then what business do they have playing them on a team with other people? The "oh well I'm sure they're good at other stuff..." really isn't important in the context of whatever it is you're doing at the time.

[Realsykes]

A lot of games are inherently competitive. Team-based shooters, MOBAs, arena deathmatch games, etc.

Futzing about because you don't care about winning isn't fair to your teammates. If you want to futz about, go play a game that encourages it, or find a bunch of teammates who want to futz about with you. There's nothing wrong about not caring about winning, but don't negatively impact the experience of players who do want to win, in a game that is explicitly competitive in nature.

Exactly, if one person isn't on board, and actually intends on ruining it for the other members of a team, it's just an awful, awful time.