Why I don’t play competitive games

Competitive gaming seems to of had a massive surge in the last few years, a surge which I have completely missed. It is staggering to me the number of people that play competitive games nowadays. Whenever I look at the player numbers for games like Dota 2 and CS: GO, there are hundreds of thousands of people playing them day in and day out.

Personally, I have never really jumped on the competitive bandwagon, and honestly, I’ve never exactly been interested in it. This is strange, because in every other facet of my life, I am extremely competitive, and I thrive off of it. Sure enough, whenever I do play a competitive game, I take it very seriously, and this is one of the things I’ll talk about later. By the way, when I say competitive games, I mean all competitive games, as in any game that pits you against other players.

I understand why people enjoy competitive gaming, and I am in no way trying to say that there is something wrong with people who do, because there isn’t anything wrong with people enjoying something I don’t. I used to play Dota 2 quite frequently, but it reached a point where I realised it wasn’t my thing. The fact of the matter remains that I don’t enjoy playing competitively, and hopefully I’ll be able to explain why.

So without further ado, let’s jump into my reasoning.

1) I take it way too seriously

As I alluded too earlier, I’m a very competitive person, so much so that I will turn anything into a challenge, even if it’s just a casual game of cards or something. So you can only imagine how seriously I take competitive games when I do play them.When I play, I play to win. I become a whole different person almost, losing becomes rage inducing and stressful, and all the enjoyment from actually winning is lost, and really, isn’t even that satisfying, so it ends up being this weird situation where I’m not even enjoying the game I’m playing.

That’s what it’s all about for me, is enjoyment, something I’ve talked about a few times on this blog. If I’m not enjoying what I’m playing, then there isn’t really a point for me to keep going, and I certainly don’t need more stress in my life. So when I do play games that are even slightly competitive, I have to change my whole mind set about it, and loosen up, so that I can actually play for fun and not play to win. But if I’m not going to be serious when I play, I don’t to be playing with people who are playing seriously. Funnily enough this is one of the main reasons I stopped playing Overwatch, even on Quick Play, I have found people in general take the game very seriously. And this brings me to my next point..

2) Communicating is hard

For me at least. I like to think of myself as the leading authority on social awkwardness, and my self confidence is pretty abysmal as well, so whenever I even come close to trying to talk to people in an online game, I can’t bring myself to do it. Even when people talk to me in a game, regardless of whether they are the nicest person on the planet, I just become an anxiety-ridden, nervous wreck, and either don’t respond, or just leave the game entirely. This has eventually evolved into an aversion to people in games in general, and hence an aversion to playing games with anyone other than my friends. A reasonably unhealthy reason not to play certain games perhaps, and hopefully something I can work on.

3) There are so many other games out there

When you combine the previous two reasons with this reason, not playing competitive games isn’t hard. There are a myriad of amazing games out there nowadays to play either on my own, or co-op with my friends. That way I can play without having to actively loosen up and try to have fun, because the fun comes naturally.

Bottom line is, with such a wide array of non-competitive games out there, finding something for me really isn’t that hard. Especially co-op games, which are some of the funnest games I’ve ever played in my life, at the moment I have been enjoying a lot of Dungeon of the Endless, and Rainbow Six Vegas 2. For when I’m on my own, I love to just hop onto Diablo and grind some loot, it never ceases to amaze me how many times I have been able to come back to it and still have a blast.

Not to say I don’t enjoy playing competitive games, in fact, I love to jam to some Battlefield or CS:GO when I have my buddies to have fun with and stop me from taking it too seriously. It’s just that with so many other equally amazing titles to pick from, games like Battlefield and CS:GO usually never see the light of day.

4) I am very self critical

By this I mean that I tend to focus too much on the negatives and the things that I do wrong when I play competitively, as opposed to things that I am actually doing right. This, no doubt, leads to a less satisfying experience. However, not only does it taint the experience as I am playing, but also when I am considering playing a game. Before I load it up I will have this moment where I think to myself “Hmmm, I haven’t played it in a while, what if I suck? I’ll probably suck, and then that will be sucky” and then I pick another game to play. So again, my inherent nature and attitude becomes a barrier between me and competitive gaming.

 

Well that’s enough from me, but I would love to hear about your own opinions and experiences. Do you enjoy playing competitive games? What is it about them that you do/don’t enjoy? Let me know in the comments below, any suggestions on how to deal with my issues with competitive gaming are welcome. Also if you enjoyed this post, be sure to give it a like. Until next time, stay beautiful 🙂