[splwjs]

I think online matchmaking has absolutely destroyed people's ability to feel like they're good at any game.

Like you'll never be a big fish in a small pond. If you played as much as you currently do but could only play with people local to you, you'd be the best person you know at this thing. And that's a really good feeling. But you'll never get that feeling, because you should really be grinding past whatever plat 3 is in order to not suck.

[ThatPlayer]

Conversely you'll never be a small fish in a big pond. If you could only play with people local to you and they all played much more than you, you'd be the worse person you know at this thing. And that's a really bad feeling. That gets people to quit games.

The big fish eat all the small fish until the big fish are the only ones left.