[trostaft]

Yes it can be? This is a very strange statement to me. Many genuinely like testing themselves against other people, improving over time, and seeing how they stack up. Competition is a pretty basic human thing, e.g. sports, chess, card games, and therefore video games. And competing with the world is a far grander challenge than those you explicitly know.

Not everyone enjoys that, and that’s fine, but acting like it’s somehow unnatural or pointless feels way off.

[mikkupikku]

I know gamers are drawn to it, that's why the game corps like it so much. But is this actually good? So very often with these hyper competitive games played between strangers competing for global ranking, the whole thing turns very toxic, with gamers often seeming to not even enjoy the moment to moment process, often raging at their incompetent team mates or raging at their opponents for supposedly cheating, or whathaveyou. All the while, not developing relationships as they could be if they were playing something with friends. Elevated cortisol levels, when they could be chilling out. Obviously it's profitable, but is it good?

[sleight42]

This is why I keep asking myself if I should continue playing Marathon or just exclusively play ARC Raiders. The latter can be far more relaxing yet still challenging. The former encourages that hyper-competitiveness that often stresses me out.

[trostaft]

Respectfully, I think you're missing my point.

> So very often with these hyper competitive games played between strangers competing for global ranking, the whole thing turns very toxic, with gamers often seeming to not even enjoy the moment to moment process, often raging at their incompetent team mates or raging at their opponents for supposedly cheating, or whathaveyou.

This is very true! I'll further grant that many competitive video games have pain points that fester this. Competition, facing failure, and recognizing that what they perceived to be a fair challenge wasn't so (e.g. cheating) does sometimes out the worst in people.

However, my point is that competition, and enjoying it, is something that's been fundamentally human for all our recorded history. The sensation of straining against the edge of your capabilities, to overcome a wall, and then succeeding even just barely is supreme. Competitive video games are just a subset of activities that appeal to this. And I think just as much as they are infuriating, they are also good!

Moreover, competitive video games can also be fairly social. Playing a chiller game with friends is one way to socialize, that I have nothing against. But there's also special bonds that are forged through shared struggle, even minor. For example, the fighting game community has a very strong local scene. If you can play fighting games, in most major cities in NA you can attend your local and make friends. With team competitive games, invite your homies.

Once again, I definitely do not dispute that competitive video games can be toxic. Especially in today's online culture. Taking fighting games as an example again, the online, anonymous, communities can be quite toxic. Ah, now that I've written this far, I'm realizing that maybe I've missed your point? Are you saying that it's specifically the strangers, that you never get to know and therefore trust, that makes this worse off?