In my own view, the difficulty inherent in an activity can often be the major source of enjoyment. I never rememember moments in online gaming where I utterly brutalized the opposition or was quickly steamrolled; instead, I remember those times where I was locked in brutal competition every inch of the way and the outcome was uncertain until the end. Sometimes I quit playing games because I tire of them. In rare cases, I've stopped because I simply developed enough skill at the game that such challenges were rarely present, and playing becomes nothing but a cycle of utter domination or complete humiliation.
As far as accepting praise for my skills, I generally fare poorly when complimented in most any activity. Criticism and failure are important, because without a steady supply of both you never improve. Success on the other hand simply enforces stagnation, because with success you are given no reason to improve.
Worse still, in most games that I enjoy, I find that the ulitmate success or failure of my team often has little to do with my own skill and instead relies on the aggregate skill level of the team along with their basic capacity to pursue objectives in an intelligent fashion. I have played matches in call of duty 4 where I single handedly racked up 30 or more kills with only a handful of deaths only to lose in the end. In Battlefield, even at my most badass I can only attack or defend a single point at a time. In real life endeavors, it doesn't matter just how good I am at baseball or soccer - without a competent team supporting me my own skill counts for little in the overall scheme of things.
As far as accepting praise for my skills, I generally fare poorly when complimented in most any activity. Criticism and failure are important, because without a steady supply of both you never improve. Success on the other hand simply enforces stagnation, because with success you are given no reason to improve.
Worse still, in most games that I enjoy, I find that the ulitmate success or failure of my team often has little to do with my own skill and instead relies on the aggregate skill level of the team along with their basic capacity to pursue objectives in an intelligent fashion. I have played matches in call of duty 4 where I single handedly racked up 30 or more kills with only a handful of deaths only to lose in the end. In Battlefield, even at my most badass I can only attack or defend a single point at a time. In real life endeavors, it doesn't matter just how good I am at baseball or soccer - without a competent team supporting me my own skill counts for little in the overall scheme of things.
