(This is sort of an experiment in righting as though it were an article in a magazine. If you don't like that kind of thing, you probably won't wanna' read this.)
Okay, so the phrasing of the subject line might be a bit off. I'm going to be talking about my theories on why the two groups mentioned in the subject don't like each other, not my theory that they don't like each other in the first place.
Let's start with a story. This one's about Magic: The Gathering (most of the rest will be TF2 related). I was playing with my best friend, and I brought out a deck that is more competitive-oriented than most of the ones I play. He wasn't playing something even slightly competitive, and I basically rolled him. He was livid by the end because the deck was ready to answer almost every threat it faced like a good comp deck should. I couldn't understand what he was mad about. I was playing a different way, but I wasn't being mean about it. And then I realized it. He was mad more or less because the deck reminded him of the really cocky, jerky comp players that both of us were familiar with. Most casual players are guilty of raging over that at least once or twice.
But then there's the comp player who will rage because someone is playing casually. (By the way, I'm using the term comp/competitive very loosely to mean people who are of a similar mentality to comp players.) These are the same people you see in Call of Duty MW2 yelling about how knives/shotguns/under-barrel-grenade-launchers are overpowered even though they have classes set up to exploit that fact. They never use them because they want to avoid looking nooby, but the casual player who just wants to stab/shoot/blow up stuff does because he/she doesn't give a crap whether it's nooby or not.
So casual players hate the win-at-all-costs mentality of comp players and comp players hate the just-play-and-winning-is-a-side-effect mentality of casual players. But why? I think it really just comes from a lack of understanding of the opposing viewpoint. Let's start by dissecting casual players' dislike of the comp crowd.
What's wrong with winning at all costs in a video game? Nothing, particularly. It's just when winning at all costs entails ruining the casual player's fun that they get annoyed. Unfortunately, the really powerful weapons (for example "The Force-a'-Nature" for the Scout in TF2) are what comp players gravitate towards, and they tend to overrun the casual player who is using something less ridiculous. Ever play TF2 and stand right next to a Force-a'-Nature Scout? The answer is no because you were dead before you even noticed them. But the comp player either plays like or actually plays on competitive servers/tournaments where you have to use the best equipment in favor of the more fun stuff because you need to win. Part of the mentality is that as much fun as you'll have, seeing that "Victory!" mark above your team/name will be even more fun. The casual player won't mind losing sometimes as long as the way to the end was cool.
On the other hand, the comp player often simply can't understand that having a game where you do all sorts of cool stuff but still lose is fun for the casual player. Part of that is because the comp player is often skilled enough that they do cool stuff all the time, and have been desensitized to them. They expect themselves to be doing stuff that would blow the mind of the usually-less-skilled casual player, so they've set the bar to nothing short of victory as the criteria for fun. I was once playing a game of TF2 on the same team as a very comp-minded player (while I sometimes play comp-mindedly, I usually lean towards being casual-minded). I was playing Soldier, and just running around blasting everything I could see. I was picking up a kill here and there, but not doing very well overall and not getting much done. Eventually my mediocre-ness must have offended the comp player, because he basically told me to stop sucking. I told him I was just trying to have fun, and he was flabbergasted that fun could be had without ultimately winning. Eventually, when other people were doing things like calling out the locations of enemies that they couldn't deal with themselves, the comp player would use it as an opportunity to taunt me.
For example: "Hey don't bother with calling out team names or you might piss off [NAME]. He's anti-winning." That's actually a direct quote. That is exactly where the enmity between comp and casual comes from. The feeling that everyone has to share your style of play. Usually what happens is that the comp players get high-and-mighty about being more skilled than a casual player to said player's face, and they assume that all comp players are like that, so they in turn decide that it's only acceptable to want fun out of something and not necessarily victory, so they at some point get preachy about that, so it annoys a comp player who enjoys winning and a cycle is formed. Of course it can originate from a casual player, but in my experience it usually starts with competitive.
So to both groups: The next time you see someone who doesn't share your style of play, just let it go. Taunt them as much as you want, but just don't hit that voice chat button so they don't have to deal with it. It'll make everyone get along much better.
(I hope you enjoyed reading! Thanks for reading to the end if you're seeing this!)
Okay, so the phrasing of the subject line might be a bit off. I'm going to be talking about my theories on why the two groups mentioned in the subject don't like each other, not my theory that they don't like each other in the first place.
Let's start with a story. This one's about Magic: The Gathering (most of the rest will be TF2 related). I was playing with my best friend, and I brought out a deck that is more competitive-oriented than most of the ones I play. He wasn't playing something even slightly competitive, and I basically rolled him. He was livid by the end because the deck was ready to answer almost every threat it faced like a good comp deck should. I couldn't understand what he was mad about. I was playing a different way, but I wasn't being mean about it. And then I realized it. He was mad more or less because the deck reminded him of the really cocky, jerky comp players that both of us were familiar with. Most casual players are guilty of raging over that at least once or twice.
But then there's the comp player who will rage because someone is playing casually. (By the way, I'm using the term comp/competitive very loosely to mean people who are of a similar mentality to comp players.) These are the same people you see in Call of Duty MW2 yelling about how knives/shotguns/under-barrel-grenade-launchers are overpowered even though they have classes set up to exploit that fact. They never use them because they want to avoid looking nooby, but the casual player who just wants to stab/shoot/blow up stuff does because he/she doesn't give a crap whether it's nooby or not.
So casual players hate the win-at-all-costs mentality of comp players and comp players hate the just-play-and-winning-is-a-side-effect mentality of casual players. But why? I think it really just comes from a lack of understanding of the opposing viewpoint. Let's start by dissecting casual players' dislike of the comp crowd.
What's wrong with winning at all costs in a video game? Nothing, particularly. It's just when winning at all costs entails ruining the casual player's fun that they get annoyed. Unfortunately, the really powerful weapons (for example "The Force-a'-Nature" for the Scout in TF2) are what comp players gravitate towards, and they tend to overrun the casual player who is using something less ridiculous. Ever play TF2 and stand right next to a Force-a'-Nature Scout? The answer is no because you were dead before you even noticed them. But the comp player either plays like or actually plays on competitive servers/tournaments where you have to use the best equipment in favor of the more fun stuff because you need to win. Part of the mentality is that as much fun as you'll have, seeing that "Victory!" mark above your team/name will be even more fun. The casual player won't mind losing sometimes as long as the way to the end was cool.
On the other hand, the comp player often simply can't understand that having a game where you do all sorts of cool stuff but still lose is fun for the casual player. Part of that is because the comp player is often skilled enough that they do cool stuff all the time, and have been desensitized to them. They expect themselves to be doing stuff that would blow the mind of the usually-less-skilled casual player, so they've set the bar to nothing short of victory as the criteria for fun. I was once playing a game of TF2 on the same team as a very comp-minded player (while I sometimes play comp-mindedly, I usually lean towards being casual-minded). I was playing Soldier, and just running around blasting everything I could see. I was picking up a kill here and there, but not doing very well overall and not getting much done. Eventually my mediocre-ness must have offended the comp player, because he basically told me to stop sucking. I told him I was just trying to have fun, and he was flabbergasted that fun could be had without ultimately winning. Eventually, when other people were doing things like calling out the locations of enemies that they couldn't deal with themselves, the comp player would use it as an opportunity to taunt me.
For example: "Hey don't bother with calling out team names or you might piss off [NAME]. He's anti-winning." That's actually a direct quote. That is exactly where the enmity between comp and casual comes from. The feeling that everyone has to share your style of play. Usually what happens is that the comp players get high-and-mighty about being more skilled than a casual player to said player's face, and they assume that all comp players are like that, so they in turn decide that it's only acceptable to want fun out of something and not necessarily victory, so they at some point get preachy about that, so it annoys a comp player who enjoys winning and a cycle is formed. Of course it can originate from a casual player, but in my experience it usually starts with competitive.
So to both groups: The next time you see someone who doesn't share your style of play, just let it go. Taunt them as much as you want, but just don't hit that voice chat button so they don't have to deal with it. It'll make everyone get along much better.
(I hope you enjoyed reading! Thanks for reading to the end if you're seeing this!)
