I recently got into a debate with a pal of mine who has a very strong opinion about whether or not a skilled player should use a powerful character.

So hey 'pal', let me just be honest and say that this debate was a bit underhanded by me. In truth, there wasn't two perspectives like the ones you paint.

I was trying to say that good players try to improve themselves at every opportunity and bad (or 'scrub') players just do the barest minimum, path-of-least resistance tactics to feel good about themselves regardless of the means to that end.

I was trying to say, homie, that you are the latter. Every time I've played with you, you consistently do the cheapest, most lame tactics required and then act like you're hot stuff. It wasn't that you picked welder and spammed the point without actually trying to cap- this isn't exactly scrubby on it's own- its that I knew this is something that you would do. And you did it as if right on cue.

Now, I haven't been in a whole lot of games with you and this judgement might be premature (if not entirely arrogant). But, the way you are so quick to do this when nobody's looking, when you taunt me after you kill me one time, and when you rush back to stream chat to talk sh!t and bring excuses when I call you out on it... well, it solidifies the picture in my mind that you aren't concerned with being a better player, you're only concerned with looking like a better player.

There are moments when both perspectives are necessary but a great player (one who is constantly trying to improve) will always take the second perspective if it helps them become a better player and only take the first perspective when winning is the immediate goal (ie. a competitive match).

Case in point our match yesterday: You spammed a strong character and got 12 kills, only rarely helped your team, and pretty much let the game play itself.

I worked hard against overwhelming odds (your team completely rolled my team) and still came out on top of the leaderboard with 46 kills (w/Fire Cactus). Did I lose the game? Yes. Did I keep my integrity and show that despite losing in-game, I could still win the battle on skill? Yes. Why? Because I don't take shortcuts even if I 'deserve' them, because I don't cop-out when it gets hard, and because I don't have a habit of relying on OP characters to carry me through.

As far as our disagreement goes, I don't actually know you Orange. You might be a completely different person irl. I don't know and judging you based upon your playstyle in a video game is certainly short sighted. However, I think how you act and carry yourself transfers into everything you do- even how you play a video game. Having said that, I don't respect how you play the game and I have no desire to play with you ever again. Does this mean I hate you/dislike you/want to see you fail? Not at all. But it certainly doesn't mean you're my friend and even outside of the game you're not exactly the kind of person I want to hang around with.

Are you the only one? Not at all. As a streamer I run into people like yourself (and ones who are considerably worse) on a daily basis. Perhaps thats why I get so quick to anger when I have to interact with you. I take issue with your game but it's not directed at your specific person.

Am I arrogant? Yes. Full of myself? Yes. But I took the damn time to build the skill the right way- without any help or shortcuts- and I think I've earned a portion of that arrogance.