0-2. That was my record at my first Super Smash Bros. Melee, for the Nintendo Gamecube, tournament. Super Smash Bros. runs a double elimination bracket for tournaments. You lose one match; you move down to loser's bracket. You lose again; you are eliminated from the tournament. The game is incredibly complicated, and I am simply a beginner, so it’s natural I got the results I did.
However, this made me think about how strange a concept competition is in general. In the past I was on the swim team from the time I was five until about my junior year of high school. I didn’t think much about the absurdity of competition because I was young, I knew what I was doing, and just felt like competition was simply a natural part of our interaction with the world.
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Since my junior year, I took a long break from anything competitive, and I realized everyone has their own unique way of experiencing the world. It’s based on our circumstances because of the limits of our perception. In a way we are kind of living in our own worlds in that regard. However, competition in many ways, takes away that freedom.
When you compete in something, you have to accept that there are a set of rules that everyone follows, and there is a relative, objective reality to the results. This means you are no longer protected from the fear of losing, or the fear of embarrassment. In order to conform to this, we forgo the reality we get to choose, and start over in a new reality where you are at the bottom of the food chain, and we have to work hard in order to get better, and ultimately become competitive. I am currently learning this the hard way. There are countless advanced techniques one has to know in order to be competitive in Super Smash Bros. Each one takes hours upon hours of practice, and sometimes it feels like I could be picking up a more relaxing hobby.
Now all of this makes competition sound like something not worthwhile, but I would like to argue the exact opposite. Competition forces us out of our comfort zone. It forces one to challenge what they know, and accept the possibility that they really aren’t as great as they thought they were. Often times, there is a welcoming community surrounding whatever one is interested in competing in. Competitive communities are always looking for new people to join because those are new foes that they look forward to facing in the future when their skills are honed. Honestly, it’s just a fun experience to put yourself out there, and see your views challenged. However, if it’s not your thing, honestly don’t worry about it. Like I said, you can always just live in your own world.
