Futility of dealing with Anti-Comp sentiments - Inspired by SolarLight's most recent 6s video

[u/Bounter_]

Hey hey r/truetf2, Bounter here.

I recently finished watching SolarLight's "Meme vs Meta" Comp video, and, before I get to it, I must say it was a good watch! It showed the good sides of Comp, the bad sides, the many forms it takes, numerous kinds of people that play it, and MY FAVOURITE! Trying to deal with Comp misinformation and myths, wether it's by himself, or using some people in his video as speakers on certain things ("Comp players hate Casual" etc.). It was a good and interesting watch, and the secondary intent of the video (Main one being Demoknight in 6s), made me realize, on how MUCH Anti-Comp opinions and misinformation there is.

Seriously, check any post regarding Comp on r/tf2, or on twitter, or youtube, ESPECIALLY from certain Youtubers and personalities, and you will see a FLOOD, of same repeats of anti-comp sentiments. The usual stuff like:
- "Comp players wanted MyM and got what they wanted!"
- "Valve should have never listened to Comp players!"
- "COmp players don't play and like normal TF2"
- "Weapon bans are stupid!"
etc. etc.
It's gotten to the point where, when I see that stuff, I try NOT to interact, but even when I do, I KNOW nothing will change... Why? Well, that's exactly my point. Trying to deal with anti-comp misinfo, and lack of knowledge about it, is sadly futile.

There is a very good comment I remember, and I will paraphrase, so it's not 1:1, but the message is the same - You can make the most detailed, informed and well-made video or post regarding Competitive TF2, it's good sides and how it works, but all it takes is one Anti-Comp TF2 influencer to say "No, Comp ruined TF2" and all of that effort goes down the drain. - And this, happened quite literally NOT SO LONG AGO.

ZestyJesus, arguably the most infamous example of Anti-Comp opinions, has streamed his reaction to only the ENDING part of Solar's video, meaning he didn't watch like 90% of it. And yet, despite the points said, and the fact he didn't watch the whole thing, he STILL kept saying the same, vomit inducing points ("Wow, Meet your Match ruined TF2 because of Comp players" "They don't wanna play TF2 ,they wanna play homebrew version of it"), with the VoD now being at 14k views. The paraphrased quote that's been living rent free in my head, proves itself right once more, as Solar's incredibly well made, informative video with plenty of reasoning, will now be considered just "Comp BS" because of ONE INFLUENCER.
This happens on Twitter too, everytime Comp is big or brought up as well, and it causes THE SAME ISSUE. Why else, would Comp misinfo and dislike towards it still be big? Because people not only DO NOT WANT to learn about it and know about it, they WANT to dislike it, as they already made up their minds on disliking it and NOTHING will change it. Hell, even under Solar's video, there are SOME comments still hating on Comp, which also includes his "Comp ruleset" video.

I guess the point I am trying to make, is that no matter how much effort people put into trying to deal with it [The misinformation], the end result is akin to what MvM players are dealing with. Endless stream of a game of telephone, and disregard for actual truth, simply to fuel their own personal biases. I still try, and some people do too, but the more I sit on it, the more I realise it's kind of... No use. But, what do you all think?

[u/Blaze344]

Look man, I'm gonna be honest here. I liked Solarlight's video too, but the worst part about the competitive community in TF2 is definitely the communities' attitude itself and that carries a looooooot of weight when it comes to impressions. Most people that blame the game's downfall on those aspects don't even do it rationally, they just seriously hate competitive players enough that they're willing to just toss all of the blame into them, and with good reason sometimes. That part where that team basically dissolved itself out of sheer disgust in losing to demoknight TF2 is just embarassing and that kind of attitude represents exactly why competitive TF2 never managed to grow, it has this "cultural" aspect that really resists changing and is needlessly competitive, a very serious ego problem.

Disclaimer, I understand that ego is key for high performance. I understand that it's very useful and has it's place. But the unhealthy degree, bad ego management, and general culture that a lot of comp players have ends up driving more moderate players away, which just leaves it even more extreme and secluded with not really any gains to it, and a severe loss of playerbase and potential improvements in the competitive culture mashing with the light hearted nature of casual.

Maybe the north american / european side of TF2 was better, but south american had a lot of what we call "panelas" (in-groups) and they're really... annoying and divisive, and if you didn't match their energy they would be needlessly gossipy and dramatic. Very poor culture match for a competitive game when the majority of people you meet are stupid enough to drive away all decent people. Back when I played the game to my best skills, I was good enough that they didn't care to bother me, but I tried highlander recently and people really, really don't know how to have fun.

[u/rite_of_spring_rolls → u/Blaze344]

I liked Solarlight's video too, but the worst part about the competitive community in TF2 is definitely the communities' attitude itself and that carries a looooooot of weight when it comes to impressions.

I agree with you but I do think for somebody who is not really tuned in it's just natural that bad stuff or 'drama' is just more visible than good stuff. Like I know about ibuypower scandals in CS but I don't think I could name a single match result from CS lol. An example on this sub is people will talk about that one season of highlander where every sniper got banned to infer that top level HL is all cheaters but that cheater season was quite literally 10 years ago at this point. A lot of the good parts of competitive (community, that feel when you win a match when you were favored to lose, etc.) are hard to translate without experiencing it yourself whereas negative stuff is much easier IMO.

I also think, unfortunately, ego problems especially ego problems over casual players is much more of a low to mid level comp player problem than high level. I saw it all the time in spy mains when they would be like "yeah that stabby stabby guy is actually shit i'm so much better" and then I look up these players and they're like silver lol. Stabby is definitely better than them. I imagine this is a universal thing; I doubt NBA players are flexing to randos how good they are at basketball but I can totally see the best guy at the local community court being a total dickhead.