since we only listen to music made by the top 0.01% of artists who have been training for years or decades at using their exact instruments and making their exact genre of music, that becomes our only basis for comparison. so once we see someone try to play music IRL, or we try it ourself, all we can think is “wow that’s so dogshit. I have literally never heard anyone this bad before and have no frame of reference other than to know that this is beyond terrible”

and the same thing happens with all other forms of art: poetry, writing, drawing, etc.

I think this causes another, subtler problem too. because the assumption becomes - implicitly - that the only reason to learn these forms of art is to become another top 0.01% artist who is then good enough to sell their art to the world. because those are the only artists we ever see, so how can another form of artist exist if we never see them? so at that point there’s no reason to learn art at all unless you’re going to dedicate your entire life to it

but interestingly, this is starting to happen with video games too, because we only see the top 0.01% ultra pro challenge run speedrunning esports gods break the game wide open and use every tech and optimization imaginable. and then they get money for how skilled they are - either through youtube views or esports contracts or etc. and that’s probably a big part of why twitch chat is so full of “why are you so dogshit” every time they encounter a non-pro player, and it must be a big part of why gaming culture has become so optimization-poisoned as well

I don’t like the phrase “given a chance, players will optimize all the fun out of the game” because I don’t think this has to be the case - I think this is a cultural problem that we can and should fix, and the disproportionate focus on highly skilled players is feeding this problem by normalizing the idea that the only reason to play a game is to try to win as hard as you can (instrumental play)

and then of course - because everyone approaches gaming as an optimization problem - new games are designed under the assumption that their only value is as an optimization problem - accidentally punishing any other form of play. which just compounds the problem

so how do we fix this? I’m honestly not sure, but I think a good start would be to reward more Let’s Play type content and watch players start multiplayer games without knowing all of the optimizations and techs - and enjoy watching them learn. I especially like those “granny plays Skyrim” or “I teach my dad Dark Souls” type videos because they show the viewer the exact opposite of a speedrunner esport pro god, and they celebrate that lack of experience and the process of learning

I think it would also be helpful to invent new types of casual play that don’t focus on winning (ludic play) - like roleplaying in a PvP game - and make content around that for people to watch, to help drive home that games don’t have to be a rat race to win every time, and even playing a competitive game doesn’t have to be treated as a competition

@kasdeya the way that i got past a lot of my personal insecurities about skill was surrounding myself in others that were trying to do the same thing. it helped expose me to a wide variety of different types of creativity at multiple “skill levels” which gave me a more realistic perspective on what it means to create or even to learn, i think. when making art and looking for inspiration, it was really discouraging to see nothing but elite artists who have been doing it their whole lives while i was trying to get started. . . but when i surrounded myself in artists nearer to my time investment into it, i felt a lot more comfortable and at home (and i learned a lot more that way)

as far as games: playing with friends is both infinitely more rewarding to me than playing alone, and often i start playing the same games at the same time (if its multiplayer, that is). what i’ve noticed is that the rate of learning is generally the same and the only different is how much time one puts into it.

@kasdeya i remember on counter strike in like 2014 there was a website that had a roulette wheel with joke tactics to do like everyone stay crouched the whole round or only use the taser gun etc. but if you do that now you risk getting banned from the game even if you queue with a full lobby of people that are agreeing to it because you're manuplating the ranking system. :/