It’s a great time to be a competitive gamer right now, with many tournaments being created for different games. Furthermore, it’s also great because you get to experience yourself achieving things you never thought you could. Seeing your hard work pay off in anything is one of the best feelings life could offer. Competitive video games strive to give these challenges to players and some gamers really love it. However, others need to think twice before they pursue the genre. The reality of competitive games is that they take a lot of time, effort, and hard work. Lastly, they also require you to be more excited about improving than winning. As a result, not everyone enjoys competitive games and that’s okay! It’s completely okay to quit competitive gaming is what I’m getting at here.
Below is a list of reasons why it’s okay to quit the pro-gaming life:
1) Huge Gaming Backlog
Those 100+ JRPGs in your Steam library aren’t gonna finish themselves. I know you want to play them all, but playing competitive video games can hold you back from playing them. Every second you play a single-player game feels like time you could’ve put into improving at your competitive game. Getting into e-sports can really make you lose interest in your video game backlog.
Also, as stated before, getting into e-sports is about time, effort, and hard work. The more time you put into competitive games, the less time you have to crack down on your gaming backlog. Not to mention the others things in life that might fill up your day such as jobs, school, etc. This in turn leads to my next point.
2) Responsibilities
Some of us here have families at home to take care of. Being a parent is a huge responsibility and will most likely not allow you to have time for competitive games. Furthermore, school is another important responsibility to factor in. You might need to invest more time into that internship that could help lead you to your career. Your GPA is perhaps too low and you need to put more time and effort into bringing it up. It’s always a good thing to put responsibilities first before anything, especially when those things could affect your mental.
3) Mental
When it comes to frustrations with video games, we’ve all been there. However, competitive video games can bring the worst out in you. From breaking your controllers to insulting other players, things can get really toxic. If things are getting rough for you, it’s okay to stop playing and completely quit. Developers create video games for people to enjoy them. If you are not enjoying it, it’s time to stop and move on to hobbies that you can easily enjoy. The other option is taking a break!
It’s Okay To Quit Competitive Gaming, But It’s Also Okay To Take A Break!
Indeed, taking a break is great because it allows us to look at things with a clear mind. Sometimes we lose sight of why we enjoy the game in the first place. Taking breaks is what helps us find out why we started playing our respective games in the first place. Perhaps you enjoy thinking about the game more than playing? Maybe being a spectator is what you really love more? Playing with your friends is what got you in probably? It’s possible that winning isn’t the thing you truly enjoy and that there is something else. You just lost sight of it on your journey. So take that break and think heavily about it.
Not to mention, there are so many avenues you can walk in for e-sports. Coaching, writing, content-creator, etc. Taking a break can also mean just entering those avenues and seeing whether or not you enjoy them.
Conclusion
Competitive video games are not just hard, but take a lot of time to be good at. It’s amazing to see people work hard to achieve their goals. I love seeing gamers take breaks and find what they truly love in the genre. It’s also understandable for people to leave the genre for reasons. I just want you to know that you shouldn’t defeat yourself for it. There are so many other things in life for you to enjoy and achieve. You have untapped potential that’s wanted somewhere. Go out there and get it.
