Crusty
Retired forever; don’t ask for games.
For the longest time I had been hoping to make this thread. Let me try to motivate the topic at hand here.
Before I mention anything, I would be the first to admit I'm a big downplayer, sometimes even taking to too far. However, the form of downplaying we're used to seeing on this site comes in the form of character downplaying with WoundCowboy being the most notorious player to do so. It even goes far such that certain people on this site like to refer to that as Woundcowboy-ism.
But that's not what this thread is about and I have nothing against Cowboy, he's one of my favorite players to watch and hope he continues to do well in this community despite how ridiculous he can sound sometimes. The topic at hand I'm referring to is self-downplaying. I am a pathological self-downplayer at my core, regardless of what I do be it playing games or writing fanfiction.
The questions I'd like to address regarding that is does it make a person an asshole. We all know there are scrubs claiming to be hot shit at a certain aspect of a game based on their online statistics and are often boastful about it. I have reason to believe this is exactly the opposite in the sense that a player can state that they suck at a game online when it is evident by their gameplay that they are above average in the games the play which is where the implication of stating that these people are detestable. I've read that those who do this do this for some sort of satisfaction though I personally I would have to disagree.
Three years of playing IGAU made me hungry to learn how the game works at a higher level and it has indeed leveled me up as a player. However, my issue with this that I never liked the terms 'level-up' or 'great player' etc. I downplay the hell out of myself but at my very core I never had some sort of twisted form of satisfaction doing it. I downplay myself because I feel there is still more I have to learn, more that I would like to learn, more that I aspire to learn.
I never thought of myself even as an average player or argue even half-decent though my gameplay can suggests otherwise. I don't do it so I can steamroll people, I do it because I am an extremely humble person at least until I find myself in a vexing situation. I never brag about my own personal skill (I'd even consider myself trash), I rarely ever talk about it but whenever I want to disapprove someone, I blow them up for their lack of skill rather than me telling them of my own, making this sound a tad bit contradictory.
While some people will acknowledge that I am indeed good or even godlike, I shun those statements, I push them aside in complete denial. Not because I'm an asshole looking for wins but because I know what my own weaknesses are and I know that I have zero confidence in what I do, I just try to stay humble about it or not talk of it at all. I don't want to be a person who’s driven by their online ego much less a person going out of their way to harass other players with a humble-facade when I really don't have one.
I want to believe I'm a good player but fear developing arrogance. Everyone is their own worst enemy in that sense.
TLDR: Is downplaying oneself make you look like a condescending person, and why is it if my intention isn't to be it? Why is such a behavior looked down upon?
Before I mention anything, I would be the first to admit I'm a big downplayer, sometimes even taking to too far. However, the form of downplaying we're used to seeing on this site comes in the form of character downplaying with WoundCowboy being the most notorious player to do so. It even goes far such that certain people on this site like to refer to that as Woundcowboy-ism.
But that's not what this thread is about and I have nothing against Cowboy, he's one of my favorite players to watch and hope he continues to do well in this community despite how ridiculous he can sound sometimes. The topic at hand I'm referring to is self-downplaying. I am a pathological self-downplayer at my core, regardless of what I do be it playing games or writing fanfiction.
The questions I'd like to address regarding that is does it make a person an asshole. We all know there are scrubs claiming to be hot shit at a certain aspect of a game based on their online statistics and are often boastful about it. I have reason to believe this is exactly the opposite in the sense that a player can state that they suck at a game online when it is evident by their gameplay that they are above average in the games the play which is where the implication of stating that these people are detestable. I've read that those who do this do this for some sort of satisfaction though I personally I would have to disagree.
Three years of playing IGAU made me hungry to learn how the game works at a higher level and it has indeed leveled me up as a player. However, my issue with this that I never liked the terms 'level-up' or 'great player' etc. I downplay the hell out of myself but at my very core I never had some sort of twisted form of satisfaction doing it. I downplay myself because I feel there is still more I have to learn, more that I would like to learn, more that I aspire to learn.
I never thought of myself even as an average player or argue even half-decent though my gameplay can suggests otherwise. I don't do it so I can steamroll people, I do it because I am an extremely humble person at least until I find myself in a vexing situation. I never brag about my own personal skill (I'd even consider myself trash), I rarely ever talk about it but whenever I want to disapprove someone, I blow them up for their lack of skill rather than me telling them of my own, making this sound a tad bit contradictory.
While some people will acknowledge that I am indeed good or even godlike, I shun those statements, I push them aside in complete denial. Not because I'm an asshole looking for wins but because I know what my own weaknesses are and I know that I have zero confidence in what I do, I just try to stay humble about it or not talk of it at all. I don't want to be a person who’s driven by their online ego much less a person going out of their way to harass other players with a humble-facade when I really don't have one.
I want to believe I'm a good player but fear developing arrogance. Everyone is their own worst enemy in that sense.
TLDR: Is downplaying oneself make you look like a condescending person, and why is it if my intention isn't to be it? Why is such a behavior looked down upon?
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