No Competitive Spirit

Speaking only as a person without that spirit of competition I cannot say what motivates them, but I would imagine it is rooted in the way they approach games. When I set out to play a game I have only one goal in mind, to have fun. I'm not in it to win, though if that happens I enjoy it. I like a challenge from time-to-time, and I like improving my skills, but I still like to have fun more than anything else. I will not say I am without a competitive side, but my competitive side is quite different. I will compete with myself, but not with another person. I don't care if I am better than somebody else, what I care about is beating my own record, and achieving goals I set. This has always allowed me to have fun, and have good sportsmanship.

The most frustrating thing for me is when I happen to be good at a game, and happen to be the undisputed champion in my (small) gaming circle. It's frustrating because it does not take long before people start challenging me so they can beat me; very quickly I stop having fun and have to start defending my position. One would think it should be no problem, but I am a perfectionist, and once I have achieved the rank I want I would like to keep it, thus I would like to be "the champ" but I don't want to compete, but I end up competing anyway, or forfeiting my "title" and retiring from the game altogether (I had to do this once).

I'm returning to normal and am now playing more games on my console systems. Most of the games I have are RPGs, so there is no threat or fear of competition. What has me really excited are a few small and select games out there built for multi-player cooperation! I have always enjoyed playing with people to defeat a common computer controlled enemy. Feelings don't get hurt, titles aren't in dispute, and we can all enjoy a challenge of our individual and team skills. I for one would like to see more of these games. I've always has a better time playing those games than the competitive ones.