Today’s article is written by Nicholas M Whittier (NMW) who talks about mindsets and attitudes in gaming.

Introduction

Competitive gamers come from a wide array of backgrounds, each with their own predilections. Given that we are all part of the Melee community, I will assume that we all have the urge to compete–some innate drive to win. This is not a trivial assumption, as there are many out there who don’t have the drive to compete at all. With the newest generation of Smashers, who are largely inspired by Evo and the documentary, the internet has had countless threads about how to convert one’s casual friends into competitive players. Those casual players frequently lack the drive necessary to be a competitive player. The thirst is not something that can be instilled into your friends. Assuming people have knowledge of the competitive scene and know what top level Melee looks like…