[Competitive] Choice and Loyalty

[Flint]

This is acknowledgment on the competitive aspect of games and a trend of looking down on these traits, mainly what I had in mind is Yu-Gi-Oh and Smash Bros.

Deck and Character Loyalty: The phenomenon when a person decides to use a certain deck or character and decides to use them no matter what almost obsessively.

If you set your main character or deck in stone without exploring further, you might just permanently disclose a potential option that you would have possibly have been happier with. After all, how could you be confident in what you have unless you truly know what else is out there? For example, it doesn't matter if the deck or character is competitively viable, because the person cares more about developing the deck or character of their choice than doing well competitively. Of course if your goal is to enjoy the game or be the best at a certain deck or character and following that gives you meaning, this is completely fine, but to impose the belief on others is when the problems begin to emerge.

To start off, Deck and Character Loyalty is an illogical concept. Decks and characters do not have feelings, meaning they cannot be betrayed and "loyalty" is an illusion. You can feel devotion and commitment to a deck and character, but to call it "loyalty" is to attach imaginary feelings to something that doesn't have them. Why do these semantics matter? Loyalty as a term has a strong moral meaning to them, giving people the impression that character devotionist are more faithful than others. And conversely, those who switch decks or characters are committing in the act of betrayal in some level and are more or less frowned upon by the community surrounding that deck or character.

You're not hurting your deck or character's feeling and you're not destroying any level of trust when switching decks or characters because characters are not aware-beings, they are ideas. Dedication is a more accurate and justifiable term. The only form of betrayal you can potentially even be engaging from switching is promising the fans of those decks or characters that you're going to keep using those decks and characters and then switch away. And lets hope people don't make these types of promises. Motivation to do something comes from yourself, if you've lost motivation with a deck or character, it will never be the same unless that motivation comes back from within yourself.

Some people might be pressured to play their old decks or characters because of other people but this is not a sustainable source of incentive to use a deck or character when you lack any inner motivation to do so. If you follow what others want you to do instead of following your own ambitions, you will not be as motivated to keep doing it. The best case scenario is when all parties want the same thing, but when this is not the case, the option should always go to the person it affects the most. Others should respect the circumstances whether they like it or not. If they respect it then good, if they don't respect it, it really shouldn't matter in the end.

An issue like this should be your own business and you have every justifiable reason to do so and nothing else should matter in this scenario since you're being reasonable and people who don't respect your choice/switch of decks and characters, are not. It's important to understand this and ignore those who give you a hard time. This is not to say you shouldn't listen to reasonable request, or that compromises aren't sometimes better. But for something as harmless as Yu-Gi-Oh or Smash, or anything along those lines, there is nothing wrong with switching decks or characters and we should stop assigning any form of negativity to something fundamental as deck and character choice.

If you pressure someone to stick to a deck or character because of fandom or "loyalty" despite the player's lack of motivation, you're just driving them into a burn-out and not helping anyone.

Lastly the labeling of people as "tier whore" is yet another toxic way of looking down on other people. I would like to hope this is a joke rather than a serious remark. If you truly take anything competitively serious, you will face the reality that most of your decks or characters have no chance of winning a major tournament, then you will pick a competitively viable deck or character. If you don't, then you're not taking the game seriously, or you have the goal of being the best with a certain deck or character that isn't competitively viable.

Of course both situations are completely fine, but what isn't fine is if you insult those who don't do the same thing you're doing. Picking a top tier deck or character for the sake of winning or maximizing their potential is not a reason to insult or look down on someone's choices. Some players might pick up top tier decks and/or characters being completely unaware that they're playing a deck or character that is competitively viable and then unfairly receive the title of "tier whore", when in certain situations, there are players who chose those decks or characters not because they're top tier, but because they genuinely like the design or character. Regardless of any situation, respect is what is most important when getting into a community like these from all parties.

Anyways, that's all I have to say on the issue.

[HoennZach]

A TON of people need to read this. I went through the tier whore comments a lot when Nekroz were meta and a lot this format with my favorite Pendulum deck Magicians. I dedicate myself to the decks/characters that I like to play regardless of what people think of them. Im dedicated to my FF Plants, and Nekroz in yugioh, meanwhile in Smash Im a dedicated Falcon/Villager/Lucina player because I like them. People who are dedicated to a low tier deck/character call people tier whores as an excuse for their loss/hard time winning.