I’ll be the first to admit that, as much as I very much love video games, I’m not always great at them on a competitive level. Good? Sometimes. Great? Rarely. I’ve consistently played Street Fighter 2 for over thirty years, but I’m pretty sure almost any of you could whoop my ass up and down the aisle of the store. Despite decades of trying, I rarely beat my younger brother in any given sports game that didn’t start off as an arcade franchise.
My ranking on most online games is somewhere between ‘Apprentice’ and ‘Dog Watching Magic Tricks’. To be fair to myself, I’ve long suffered from hand tremors which can make extreme precision difficult. To be even more fair to myself, I would probably suck at these games anyway. And while I’d love to be better at games, I’m just never going to understand the point of pretending to be good at a game so people think I’m cool.
Path Of Exile 2 Is A Pretty Good Game, Eh?
This is gonna be one of those ‘I won’t name any names’ things, because you probably already know what I’m talking about and, if you don’t, the point stands anyway. I just do not understand the compulsion to pretend to be good at a video game. There’s something truly weird and sad about desperately trying to convince people you’re good at a game that you’re just not that good at. Whether it be through hiring someone to max out your character for you or just exaggerating your ranking on a leaderboard, there’s something profoundly pathetic about needing people to think you’re especially good at a computer program that relies on quickly clicking a mouse.
Now, to be clear, this isn’t the same as cheating in a game. They’re in the same ballpark, but not the same in terms of what I’m talking about. Cheating is a way to win. Pretending to be good is a way to get people to think you already won. While I don’t condone cheating, I at least understand it. People cheat at games because they like to win at games. Simple.
Other people cheat at games because they want to see the ending without much hassle. Some people cheat at games because they like having every weapon and being invincible. Even if it’s often done by insufferable people online, I do get why someone wants an advantage in a game they didn’t earn. So, to clarify, I don’t mean cheating here to win, I mean outright pretending so people think you’re good without any competition or challenge.
Why Lie When The Truth Is No Big Deal?
Nor is pretending to be good at a game the same as pretending to be a fan. It’s easy to conflate these two. One of the stupidest accusations online is that someone who says they like a thing is only pretending to like it to fit into a group. Which, yeah. I’m sure that happens sometimes. But the accusation that someone is only pretending to be a fan is just the other person deciding that they’re the arbiter of fun. “Oh, you don’t know the differences between Space Marine legions? Looks like you are just faking it!”
In my opinion, very few people are simply pretending to enjoy something, outside of trying to get a first date to like them. A lot of fans enjoy games or movies or books or music without digging too deep, or while ignoring the themes, or while rejecting the uncomfortable stuff. That’s just the way art is.
What I’m talking about here is wanting people to believe you’re an expert player in a game you’re not. It’s not about taking home the trophy and prize money at an event. Or fitting in as a new fan to a series with an intense fanbase. It’s wanting to be crowned as the Emperor of Nerds without putting in that much effort. It’s wanting everyone to think that you’ve mastered everything when you’ve mastered nothing. But it’s all so vapid. It’s all so hollow. It’s all so pointless.
It is, I’ll say, kind of funny that, for decades, video games have been seen as a big loser activity and yet now we’re in this phase of the culture where being seen as especially good must mean you’re a super genius. The old stereotype of the intelligent nerd in their cave playing Warcraft has mutated into this weird beast where famous people want to convince you that they’re so intelligent that they have the biggest, bestest cave for Warcraft!
If you have the greatest nerd cave with the saddest memorabilia, and if you’re a top ranked player, you must be the smartest person on Earth! You should run things around here! It’s also funny that it’s often the dumbest people who buy into this.
Being very good at one thing does not mean you’re good at literally anything else. You can be a brilliant surgeon and still suck at critical reading comprehension. You can be a talented athlete but still not know what to do with your hands while on camera. Intelligence isn’t an attribute that can be quantified with a single number like in D&D. You don’t need to prove you’re good at everything to prove you’re intelligent because that’s not how thinking works. I know people buy into this, but I’m just not sure why? I’ve got friends who can kill Elden Ring bosses without taking a scratch, but I would not leave them alone with a hot stove.
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What really is the point of lying to people about being good at Counter Strike or Overwatch 2 or Diablo or Path of Exile? I mean, I already said what the point is: Emperor of Nerds. But why does that matter? Why does anyone need to convince other people they are good at something they’re not? Praise? Authority? It just feels sad to me. Who cares?
Especially because these are games. They’re meant to be played. They’re supposed to be fun. Paying someone else to play them to make you look good is like taking a selfie in a funhouse mirror to brag about your miraculous weight loss journey. Some gullible people might believe it, but it’s still not true. And we’d all be thankful if you’d stop punishing us because you have low self-esteem.
Path of Exile 2 is a major sequel to the hit free-to-play ARPG from Grinding Gear Games. It will add a new story in the continent of Wraeclast, new ascendancy classes, and reworked systems.