lilelf29 wrote:
But it is pretty hard to see what you've done well/achieved when you are yet to actually achieve anything; this is even more difficult because what you classify as an achievement is subjective and if you have the mindset that you've achieved something (from what I've seen) you just get belittled back down into thinking you haven't.
I am of the opinion that I have currently achieved nothing and openly admit I am very bad at this game.
You're not bad, you're inexperienced. People are really pessimistic, self-loathing creatures, and they'll try to bring themselves (and each other) down at every opportunity they can find. They bring themselves down because they feel like they're not good enough and they bring others down because the grass is greener on the other side.
I mean, think about it. Let's say you meet a hobo who tells you that he used to be a hard working man but then his grandfather died and he inherited his ginormous debts and lost everything, still being in debt to several companies to this day. Would you make fun of him for that? I can't think of anyone in their right mind who would see that as a reason to make fun of him, or put him down by saying he's a broke fuck or something. Yes, he
is broke, he's homeless, he has less money than most people - that's an undeniable fact. But if he found a shitty job at the McDonalds a week later and barely earned any pay while trying his best, would he be shit? Would he suck? Would he be bad?
No, because despite it being incredibly hard for him, he's still trying his best to work himself back into a normal life from the bottom up. Even if he may not end up as a millionaire in the future, if he managed to end up with a decent job, clear out all his debts and buy a decent house, that'd be way more impressive than someone who was born in a wealthy family and inherited their father's business after he died. It's similar everywhere, really. People won't really bring someone down for not being good at something, they'll only bring someone down out of jealousy or some other personal problem. So don't let it get to you because someone belittling you for something is most likely just mad at themselves about something else.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that you need to stop looking at your progress relative to that of others. That only really holds you back. Reason being that seeing someone else as #1 automatically makes you believe you're #2, and even if you'd have the capacity to #1, you believing that you can't make it there will prevent you from making it there. That's just how brains work. If instead of trying to compete with others you compete with yourself, you will most likely achieve the most optimal results. Because you can't really get jealous at yourself, or say that you aren't as predisposed at being good at this game as yourself. That said, some people will still get jealous at their past selves (I know I did) and that works pretty much the same as being jealous at someone else, it's only a tad bit dumber.
The best thing to do is look at your progress relative to yourself. If you beat your top performance, that's an achievement, and you should be proud of it, no matter what kind of performance it is. When I got my current top performance, I was super proud and excited about it, and I still am proud of it. Should I be less proud of it because it's not a Remote Control HDDT FC worth >550pp? Wouldn't it be much more productive to use my pride and excitement for that score as a fuel to get more similar and possibly even better scores than to call myself shit just because it's not the best of the best?
This community doesn't help, though. I know of the Touhou community that they'll be much more impressed at someone who manages to clear their first Hard after weeks of trying than at a veteran player who 1cc's a Lunatic for the umptieth time. Yes, it's very impressive to watch a pro player do their thing, but it's much harder for a shit player to clear a Hard than it is for a pro player to 1cc a Lunatic.
Perhaps it'd help if everybody didn't go full Oprah with "I suck! You suck! Everybody sucks !!!!xcept cokesi xD" and actually praised each other for their achievements no matter where on the progress bar they are, so long as it's an improvement from what they were already good at. By that logic, hvick's Hoshizora play is just as impressive as a 50K who FCs their first Insane after going through a lot of trouble and effort to get there. To me, the 50K would be more impressive, but I expect most players will continue to stay superficial and only be impressed by what they can't do, rather than compliment each other for their hard work.
tl;dr In an ideal world FL would be a respected and honorable mod