Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins made waves on Twitter after he called out people who use the expression “it’s just a game” in response to those who are serious about competing. However, his book explains a bit more than Twitter’s character limit would let him.
In the post, which was retweeted over 15,000 times, Ninja claims that people who stop getting mad about losing have actually “lost twice” and that treating competitions as “just a game” is “weak mindset.”
“There’s always something to learn, and always room for improvement, never settle,” the Fortnite star concluded.
The phrase “it’s just a game” is such a weak mindset. You are ok with what happened, losing, imperfection of a craft. When you stop getting angry after losing, you’ve lost twice.
There’s always something to learn, and always room for improvement, never settle.
— Ninja (@Ninja) February 18, 2020
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While many agreed with his words, some felt he was promoting toxicity. Twitch streamer Ohmwrecker replied that he believes “losing helps you get better” and “anyone doing anything competitive should find value in a loss.”
As the debates continued, Overwatch YouTuber Ryan Central of Hitscan seems to have uncovered more to Ninja’s comments from his book Get Good: My Ultimate Guide to Gaming.
In an excerpt, Ninja digs deeper into the “just a game comments” and provides some real examples of things that happened to him growing up.
Here's a much better answer about @Ninja's 'Just A Game' debate. It's from his book and I think it better explains his point than his tweet pic.twitter.com/VQCbfmATe7
— RyanCentral (@RyanCentral_) February 19, 2020
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“I hated when teammates would say, “Tyler, why are you so mad? It’s just a game!” in the middle of an actual game,” the excerpt reads.
According to Ninja, people who are playing the game shouldn’t be playing if they don’t want to win. He went on to suggest that people would never tell legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady “it’s just a game” when he’s playing in the Super Bowl.
“I’d be easier on myself if I didn’t have that mentality, but I do,” Ninja wrote. “And I probably won’t be where I am today without it.”
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He went on to suggest that competitors need to ask themselves why they want to be the best and what keeps them going. “Unless you’re hungry, you’re not really going to see the results you want and your time would be better spent just playing games, rather than trying to master them.”
Regardless of where you stand on Ninja’s comments, he definitely makes a compelling case for competing and that to be the best, you can’t just treat it like any other game.
