How to walk away from what's not working (ft. MinovskyArticle)

Part of this project was talking to people about competition, and also talking to people about the psychology of competition.

MinovskyArticle

might be someone who’s graced your Twitter profile through his posts about gaming, media or just… things he’s enthusiastic about. His Twitter bio describes him as a singular “Enthusiast”, and I think that’s incredibly apt.

I like Minovsky’s posts because they have an encouragement to take that kind of thought process away from your enjoyment. We had a long conversation about:

• What attaches people to fighting games

• Which environments that best amplify peoples’ enjoyment

• What pressures people to be unkind or self-critical to themselves

• Self-compassion towards yourself and other players

The post I made about commodifying my passions was kind of the groundwork for this, and comes up, too. Minovsky’s Twitter account radiates that push towards authenticity with a lot of compassion attached for people struggling. It’s a skillset in its own way, and modern media can push us into unhealthy mindsets.

Minovsky @MinovskyArticle

I've felt completely unnecessary anxiety over this in the past, but weeklies with friends who are just happy for fighting games as an excuse to hang out for a few hours exorcised that completely.

make up a fighting game player @makeupafgplayer

fighting game player who gets worried that they were unfun to fight against when they win

Minovsky @MinovskyArticle

Been working on getting my anxiety under control and have found that I don't have much of interest to say online. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

I’m going to be trying to keep these under an hour in the future, but sometimes the conversation is hot, and it goes where it wants. I liked that about this one. I also realize that I took up a lot of air in this episode, and I need to give my guest more room in the future (🙏🏻 apologies).

Here’s some timestamps for the stuff we cover:

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Timestamps:

00:00 - Intros
04:30 - "The ugliness that the Internet is capable of"
06:00 - "My brain is poisoned" and expectations from accounts
12:56 - Fighting game players not automatically being volunteered for "career competition"
22:30 - Fighting games as a collaborative experience
31:20 - Receiving well-intentioned feedback, and *desiring* feedback
40:38 - "At the end of the day, a ranked system is about turning your skill into a commodity"
44:25 - Having empathy for the person putting unneccessary pressure on their in-game success. "What's in my suitcase in order to get out of my shitty situation?"
48:10 - Matt's anecdote about DBFZ locals
59:10 - "You are an ambassador for this thing that you love"
1:01:07 - The "insane" ranked spreadsheet, and managing anxiety through process
1:05:00 - External pressures, "You have to give yourself dignity to fail, sometimes, though"
1:07:34 - Struggles giving yourself compassion, and receiving grace from external sources
1:13:00 - Toxic self-awareness and over-responsibility, self-compassion
1:19:00 - When to walk away from something not working for you, "The Omni-Issue", "is there something wrong with me that I'm not into this?"
1:21:43 - It isn't about fighting games — it's that things can be measured
1:23:18 - The analog of fighting game storylines and character motivations
1:25:10 - "What does [game] do for me?", connection to the endless struggle to get better: "I look at that kind of premise, and I feel tired."
1:29:00 - Letting go of things that don't work for you, "creating work" out of hobbies, forgiving yourself for doing so
1:33:00 - Motivations for playing fighting games, and what keeps you "holding on" to the rest if you're not feeling good. "What do [my friends] see as my strengths as a player?"
1:44:33 - Outtros!