Is Competition Good or Bad?

I had been searching around the site and I had found a thread on competition but there seems to be mixed views on the subject. I hate the to bring up the so called 'Me' generation nonsense but there seems to be a stigma towards competition especially in academia. I had read in forums that competition is bad and in others that competition is good but is it really bad or good? Are competitions really about winning or is it something spiritually deeper?

edited 7th Jan '15 12:13:40 PM by GAP

"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."

It is neither good nor bad—only how people act regarding competition is good or bad. For example, competition in the marketplace pushes companies to try to provide the best products for the most affordable price that still gives them a net gain in profits. Similarly competition in academics or school sports can push children to achieve their full potential. Seeking success for its own sake can even be a rewarding experience on its own to build up one's skills, experience, and ability to handle the world.

Alternatively, if people take it too far, there can be consequences. Taking competition too seriously or personally can damage one's self-confidence or self-esteem, say, if the outcome is not as one wishes. People can be pushed too hard for the sake of competition, causing physical injury and, in the cases of non-physical competition, emotional and psychological damage (I'm thinking of teen and under beauty pageants here as a good example, though physical damage is very possible in that realm too). Additionally, being overcompetitive can sometimes lead to you becoming an unlikable person, e.g. an arrogant dick.

Like most things, it's fine in moderation, but too much can be harmful. It is neither inherently good nor bad.

edited 7th Jan '15 1:43:46 PM by Odd1

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

I agree with 0dd1 but my post is totally better than his.

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes

Competition is not inherently good or bad? It simply is what it is? I know you told me that it can taken a little too far but what does that mean if you violates some spiritual, moral law where even your allies despise you? I think I watch too many movies and even in real life people can take things too far.

"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."

Yes. Except when it's not.

Possibly the other way around.

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

Competition is good when it's fair.

Sadly, people apparently forgot what "fair" means long ago.

"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von Lewis

@Aszur: Oh yeah? How about a race down the mountain at dawn to settle this?

Well, that's one way, but even simply being overcompetitive in general can have its drawbacks that can lead to both violations of morality and violations of one's own limits.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Still are there any spiritual, moral or sociological aspects of competition that can 'violated' and makes that person a 'villain'?

edited 7th Jan '15 9:17:57 PM by GAP

"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."

Breaking "Fair Play" conventions on the whole, such as (obviously) cheating or being unsportsmanlike, or Rules Lawyering to an over-the-top extent. Or simply being too good so that nobody can compare.

edited 8th Jan '15 6:35:36 AM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On

0dd1: COME AT ME BRO

Ok. Listen. There are various perspectives of competition. It is not so cut-and-dry a thing that it allows us to call it inherently "Good" or "Bad" without taking the context into account. For example.

I work in recruitment of new personnel. What I have to do, is basically see which people compete better for the job positions that we have open. Is this bad, or good? For me and the company, the competition is "good" because it allows the company to get the best fitting person for the company which will increase sales, give him a job, increase the well being of the company in general. The "losers"? They do not get a salary.

Competition in sports for fun? Let us say...videogames. Is it bad for people to compete with each other for fun? Did the game, or the competition, lose its value just because there had to be a loser anyways?

If you are trying to use competition for something serious then you will find it both necesary and merciless. I cannot fit everyone into the job. It would hurt more people in the long run. But you will find the results are oriented to the benefit of many more people. This does not mean it is a systematic, repressive system for the "losers". I not only will consider them for when new posts open, I will already hae a general idea of where they might be useful.

If you are trying to use competition for something done for entertainment, then the mere act of participating serves its very purpose and the competition itself is not inherently good or bad.

The problem is people can take it too seriously. Let us say I measure all of my worth in my tangible achievements. Literally, "If I do not get this job, I am worthless". But are you really worthless for not getting that job, medal, game, or score? Does losing make you a loser, or does losing just make you a person that lost in that case? Winning makes you two things: a person who won, and Charlie Sheen. Not someone who, because they achieved something have the rest of their life set.

Loads of the "good" and "bad" repercussions of competition that you speak of, such as making people into villains, or violating some moral law, are done by the people who take them into such, not by the fact of competition itself.

For example...if I made a competition of "Let us make a competition of who can get me the most Lawyer ears!" does it make the competition evil and violent, or does it make me evil and violent?

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes

Dammit Aszur, stop explaining things better than me.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Told you bro ur gun get rekt this post competition is fierce ill bash u downrite mental m8

MLG 360 noscope post

edited 8th Jan '15 1:08:04 PM by Aszur

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes

So competition is not good or bad, only how you approach it? I guess that makes sense. Losing and winning are relative I suppose.

"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."

Well. In the definition of competition losing and winning is anything but relative. You win by scoring the most points. You scored the most points? You win.

How you react to the victory or the loss is not something competition itself determines.

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes

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Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

gg no re

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes