Are video games STS?

[anagogy]

Isn't that a total bias on your part though? What's wrong with wanting to be the best? Is that an invalid desire?

Never said it was a invalid desire. Why would it be invalid? And there is nothing "wrong" with it, but deriving your sense of self worth from crushing others is different than deriving a sense of self worth by simply doing better than you did last time. Competing with yourself, versus competing against others can look on the surface exactly the same, but the charge is different.

I understand where you are coming from in a sort of philosophical sense, kind of, but "just doing it for the sheer joy" doesn't seem any less selfish than for wanting to feel like the best, which may just be what brings that person joy. What if someone really is super skilled, say at chess which is competitive by design, and they aspire to be a world champion? This drive is maybe ultimately allows them to succeed in that goal and they feel joy at accomplishing their goal. Why is that a lesser joy than "just because"?

Not all self exploration is negative. That is part of my point. You can explore self pleasure that isn't derived from taking from others, in a competitive sense, and I would call it positive self exploration rather than negative self exploration. Again, not in a moral sense, but in a polarity sense. And it isn't "lesser", just differently charged. You seem to equate "negative" with lesser for some reason. To me, the charge is the charge, and the strength of the charge is an entirely different matter altogether.

Seems to me that is more just a preference than any real expression of polarity. The bias towards a more passive mode of existence doesn't at all mean one is polarizing, imo. Maybe you have a certain romantic view of what the positive path is and so it will always have the favorable explanation in your expressions?

First off, I don't think videogames are very polarizing to begin with. The catalyst is too mellow in most cases for it to significantly polarize (not saying there aren't exceptions). And where do you get that one is favorable in my post? I simply think one is more STS and one is more STO, I'm not saying one is favorable over the other. Oftentimes, crushing opponents is a *lot* more fun in video games, but that doesn't mean my description is wrong, and it is not always more fun. Competing against yourself isn't "more passive" in the slightest. It can be just as serious or not serious as competing against others (it can look exactly the same on the outside). It is very engaged and directed action designed to build on previous skill (personal growth). The only real difference is internal where the sense of pleasure is derived. It is derived from the joy of the action (and possibly cooperation with teammates) rather than the conquering/crushing of the enemies. In most circumstances there is going to a mixture of both of these -- yet another reason why it isn't going to significantly affect polarization.

In other words, it's some good harmless fun.