Ha ! 'Slackers', 'lazies', 'losers' ...

[unity100]

There's your problem! Professional gamers often don't know how to have fun. They're neurotically focused on winning at all costs.

I was semi-pro also. Was at the top of the games I played and made money doing it, had corporate sponsors, everything.

I believe the state of mind that most people utilize to become #1 in these games is very much adrenaline-based. I think that some pros do it in love and others do it in fear. I've seen both. I've seen pro gamers who clearly come from a place of love and love everyone and the game and everything, and others who are totally fear based, motivated by fear, and hostile towards others. I would agree that among the pros there is more fear than love, in my opinion. But it also varies between games. I like the vibes of the Korean pro-gamer community, some really nice people.

Casual gamers on the other hand are a totally different breed from the elites.

quite perceptive and accurate. only maybe in regard to fear - there is much more elitism and desire for proving self worth in progaming.

what game did you play as semi pro ? starcraft ?

Games in themselves are neutral for polarizing in my opinion. I think they can easily be time wasters though -- actually just as I wrote this I recalled the part of the LOO where Ra says that the effect of most entertainment media is just to waste time, and does not cause significant polarization in either direction.

that was told before the advent of computer gaming however.