PSA: It's not worth it to dwell on wrongs of the past

We often deal with a lot of crap while playing this game. People make stupid mistakes, or blame us for things that are not our fault, or are willfully obnoxious just to spite us.

I've been thinking about this lately and I wanted to share some wisdom I've stumbled across. It's probably not new to some of you, so if you're already aware of it then this post isn't really meant for you. Feel free to ignore this and go find another post more worth your time :)

It's very frustrating when we have been wronged. It sucks when another person is at fault for something that negatively affects us, but I have found that it is not worth the effort we sometimes put into agonizing over what happened.

It certainly sucks, and they were wrong or an idiot for doing it, but nothing we do now or in the future can change what already happened. Anything we say in an effort to prevent it in the future must be weighed against our own sense of justice and revenge. Are we trying to prevent it in the future or are we just reacting out of spite?

Often times it is both, to the detriment of the former. Think about it,

• in-game when a player is pissed off at us, they are going to be willfully uncooperative because they do not like us. That is human nature. So in reality, if we single them out and punish them for what happened, it will only make them less willing to cooperate and do what we want them to do.

• out-of-game when we waste time being frustrated over something that happened in the pasta previous game, we distract ourselves and limit our ability to have fun in the present. If you're busy complaining about a player who annoyed you last game then you will be less able to foster a positive and fun environment to play in during your current game.

Our reason for playing this game is to have fun, right? Is it fun to punish them for doing wrong? To complain about how we were wronged? Or to argue with them because they won't accept responsibility for their mistakes?

I would argue that it's not fun. It may be satisfying at times, but that satisfaction pales in comparison to the satisfaction of concluding a game well played. Which is much easier to achieve if we are not weighed down by frustrations about things that have happened in the past (either in this match or previous ones).

Don't be like past me, don't waste time blaming people or complaining about stuff that is over and done. Focus on what can be done in the future, and don't let frustration lead you to twist your words away from simple advice into punishment for wrongs done to you. It won't help, and it will only make things worse.