Attitude as a weapon.
You know how sometimes you get that loading screen message that reads something like "Players who swear at their team mates lose XX% more games."? Or that one that says "Sportsmanlike players win XX% more games."?
Well, ignoring whether or not these statistics are still (or ever were) accurate, these got me thinking. So raging at your team is obviously bad because it makes them play worse, right? No brainer, there. We've heard it a million times. Positive reinforcement can go a long way, etc.. But what about positively reinforcing the enemy team? One would assume that, if flaming your team tilts them, flaming the enemy team tilts them, and being supportive of your team generally makes them play better, the latter would also apply to the enemy team, correct? Sure, it doesn't happen often, but it does happen.
So here lies my main question: Is being overly complimentary of the enemy team assisting the enemy team?
It's not a trick question. I'd just like to see what people have to say about that. If there's a lot of grey area, where would you draw the line?
Now, on the other side of the coin, we have using words to demoralize your opponents. Though somewhat of a taboo among sportsmanlike players, to me, finding the balance between putting the enemy at a disadvantage with your words without being blatantly toxic is a sort of art. In my experience, it usually comes down to hyping yourself up rather than putting anyone else down. The difference between talking about how nobody stands a chance because you're a godlike player and how nobody stands a chance "because they're all trash" is huge.
With that in mind, here's a follow up question: Do you ever psyche your opponents out using chat or otherwise attempt to manipulate the way they play?
Examples may include but are not limited to: Demoralization, "flaming for focus", and shifting enemy focus away from objectives and on to chat.
What do you think? Is it all part of the game to be mastered just like anything else, or better left untouched and not talked about?
