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Hermit in the Highrise

born 1990. very skittish. i play fighting games and randomizers. i also like to tinker a lot.


I realized I've lived to see the creation and inversion of a phrase/saying

"Don't hate the player; hate the game", a phrase used to encourage questioning the systems under which we operate and defend the people just trying to stay ahead of the curve. I believe I first heard it in the context of basketball, but it extended to things like office politics and such.

I've seen at least one person this year earnestly believe the phrase is "Hate the player, not the game", implying that the system should be preserved and people that poke holes in it should be shamed and outcast. I saw this use case in the Smash Bros scene, an FGC sect I can personally attest has a penchant for getting very upset when the optimal way to play the game strays too far from how they personally like to play or see it played.

I hope it was just a one-off case and we haven't lost the original phrase. It felt like a very powerful rallying tool to get average people to care about improving flawed systems.


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