So you just got beaten. Again. You don't understand why, so you rage. You blame everything - imbalanced weapons, game bugs, aim, maps, luck - anything. We've all done it, admit it to yourself - you just love to blame anything and anyone but yourself; it's an aspect of human nature.

This nature is the #1 thing standing between you and div1. Sure, something mentioned above may have contributed to your loss. It's possible that your rockets missed when they should have hit, giving your opponent enough of an advantage to help him edge you out. Maybe you are just gimped on that map, or your opponent 'got lucky'.

It doesn't matter in the least. The reason you lost that game is, 99.9% of the time, because you did not play perfectly. You made mistakes with your in-game decisions, you did not move around the map correctly, you were not able to hit easy shots, you focused too much on the wrong tactics, too much reliance on shaft, too much rushing, too much camping, whatever.

It's your fault.

You know the top players? Those evil, arrogant, self-serving know-it-alls? The assholes who criticize every statement you make, point out all your errors, the insulting bastards that tell you that you're bad and wrong? They're the ones who have come to this realization: they acknowledge that the games they've lost, are their own fault - and that of nobody else. They don't compete with others. They compete with themselves. I criticize you because I am even more critical of myself.

I can't stand making mistakes. When I lose a game, I go back and watch it to find my mistakes. When I win a game, I go back and watch it to find my mistakes. I might have made a tactical error, not peeked around this corner or that, hell, even grabbed an armor at the wrong time. The error doesn't matter - the point is that I find it, and don't make the same mistake again.

The top players perfect their play because they love doing it, and they expect the highest possible standards from their own play.

We don't (as someone aptly put it) think. We just do. When you just got trounced by reppie, dag, griffin, paradoks, locktar, whoever, you go back to the demo and note how easy it seems for him. The reason for that is simple: It's because it was that easy for him. That guy just expended no more mental energy grinding you into a fine red mist than he would swatting an unfortunate fly. Tony Jaa would crush me in any sort of physical challenge because he has put an enormous amount of time into perfecting his body. Likewise, any top player of quake/quakeworld/anything will smash you without a second thought because he has painstakingly trained himself to do just that.

There are a lot of people looking for 'tips and tricks', 'advice', or related nonsense - hell, I did the same thing myself when I had just picked up the game. It's a quick fix, and it will not get you very far. You should exhaust all the trivia you can find about the game, but that will only take a couple days and it will only get you to the "barely past being a complete rookie" stage, and that's it.

I can't speak for any top player, since I'm nowhere near the top, but whatever skill I got was because I challenged myself to find my mistakes and fix them, and I did that because I enjoyed the process. And when you play against players better than you, and work to eliminate the mistakes you make, and learn the mistakes they don't make, then that is the only way you will earn a win against any of them. Yes, some of them are arrogant in manner, but the mere fact that they will take time out of their day to play with you is a kindness in itself that you should be thankful for.

Some say "I'll never be that good". They're right. It is a cliche to say it but: "If you don't want it, it just won't happen." Natural talent and synergy with your skills as regards the game are certainly helpful. A good strategic mind, and fast fingers are vital. All of this, however, can be trained, and if you're determined enough to put the effort in and actually get good, there is nothing standing in your way.

If you don't want to put the work in: then quit because this is not for you. Feeling lazy? Fine, go play a random FFA. But if you want help, need to ask questions, or want a game, get on #qwrookie, or better yet find the best players and play them with the above in mind.

Hopefully, this will help someone.