It’s an endless cycle of trying to get better. If you fall into it, you’ll get stuck. The ranking system in the game Valorant has nine ranks from lowest to highest: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Ascendant, Immortal, and Radiant. People are too desperate in trying to get better ranks.

Even if they give up, a small piece of them wants to continue. Sins that “originate from unbalanced passions, emotions, and desires” are punished by Dante’s nine circles of hell. Similarly to being greedy, the consequence of being too desperate is doing “useless labor that frustrates others near them.” You and your teammates will play worse, bringing you down and demoting your rank.

But we will ignore that for now since it’s time to rank up. I left the practice range and loaded up a competitive match. If I win this game, I will get promoted to Gold.

Though I prepared enough, the game wasn’t going my way. I thought I was supposed to be placed against people my level. The game ended with me losing. It’s something you can’t prepare for. Theriault wrote in his blog post The One Thing You’ll Never Know, But You Need To Know, “The article basically illustrates that we as human beings… 3. Don’t know we don’t know things.” This is something to take into consideration when playing competitive matches. These situations can teach players to embrace and learn from these losses: “The unknown unknowns are the ultimate blind spot… it is mandatory that we solicit and listen to the opinions of those…” 

I remembered what slipped my mind; I forgot to have fun while playing competitive matches. Playing for ranks takes the fun out of the game, making them pointless. Games are supposed to help you relax while playing with friends or even by yourself. Iago believes, “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving.” Even though Iago is a terrible person, he knows reputation doesn’t describe who someone is. Similarly in reputation, your rank doesn’t define who you are. The goal is to have fun and enjoy learning how to become a better player.