You are playing a game or having some kind of friendly contest with people you like. You realise that you are doing better than your opponent. How do you react?
If you win and you smile - smug prick enjoying themselves too much!
If you win and you don’t react - thinks they’re too cool, how arrogant!
If you win and overcompliment your rival - condescending arsehole!
Laying off on the kids can backfire though when it flips and you decide you are bored out of your mind and wished you’d played properly from the off so it would’ve been over already
I feel embarrassed and awkward and don’t know how to react outwardly… but i fucking love winning, absolutely love it. even if I have to poker face/be apologetic to the person, you bet if it’s a great win I’m going to the toilets and having it large when no one can see.
I’m not ever going to feel bad about that. competitions are thrilling, makes for great TV and can push people to feel their most profound emotions whether they win or lose.
Actually I occasionally do hold back a bit in Scrabble when I’m crushing someone and one time they came back and beat me and harped on about it for ages. It’s complacent and disrespectful to assume they won’t get themselves back in the game and it’s embarrassing for you. never again
For me there’s a tipping point where I would rather lose than feel really awkward about crushing somebody else. A close win is the best of all outcomes