I was a fan of session-based games for as long as i remember, probably way back with Quake III, Warcraft 3 and Orange Box games like Day of Defeat and TF2. I like just jumping into a match and playing it out til it's done and then forgetting about it completely.

But lately i can't seem to find any game that i'm comfortable playing from time to time like this — i just feel not good enoung. My exp changed from mindless fun to a constant sweat-show, where i HAVE to put time and research into the game to have any type of fun. Almost everybody tries their hardest to win, which ofc is the objective and is okay, but every game now boils down to rock-paper-scissors cuz there is resouces that tell you exactly what is the most optimal way to play and how to counter the most optimal way to play. Back in the day even "pro" players were not really that good at the games (just check out old League of Legend tournaments for example). I just can't seem to find the same type of mindless fun in online games anymore.

Is it a ME problem or vidya is just more competitive nowadays?

hard agree, but I like everything you mentioned here, it really comes down to who is the most dedicated lol

I love doing research about minor optimal movement that throws your opponent of maybe a litle bit, its just like soccer, or practicing shooting a target from super far away for hours, just like soccer

You could try to wait for new games to come and start playing them immediately after they are released and get good. Or maybe make new account on the older games and get matched with other not so good players? I played TF2 for the first time few years ago and it was definitely playable

play catcubes
https://pup.town/catcubes.html

pvp games suck because of balancing. you wanna know how you make a fun pvp game? give every weapon stupidly high damage-per-round, like 1 or 2 hits to KO, and give shotguns good enough range to be able to compete with smgs. that way you never get any bitching about something being op because everything is and you don't get cunts making wiki pages about optimal play strategies because every way to play is good.
it's become difficult to find casual pvp fun. it's nearly impossible to have that kind of fun with strangers, and setting it up with friends can be a hassle. sometimes they're busy, sometimes they don't like the kinda games that you like, sometimes they don't feel like playing, sometimes they can't play because of technical issues, sometimes they'd like to play but YOU can't play for one of the same reasons. if we were all one, we wouldn't have this issue. unfortunately, the mycelian takeover hasn't happened yet, but trust me, when it does, the lan parties will be insane.
if you have a good cpu you should try metal gear online 2. very skill based but also very casual kinda game, and there's a lot of room for different playstyles. also very unbalanced, but that's why i like it. unfortunately it is a headshot game. you pretty much need to hit headshots in order to win gunfights, but there are options to circumvent this (i like sneaking n knifing). lobbies come n go and hosting's really easy (just need to port-forward) so if nobody's playing what you wanna play you can still have your match your way. also the character customization is really good if that's something you care about.

>>6
you're describing counter strike

>>7
this

i kinda feel like once overwatch came out, the entire scene of gaming turned competitive somehow. like that turned a lot of games competitive and now it's more based on dedication and degeneracy instead of having fun.

>>6
I used to play a lot of Halo CE online and loved the fact that your starting pistol was stupid strong. Yeah, other guns were situational and useful, but everyone had a gun that could tear someone up right out the gate.

mind you, everyone also started with another gun that was complete trash -- situational enough since it tore through shields, but you would be very lucky to actually get a kill off of it in time, and pretty much every other gun you could pick up was more useful overall