If you look around the arcade scene there tends to be friendly competition. Well why is that? Yes, it's nice to have a hobby where you actually get along with the people you compete against. Yes, there is a moment of decency that's found in almost everyone where we know that it reflects badly on us if we start to trash talk.
Still, there is another reason. One that almost no competitor would ever admit to. In fact if I heard of this idea I'd mock it because it simply goes against the status quo, and it's best if people don't believe this.
It's simple. When a person trash talks another person in the field of a competitive game that person becomes inspired. Pro and college sports teams are taught not to trash talk their opponent. They know that their words will be used as motivation. Their words will be put on the bulletin board of the opposing team. They know that trash talking puts gasoline on a person's competitive fire.
Act cocky, and trash talk and you'll get the very best from that person. Now he or she has something to prove.
Yes, I know, there are examples of extremely cocky people who trash talk in our scene. But you want to know why they do that? Usually it's because the games they play lack competition. These are the types of people who actually want people to play their relatively obscure game just so they can have competition. So they don't fear the motivation of their opponents because they don't have any opponents to begin with. They sort of trash talk like the person who sits on top of a water tank to perspective customers. A person is more likely to throw balls at the trigger for the water tank if someone is smack talking them.
