True Adamance wrote:
To me sportsmanship is playing to the best of your ability when you can. Holding back even against a less skilled opponent is not doing them a courtesy. What is courteous in my mind is taking that win with dignity and respect to your opponent, not calling them out on being less skilled, and giving them encouragement to improve.
I feel that people should learn to accept the adversity they face daily and seek to move past it. Doing so not only benefits them but those around them.
So you're saying that if a grown man punched an infant as hard as he could, because the infant tried to bite his finger, then that is sportsmanship? I would think not.
Sportsmanship has tiers of respect, such as making it known to your opponent that they are unlikely to win, yet allowing them opportunities to learn as you reach an inevitable conclusion of victory.
If you just beat your opponent as fast as possible, as soon as possible, then the opponent has no opportunity to learn. Hence bad sportsmanship, as you have shown no "concern for others as a person" etc. it is also bad sportsmanship for the loosing player to be confrontational for the same reason of "concern for the other as a person".
Poor sportsmanship is kind of associated with the condition, but it is not a requirement of any kind. Again, it is NOT about winning, it is about trying to belittle your opponents AS you win. Such as in some card games like Hearthstone.... It's clearly the final turn, and you could kill off the other player right now, but instead, you waste a few moves killing all of the loosing side's creatures before attacking the player to end it. Most people on the loosing side don't want to be taunted in this way, and the killing of the support creatures is pointless if you are just going to kill the player that same turn.
Another thing of note... when a person who is considered a "tryhard" is beaten, they usually express very adverse reactions toward a version of "winning" that they would have tried to hold above their opponents. In other words, they like it when they win in a particular manner, but they become very upset if they are the victim of the very same method.