It’s really unfortunate to see the state that mge is in right now. Especially because I feel like it’s a really good and fun gamemode. It’s one of the best ways to practice aim, movement, and overall dm fundamentals. A cool 1v1 format in such a high skill cap game, I feel like that’s why I’ve spent such a huge portion of my time in tf2 playing it.

It does hurt a lot watching the community worsening as time goes by. While the elo system is the biggest part of the problem, the competitive drive that used to push people to improve has twisted into ego and toxicity. Public mge has filtered into a space mostly filled with grinders and hyper-competitive players, while more casual, positive or less experienced players leave because the environment feels hostile. With little moderation, that behavior becomes “normal”, and new players either quit or copy it.

That on top of a ranking system, it’s made winning feel like validation and losing like it’s the end of the world. And when wins plateau, some people stop chasing actual improvement and start defending their ego instead. It leads to so many games being filled with trash talk and negativity instead of mutual respect. It’s only getting worse as time goes by, especially when there are people making it so much more personal, and tearing each other down over a single win or loss that ultimately doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. That kind of behavior spreads fast, and it feels like it’s infected almost everyone who plays.

I’ll admit I haven’t been innocent in this either. I've fallen into the same cycle, trying to fight fire with fire, responding to toxicity with more of it. But in the end, nobody wins. It just keeps the cycle going.

I really do hope there is some sort of reset community wise. I still think to this day that the gamemode itself is really fun. There are still some very talented players as well as a small chunk that still play with integrity. But for the most part, the public mge community has taken a turn for the worst.