there are established good competitive titles without pay2win. look at league, counter-strike for instance. a lot of the other things mentioned (like a solo gu

there are established good competitive titles without pay2win. look at league, counter-strike for instance. a lot of the other things mentioned (like a solo guy getting matched with a "team") are to me similar to real-life counterparts. you can play ball in a court against a group of friends that play together regularly. just like you can have a better computer and internet, you can have better sports gear. this does not take away from the "skill" aspect of the game for me. i am with you in terms of systematic issues with ranking or game mechanics, but it is still much better than annual sports titles and the like. but if chess can be enjoyed despite the player starting first having an advantage, so can these games.