I always go easier on them. No one wants to platy a game they constantly get owned at. I’ve been known to “rage quit” a few games of MW2 because I got the lobby with the expert quick-scopers lol.

I’ll level down if I think it will prolong the game and/or encourage my opponent to try harder.

I level down. Mostly due to the fact that I enjoy playing even more so than I enjoy winning. I’d rather my opponent & I enjoy the time spent together,

I level down. It’s more fun if you can have a somewhat competitive game. Even when I played sports in high school, I would much rather lose a close game than completely smash the other team. It’s just no fun to smash someone.

However, if the person is normally way better than me and they are having an off night or I am having a great night, I will totally ride it. No way I’m passing up that opportunity, especially if they regularly smash me.

One reason I asked it is that, yes, I also level down, but i noticed something recently.
I was playing racket with my girlfriend, as I do almost daily for the past two summers, and we both have a good time.
Some days ago though the uncle of my girlfriend joined us on the beach and he offered to play it with me.
His level was higher than that of my girlfriend so I leveled up.
It was a higher leveled game, obviously.
My girlfriend watched us play and noticed that I could play better than I did when playing with her.
I felt a bit awkward.
As if I didn’t take her seriously.
I’ll ask her later how she felt.

I would play (not very often) at my level. It is an insult to the opponent not to.

Personally, I don’t mind people leveling down to me, as long as they don’t actually let me win. I’m way too competitive for that. If I’m going to win, I want to do it on my own merit, not your misplaced kindness. At the same time, I will never get good enough to play at your level if you don’t give me the chance to improve. If you level down, I can practice and learn; otherwise, I just get crushed and don’t actually improve at all.

If I were in your girlfriend’s position, I would think that I had a long way to go before I could beat you, and it would be a challenge I would relish. I would probably be proud watching you play at your level, and I would be determined to play that way with you. Obviously, I am not your girlfriend, so I’m glad you’re planning to ask her how she feels about it.

I don’t hold back and I don’t want them to hold anything back with me. ;)

If they’re going to go all out, then it’s only… fair that I do so in return.

I take them out.

I have no guarantee they would not do the same given the chance.

I do my best to crush them. And I encourage people I’m playing with to crush me if they can. I always play my best and I encourage them to do so also.

Fuck that shit, I don’t even let the kids win at monopoly!
No, they win all on their own coz i’m crap at it.

There is an ancient rule of play for the astute billiards hustler:
“You don’t need to be great at pool all the time…
…You just need to be a little tiny bit better than the chump you’re playing”.

If it’s a video game, say something like Street Fighter…if they never played it before, I’ll teach them how and play accordingly when we face one another. But if it’s someone who already knows the game, they’re on their own, if I happen to be better than them.

I’d level down so the game could continue longer, and so could the fun. A friend and I used to play ‘tennis’ together, and we both sucked so bad at it that we decided to just hit the ball back and forth, no rules. Much more fun that way.

I find myself doing it here all the time – especially with relationship questions. With games not so much.

I never go easy. How would they ever get better if they didn’t have the challenge of getting past their weaknesses? I play checker, chess, and dominoes better than my fiancée, and I tell her she better bring her best ‘A’ game because I am going for the jugular. It gives her more resolve to ”take me down a peg” so she fights harder. If she played others she would really feel bad if she got her clocked cleaned all the time because she thought she was better, because I took it soft on her.