User blog comment:Mineko Charat Lucky/Don't Play to Win, Ever/@comment-90.39.234.152-20130111142300/@comment-220.255.2.135-20130111150615

I disagree. I think that what he means by "Play to improve and not to win" is that a LOL player should play the game with the objective at making himself a better player. Of course one would still play the game with winning in mind (I mean who says "I'm gonna play this game and I want to lose."?). Mainly though, he also means that as hard as one trys to win, if things don't work out so well, for whatever reasons, then you should not keep winning in mind so much (Because that causes you to panic and make more mistakes, which we obviously don't want.), but try to make the best of the situation so that you might eventually turn the game around. Even if you don't manage to do so, by scrutinising on your own mistakes and making mental notes of them, you reduce your chances on making mistakes in future games which in turn lets you win more games (See how his mindset still has winning in mind?). Also, a truly honourable opponent may actually recognise that you fought back rather well even if you still lost.

So yeah, he's not simply trying to make himself feel better after losing. He just wants to be the best he can possibly be. And that, I think should be the proper mindset in not only LOL, but in whatever it is we choose to do.