You Don’t Need to Love Something to be Good at It

Unpopular opinion: you don’t need to LOVE something to be GOOD at it.

A recent comment of mine sparked a few back and forths in DMs and I felt it’d be good to reflect on the topic. For context, it was around the idea that “if you don’t love to play video games, you shouldn’t be making them.”

I feel that statement is wrong on so many levels. And even more, I know that many of my friends in video games would agree, but not dare say it out loud for fear of negative judgment.

🤔 But what’s so wrong with that statement?

It’s not that it’s inherently wrong; if you love to play video games, it of course can be of value in making them. But, the statement is almost always backed with the expectation that if you don’t love to play them, then you shouldn’t even think about making games. Sometimes, it also comes with the assumption that if you’re making video games, but don’t love playing them, then you’re automatically only in it for the money.

🔍 Think about it. What makes something valuable? It solves a problem people want solved.

How do you know what problems people want solved? You engage and learn.

Who do we need to engage and learn about them? People who can be empathetic with those people!

EMPATHY is the key. It’s not that you need to love playing games to make games people want to play. Instead, it’s that you need to be able to UNDERSTAND what makes that game something someone WANTS to play. If you can genuinely understand and relate to the people you’re looking to serve, then it’s okay if you don’t share the same exact interests they do.

That is the kind of diversity we need in the world. Gatekeeping someone who genuinely understands the problem you need solved just because they don’t love the same things you do is a big factor in why the problems you faced who knows how long ago are still problems you face today.

💡 And this concept doesn’t apply to just the video game industry. It applies to all industries. Real estate, finance, tech, education, etc. I’ve seen people written off because they don’t have the same passion in that field as some of their colleagues, yet those same people are the ones that go on to accomplish great things because they have the one thing that decides it all in the end: their empathy guides them to make a positive difference in their customers lives.

You don’t need to love something to be good at it.