Competitive

Value
Very Common, Moderate: 15 Points • Very Common, Strong: 20 Points
Description
A character with this Complication tends to put his best effort into any contest he is in, regardless of the nature of the contest and regardless of whether or not he actually has any chance of winning. (For the purposes of this Complication, the word "contest" is defined as any situation in which two or more parties are striving for a goal which cannot be shared, be it food, mating rights, a promotion at work, a cash prize, a trophy for "most tin cans collected", or whatever). This is different from Cannot Turn Down a Challenge in that it is always possible for the character to refuse to enter the contest in the first place. Once he has entered it, however, he does his best to win.
The strength at which the Complication has been taken determines the character's attitude toward whatever contest he is in. At the Moderate level, the character is perfectly capable of acting in a manner that is considered "cooperative competition". That is, while the character strives to win, he understands and accepts that he may well lose, and while losing would be disappointing, such a loss is no reason to get upset. He's a gracious loser, and even more important, he's a gracious winner, especially when the contest was over something that wasn't actually a necessity for survival in the first place. At the Strong level, the character tends to see any contest he's in as a "winner take all" personal struggle, and will tend to get ahead by damaging the efforts of or eliminating all other individuals in the same contest as he, within the limits of the character's own moral code.
It should be noted that at the Total level, this Complication becomes Hypercompetitive.
See Also
Ambitious, Cannot Turn Down a Challenge, Cold and Calculating, The Ends Justify the Means, Hypercompetitive, Narcissism, Manipulative, Sees Other People as Pawns
Category:Complications
Category:Psychological Complications
Category:Psychological Complications C - D
Category:Compulsions
Category:Competitiveness Complications