I wondered how many people ever found themselves in a situation like this, so I searched the internet high and low for an answer, but was taken aback to find no one else in my shoes. I was looking for a story, or what someone has done when having to play against their partner in a video game at the competitive level. Everywhere I looked, I was only met with things like "how to date a gamer", "my boyfriend plays games too much", and "games for couples to play together".

I'm here to set the record straight. It's possible for couples to be skilled at the same game and have to play against each other for rewards and recognition! If you want to get caught up to speed on the story that lead up to this absolutely bizarre situation, you can read them here.

• The Gaming Ghost - Returning After A Year Long Hiatus
• Hawaii's Getting it's First Dance Dance Revolution Tournament in 5 YEARS!~ [Pre-Qualifier]

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_{These are our qualifier results (mine are on the right). There are 8 people who scored higher than this!}

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It Started With a Notification

I was still waking up, when the messenger notification hit my phone. Our tournament host Neel, Peyton, a guy named Chris, and someone I didn't know- A girl named "Zayla", and myself were in a freshly made group. Other than Neel, the four of us would be competing each other in a round robin for our first round.

Wait.

_{Bright and early to inform me that my boyfriend is now my rival}

I looked at my screen again to make sure I wasn't imagining things. Although the initial matches are bracketed for fairness, there is only a 15% chance that this would occur. Given that your score doesn't guarantee who you get to play with. The lots could have easily been redrawn to prevent a conflict of interest...

Ah. There isn't a conflict of interest. Even though we are dating, this is a tournament- It shouldn't matter that we will play for winners and losers versus each other. Is this what you are trying to say to me Neel? Rematching would have been a bias... Or did you want to see us battle it out on the dancefloor?

You know we both get pretty salty losing to each other.

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Not About Being First Place

Although this tournament is single elimination, it's unlikely that one of us will fail out right off the bat. Peyton got seeded #9 out of everyone, and I was the #10 slot. For the qualifier, everyone had to play the same songs and submit their scores. The final scores were put into a master list, showing us the placement seeds for the competition. Chris has #23, and Zayla is #24.

Only the two people that win from our bracket, get to move onto round 2. In theory, I don't even need to go ham against Peyton, and we both make it to the next round. Does that mean I'm suddenly going to go easy on him or show mercy?

_{These are the player scores, highest to lowest. We are the "high-seeds" for our round.}

No way!

If one of us, gives the other a chance and we mess up playing one of the other two- We lose. That is actually the worst possible thing that we could do. Aside from us, there will be 6 other play-offs on different days, and we also don't know how those will turn out. It is in our best interest to try our best for our matches. Since 29/4 is 7 brackets, Royce gets what's called a "bye", meaning that he automatically wins his first round without having to play in round 1. Occasionally in tournaments, when there isn't enough people for each bracket, the highest score moves forward.

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Freestyle Battle?

Gaming tournaments can and do get hectic, and depending on the game- Interesting extras can definitely appear. After being in our "bracket chat" for a bit, Chris Brazil brought up a proposition with me. "Can we freestyle our round against each other?"

Let me tell you what he means by this. I am being challenged to an improv dance battle, while playing the opening round of this tournament. Me and Chris are not close, but he is one of a few people from our scene that can actually dance while playing the game. I'm one of those as well! Since the songs for each match are selected using a RNG (random number generator), we won't have the benefit of know what songs they are until moments before the match starts. Chris would like to play while improvising dance moves on the spot for the songs we want to play! If I take him up on this, I stand to possibly lose this round if I mess up too much, or... I could win, and have a sick video to show everyone!

Strategy, and choices.

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The "Do I Let Her Win" Debate

It's universally understood by women that we don't want you guys to let us win. Even if we get mad, we feel like lesser beings when a guy lets us win (as if there was no way we could do this on our own.) In fighting games it is a common practice (guy or girl) to let the lower skilled player win the second round, to force a tie-breaker, thus building their confidence coming into the final round.

I've already asked Peyton for his stance, and no mercy is coming from his side- Nor mine. You see, with this game in particular, I was the first one to start playing, and he got into it far later. It doesn't matter if you are a girl- If you are good at the game. Netizens may have differing views and stances on this, but at least to me- "To respect your partner, also means to respect the game."

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The Gaming Couple Stigma Revisited

This is the cliche/trope. There are mental constructs in the form of levels in a gaming relationship. For this, I would like to add one.

• My boyfriend games to much, and it is harming our relationship
• He is trying to introduce me to games, but I am not interested and want him to look at my hobbies
• We play this one game together, as a team/co-op and we are always on the same side to prevent conflict
• We play a few games together, but sometimes against each other- Just for fun

...

• We play games together, and compete at a semi-professional level against each other.

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Not Who But What We Are against

I'm not gonna lie, when we get to our match- Peyton stops being my boyfriend, and becomes my competition. If I worry or think too much on being a couple, and not playing the game- I'm setting myself up to lose. Neither of us knows how this will turn out (who's going to win) because it will be based on which songs we get to play. He may hold the bar, but can clear some of the hardest songs in the game. I may lack stamina, but dance with great accuracy and finesse haha.

Just maybe, this matchup is fair, and we are set up for a whole new world of fun coming on Thursday. We'll just have to wait and find out!

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