What I mean by that is that the social aspect of gaming, the big picture, while relying on elements of competition, favors more cooperation and inspiration. The mainstream, and by that I mean, the expanded audience cares more about the experience of winning, or rather, growth.
For example, look at the sims. People played a game which became massively popular just to grow their characters. Competition was never a factor in that game. What sold it was having friends in your town, growing the characters, and having fun.
Even looking at call of duty, that game does its best to level the playing field by having things like perks and kill rewards. The idea is that the average person has a chance to win. This is a stark contrast from past typical fps games in which skill dominated everything. Games like quake and unreal and counterstrike.
No, the bigger draw to cod is the unlocking. The valie a player finds in having golden weapons, the growth of their character in relation to others.
