1000 hours, 4 years, don't assume I'm good - Splatoon 3

Hello whoever might be out there, 

As of writing this, I just hit 1000 hours in Splatoon 3. And as of writing this, it is four days until the four year anniversary of the game's release, so also the four year anniversary of the Queen's death.

I've been playing Splatoon since February 2021, and I remember that so vividly because I bought Splatoon 2 the same week that Splatoon 3 was announced. Worth it though; Splatoon 2 was an amazing experience for the short time I had it while it was active, including Octo Expansion. I still managed to rack up 175 hours.

Then this summer, Splatoon Raiders released, so that's all I did, as anticipated. I played Splatoon Raiders for 80 hours, bearing in mind that it is a single player game with a finite amount of things to do. But it was still amazing anyway, 10/10 would recommend, changed my life forever.

But the reason why I am sat here writing this right now is because of Splatoon 3. I love Splatoon, that shouldn't be a surprise by now. It feels like at times that it controls my whole life in a way that I can't really explain. I have said this over and over across the years just to give everyone a taste into what my brain is like, because I really cannot emphasise it enough.

However I need to make one thing very clear. I am not good at Splatoon. It may come as a shock to hear that someone who dedicates so much of their life to a singular video game series is in fact, not good at the game that they cannot stop thinking about, but it's true. The highest rank I have ever reached is B+, I simply suck at Salmon Run, and never even attempted After Alterna. I pretty much exclusively play Turf War and even then I'm not keen on Splatfests. I like low stakes matches and acting like they're all the World Cup final.

So after all this time, I am not able to figure out why I am so obsessed with a game I struggle to play. I usually hate persevering and much prefer activities where I immediately succeed, and I want to know why this is the exception. Is it the lore? The music? The community? The familiarity? I think it has to be a combination of them all. I love it really, that's why I've spent 1000 hours playing it, but I don't exactly know why.

I want to be good at the thing I love. Every so often I'll attempt ranked again and go from B- to B, or I'll play three rounds of Salmon Run, or climb half a spire in Side Order; and then I give up. I watch all the competitive videos and the tournaments and then get very surprised when I try and implement their tactics into Turf War and it doesn't immediately work. I pay attention to the meta and the updates like it has any difference on my play style at all. I do all the things someone in high X rank would do, yet the likelihood is that my incapable self will never even glimpse S rank.

I'm learning to accept that I can be bad at things that I love, but part of me is still disappointed that I can sink 1000 hours into a game and still be mediocre at best. Maybe in another 1000 hours, my new best will be A- rank, or maybe I'll finally play an anarchy series of Clam Blitz (no I won't).

I'm scared of the near inevitability that there will be a day that I suddenly stop thinking about Splatoon and my head will go empty. I have had other interests before obviously; some of them come and go every so often, some I simply grew out of, some sit in the back of my mind calmer and quieter. But Splatoon is different to all of them. To be interested in the same thing throughout all of your teenage years is impressive to me. I don't know what I want to do with any other part of my life, yet I have the same video game series I had when I was 12, and the same game I've had since I was 13. So many things change yet this one thing stuck.

I don't really remember life without Splatoon to be honest, because it has been there for all my conscious years. I am genuinely worried about what will happen when it goes. Something has to fill that void! Or the least that could happen is that I get good enough to make it a valid hobby. Frankly, I am trying not to think about it too much. I'm trying to live in the present as to me, as shown through my Grandfest team, the present is the most important.

Hopefully there will be a Splatoon update announced at the Nintendo Direct on Wednesday, aka the Splatoon 3 4th anniversary. Heavy splatling 3rd kit, please and thank you. One with an actual bomb this time please, and maybe triple inkstrike? Pretty pretty please Professor Nintendo? That would make me very happy indeed. I would also accept a third nautilus kit, but I like the 47 kit, so heavy splatling is definitely the priority here.

If I'm going to be playing this game for another 1000 hours, I would like a better kit for my favourite weapon.

Yours faithfully,

MD