I am so tired of ranked

Part of what ruined this is not letting players host servers. Back in the day most FPS servers were run by end users, and could form clans and communities with like minded players. The admins of those servers could set rules, and you could know what to expect going in. Hell the server NAME would let you know. Now you go to their servers, their sorting, random lobbies never with the same people, etc.

Reasons I love PVE more than PVP. There are still try hards, but fewer and PVE games generally have a different vibe.

Could be worse; LoL used to have a rule that you had to play to win not to have fun
I think the theory was that even if you wanted to have fun, 9 other people wanted to play competitively

I'm not competitive at all, it's just tiring to me. The journey with the mod to defeat every enemy with 3 hits in Witcher 3 was pretty chill, still an amazing game. Jot that down, you guys with the "intended experience".

Then... Don't play ranked?
Ranked is specifically for the competitive crowd. If you're just playing for fun, stick to the casual/quickplay mode. 🤦‍♂️
If you're getting this shit in casual mode, just point out to the dude whining about his team that they should go play ranked instead of expecting people to give a single fuck about winning in casual.
- I'm still salty that Smash Bros Ultimate removed the for glory/fun distinction that they had in WiiU/3DS, and moved everything outside of lobbies to ranked.
  Some games are just shitty like that 😔

It's not even a ranked thing, but it's why I'm sticking to my friend group or solo for monster hunter wilds.
"YOU ARENT RUNNING META!? IM OUT!" ...thanks for forcing the monster to be scaled for multiplayer now that I have to solo it...
- Sweaty players suck in any game, but I find them less common in MH. You can just abandon the hunt too when something stupid happens like that.
- Meanwhile I'm running wide range drinking 50 fucking pots a hunt making everyone invincible.

When Halo 2 and Xbox Live came out, i was so pumped to finally get to play some new people...
I prefer offline solo games now.
- But Halo 2 was peak Halo multiplayer. Persistent game lobbies and in-game proximity chat were amazing. Back when the number one priority for game devs was making a fun game. Now it's catering to sweaty streamers or maximizing mtx fomo.
  
  The point was that the weak point in multiplayer is the other people. Loved that particular game, but damn was that eye opening on how shitty humans can truly be.
- My favorite from those times was Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. I'll never forget the 2 v 2 Spies vs. Mercs. First time I experienced Proximity Chat. The spies could sneak up behind you and once they were near, they could whisper in your ear, so you'd get a lot of, "Hey, baby..." and other funny stuff before your neck was snapped. It was so much fun and I still wish for a replacement.
  
  sudden whisper
  "The Lannister's send their regards."
  DEAD.
- Yeah. The most I'll do with playing with other people is co-op. PvP is just exhausting now a days. Helldivers is good for filling that gap for me at least.

Part of why I like Helldivers is that there's some element of shenanigans baked in.
- I love how they just buffed the hell out of everything a few months ago so almost every weapon and strategem is viable for everything.
- That and the community is usually pretty solid. It is exceedingly rare for me to end up diving with someone who is a douchebag or not a team player. Everyone just wants to help everyone else and spread managed democracy. I tend to get on the mic and roleplay it up to help out for extra energy lol I'm the dude pulling Starship Trooper quotes out of his ass
  
  I hate to say it but sometimes I get a lvl 150 on my team (I'm 120) or I join 150 person they take it so seriously like it's their day job. They get killed by something once by you it's "I better not die again or I will kick you". You ran in front of my line of fire, what?! Other than that great times all around!

I go into ranked modes to chill with games I enjoy. Why? I am (in games with a good ranking system) placed into games with others who play at about my skill level, which makes the game more fun - and I can usually play a full game in ranked, whereas people are more likely to quit early or just not try at all in quick play modes. Do people complain if I'm not meta? Sometimes, sure - but I just think about how they're still the same rank as me anyways and I don't sweat it too much. Its fun.

My friend group refers to Left 4 Dead 2 versus mode as "the grand finals" for this reason; the players in it treat it like it's the most important event that's ever happened in their life, and a single mistake is completely unacceptable

Ranked is for being a try hard and coordinating with a decent amount of game knowledge. People are gonna get heated and toxic, you're playing with humans.
Just play unranked with comms off when you just wanna chill??
- Just play unranked with comms off when you just wanna chill??
  The issue comes from the fact that any games with a ranked mode also have a perpetually fucked casual mode. They stopped doing anything with 'skill based matchmaking' and just lump you in with whoever is available. So you've got ranked players who are toxic as hell who go into casual to test things or just be dicks in the exact same lobby as people who are just wanting to vibe and play the game after a long day of work.
  I've completely given up on any games that have any ranked modes in them at all because this shit always fucking happens. Casual gaming is being consistently abandoned by game developers for competetive modes. Locking out anyone who just wants to relax and play a game. Like I used this example elsewhere, but I have others. This just comes to mind to me because it bugs me. Yugioh Master Duel. You will NEVER find a casual game there. Everything is meta'd to hell. Why? Because ranked players use casual to test their stuff. Casual players then have to start acting like ranked players in order to even play. So if someone comes in and wants to play a casual game, you are going to get instantly cheesed by broken ranked decks.
  It just happens constantly across everything. Ranked mode is introduced and it pushes all the casual players out and leaves hostile competetive bullshit.
  
  I thought that most people claim not to like skill based matchmaking in casual because the players who are like top 10% but not top 1% have to always try harder even in casual mode.
  
  This sums up Rocket League pretty well.
- In Halo they've given up on moderating unranked. Unranked is where ranked people to to "practice" now, you can see their shitty clans running around and 360 no scoping all of us just trying to chill. Inevitably every game is crazy one sided, they high five and move on, and we get swamped 50-13

I met some good friends during my days of online multiplayer. I’m still glad those days are behind me. I’m pretty much exclusively a single player gamer now. When I do need to scratch the multiplayer itch I play boardgames with friends.
Not saying this approach is for everyone! But some single player games and some in person gaming may be nice to mix in. Anyway, whatever you choose to do, I hope you have some good experiences in the near future!

The trick is to either not give a shit or be amused by their rage over something that should be trivial.

Don't play COD 2v2 Gunfight then. This is where the demons go when bored.
They aren't sweaty lobbies, despite what people think. They are usually ice cold assassins testing their tactics and skill against other ice cold assassins. Occasionally some new players wander in, and it's a bad time for them. The tough ones take their 6-0 loss like champs. The cheaters cry. Not your thing? Play Valheim on an easy setting cooperatively and enjoy. Something for everyone.
- Is this like a bit?

IF YOU AREN'T PLAYING YOUR MAIN YOU'RE GRIEFING MY GAME

The reason I can't quite get into Deadlock

Don’t play ranked then
Play casual
- plays casual
  Same meme
  
  Just tell the competitive dude in casual mode to go play ranked instead of whining about everyone else sucking.

Ranked isn't for fun, tho.
- Wtf are you playing any game for if not for fun? You're not one of the 12 people making a living at it.
  
  This is a fair argument, but what if some people extract fun from improving their mechanical skills, positioning, game sense, macro/micro play, etc. and not from simply playing the game? In that situation, it doesn't quite fit the typical idea of 'fun,' but it's still reason to be sweaty in the game for 'fun.'
- It literally is for fun tho. You know, considering it is a game?
  Are you implying that the only people who play ranked, or should play ranked, are competetive e-sports types?
  Are those competetive people not having fun?
  Moreover, I'm also talking about the fact that ranked has infected everything else. Even if you play casual, people are playing like it is ranked. Adding a ranked mode to so many games has just harbored a fucking insane toxic atmosphere where even if you're just trying to play the game casually you're getting swept up in so much meta garbage. One example that comes to mind is Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel. There is a casual gaming mode and you will never be able to actually casually game. Why? Because ranked people use it for testing their own shit. This same phenomenon is across all games with ranked. The toxicity and pressure from ranked will always find its way into casual and ruin that for everyone too.
  
  Man, you extrapolated a lot from five words.
  Pretty much every game with a ranked mode also has casual modes. They're separated for a reason. While you absolutely can have fun playing ranked, fun isn't the point. Competition is the point.
  Not at all. It's for people who want to compete. It's for people who care about what the scoreboard says at the end of a match. It's for players who care whether they win or lose, more than they care about having a good time.
  Sometimes yes, sometimes no. If you've ever watched esports players train, they're not logging into the game with the same mindset you or I might have. They're logging in with the same mindset we have when we start our shifts at work. They don't stop playing just because they stopped having fun, they're working towards a goal they've set for themselves. For the hyper-competitive player, the game is a passion more than a hobby.
  To your point about Yu-Gi-Oh, that sucks and I feel you on that. But sometimes a game just has a higher skill curve due to the player base being experienced in the game. YGO is decades old at this point (new cards, sure, but the base game is largely the same), and a lot of players have been grinding at it the whole time. In fact, I'd imagine that a majority of people currently interested in YGO are probably longtime followers, who have steeped in the meta for years now.
  It may not necessarily be that you're running into sweats or toxic players in the casual modes, as much as it is that the community at large is a bit ahead of you. TCGs are going to be like that a lot, just because they're inherently competitive.
  These are all reasons I don't play competitive modes, for what it's worth.
  
  People trying new decks in a children's card game casual mode isn't a ranked problem. It's a you problem.
  No one is putting pressure on you in casual mode but yourself in a 1v1 game.
  Sounds like you're just salty you lose your casual games.