Obligatory this happened over 5 years ago. I just saw a comment that reminded me of what happened so here we go.

I used to play an MMO with a bunch of people I knew IRL. Out of all of them, I was the most interested in PvP but sucked at it. One day a new guy shows up. He used to play, but stopped for a few years. Everyone starts talking about how he was basically a legend, a god at 1v1s, was one of the former top players in the game, was so inhumanly good he got mistaken for a bot, etc.

I immediately developed an awkward crush on him. He heard I was into PvP and challenged me to a 1v1 where he promptly kicked my ass. Then he spent a lot of time condescendingly giving me tips on how to improve and said he would show me the ropes. Being a dork with a crush, I was so grateful for any attention he gave me.

His idea of teaching me was basically beating me over and over again. After a few days of this, he got bored and stopped paying attention to me. I was embarrassed that I was so bad and kept losing, so I though if I could impress him, he would spend time in game with me again. I spent a stupid amount of time practicing on the side and researching. I'm talking like 6 hours on weekdays and 10+ on weekends. I literally lost weight because I stopped snacking on the side and ate the minimum amount at meal times.

So after like 10 months of nonstop playing, I improved a stupid crazy amount. Managed to jokingly convince him to duel and I beat him. He thought it was a fluke and demanded a rematch. So we played again and I beat him again. He got so mad he changed his build to exactly counter mine, and he beat me. I was so happy because I thought he was into it, so I changed my build to counter his and beat him. And it turned into this stupid back and forth.

I was having the time of my life. I thought I was showing off my improvement to a guy I liked. I learned theory-crafting, I learned how to play properly, etc etc. Meanwhile he was fucking raging his head off on his side of the screen. After a lot of back and forth killing each other in turns, he finally says he's done and logs off. I had no idea what happened and figured real life things was going on.

Anyways, he didn't log back on for a while and I heard from our mutual friend that he quit the game. He claimed he only came back temporarily from a break and needed to focus on real life job stuff or something.

I did not connect that with beating him. I just thought the timing was bad and I was sad I wouldn't be able to see him around anymore. He never logged back on again. A few months later we had another IRL hangout and he basically ignored me. Then made a few pointed comments about how he didn't like girls who were as into gaming as he was. And that girls who liked games too much were basically guys and he wasn't into guys. And that's when I finally realized he was mad I beat him.

And he literally never returned to play again. And after a few more years, I quit gaming. And funnily enough, I heard from our mutual friend again that that's when he decided to start playing again.

TL;DR I got good at a game to impress a guy I liked, beat him, and turns out he didn't like girls who were into gaming and also quit the game.