[i]Elitism is the belief or attitude that some individuals who form an elite—a select group of people with a certain ancestry, intrinsic quality or worth, high intellect , wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes—are those whose influence or authority is greater than that of others.[/i] Elitism is an ideology shrouded in controversy and negativity. From a gaming perspective, elitists are described as those who are incredibly self-righteous, selfish and narcissistic individuals. Contrary to popular belief, not all elitist gamers are like this. While many gamers do fit this criteria (even I do at times), it's not what true elitism is. What elitism is, is the idea that [u]the most capable individuals are who should succeed more, than those who aren't as capable.[/u] This is seen everywhere, from sports teams, to universities, to jobs, and yes, gaming as we all are aware. By definition, Destiny clans such as Invigorate, Autopsy, Last Rites, or iAM are elitist, as they don't accept just any Guardian; they accept only the best ones. By definition, nearly every university and sports team is elitist, because of the same reasons. Yet people don't have a problem with this, only in the gaming world do people actually find this unsettling. The thing to remember, is that the best gamers in the world, the pro gamers, the streamers and pubstompers, are nearly all elitist in some respect or another. Many of them may be open to playing with lesser skilled players, but when they're playing competitively or for stats, they play with only the best players. This is elitist. To not be an elitist, you must always play with anyone, [u]no matter what.[/u] Therefore, we all share aspects of elitist behavior and those who argue against it are usually hypocrites. At it's very core, gaming elitism is solely about winning as much as possible and doing as well as possible. It's[b] NOT[/b] about being disrespectful or snide to others. If you meet someone acting like that, they may be elitist, [u]but they're also a dick[/u]. The latter detail is the most important.