How good are you at your hobbies?

I used to be really good at video games, but now I just don't have the time. I remember being able to jump in any CS lobby and jump to the top of the server. I got kicked for supposedly cheating all the time. That was always a good feeling. Knowing that I'm kicking so much ass that people assume I must be cheating.
My crowning achievement is beating Super Ghouls and Ghosts - both times through (second time with the farie bracelet). This was using an original SNES, no save states or anything. Dedicated an entire summer of my teenage life to it. Game is hard, man.
Computers used to be a hobby but I turned that into a career. I'm a principal systems engineer and I like to think I'm good at what I do.
I got really into cooking, and it was maybe a hobby at some point, but now with a family it's more of a necessity. A lot of the things I learned while cooking as a hobby turned into skills though. I'm not sure how to explain it, but like having cooking intuition. Knowing when to add more or less of something just by knowing. Also just being able to freestyle meals out of what is laying around or knowing what can be substituted with what or how to make ingredients out of other ingredients.

Best part of having hobbies is that you don't need to be good!
- This!!
  I suck at most of my hobbies, but half the fun is learning and improving
  
  I've recently started to blindly learn instruments without any tutorials just basic overview and it's so much more fun! It's like playing video games without wikis and guides - great if youre not in a rush anywhere

Undisputed UK champion of pyro cricket.

Why do you have to bring up my shortcomings like that?

I am an IT guy and a hobby photographer, judge for yourself:
@stoy@metapixl.com
https://metapixl.com/Stoy
- I won't lie, some of your work I'd give five stars.
  
  Thank you!
- These are gorgeous! If it's okay with you, may I use this as my wallpaper?
  https://metapixl.com/p/Stoy/797940603119447726
  If yes, is there a high res image? Thanks!
  
  Blam, here is the full size version!
  
  Yes you absolutely may use it in anyway you want, apart from commercial work (without asking).
  I'll see if I have a larger version of that photo when I get home!

I let you be the judge of that.
- That's some really good cosplaying you're performing there.

Depends on the hobby. I tend to collect hobbies and then grow bored of them, then return to them a while later.
I'll become absolutely obsessed with learning about "hobby x", and spend two months basically getting as close to an expert on it as I can with self-teaching. (Video Editing, filmmaking, screenwriting, 3D modelling for flight simulators, Graphic Design, etc...)
Then I'll grow bored and move onto a new obsession from the above list, focus on that long enough that at least 25% of my knowledge of the previous obsession vanishes and I have to relearn a bunch the next time that obsession rolls around.
I've been told that's possibly ADHD, but since I suffer from depression I'll take my bursts of obsessiveness over lack of any motivation any day.
- This is me!!!!!! Especially the relearning part 😆 Side bonus is I'm really good at reading docs(programming) now!
  
  Reading (good) programming documentation is half the battle, or maybe 3/4ths, hahaha! I also remember when someone took the time to go in depth with the debugger and increased my programming efficiency by about 75%, good times, wow! Now I can only write code at 225% efficiency 🤣.

I feel bullied by this question

Jack of all trades; master of none.

I love vidyagames but have unexceptional skill in them. I did once finish the Ice Cold Beer arcade machine by Taito, I LOVE that game. And It only took me 2500 tries ✨
😅🤣

I am an aggressively mediocre singer but the 2 hour rehearsal on Monday is the highlight of my week. It's so fucking fun man!
- https://youtu.be/zj2NCtt4QbY

I barely start them and then I jump to something else. I have a big problem

I really just play video games, and the game I was best at was Rocket League. When I played, I was in the top rank and would regularly end up in matches with actual pros. I wanted to try going to RLCS, but I could never find teammates to sign up with.
But I also have 100% achievements in all 3 dark souls and elden ring, while currently going for Bloodborne's. Sekiro I haven't even beaten yet... Gonna have to cheese Owl.

I think it is a trap to think about it this way. My hobbies are meant to bring me joy and challenge, no matter what level i am on

Unless it’s programming or sysadmin, I’m mediocre at all my hobbies, but I enjoy them a lot. It’s great not feeling pressured to do them professionally like a paid job.
- Nice to get that balance and leave the deadlines and stress back at the desk. Good on ya. I don't even care what your hobbies are -- you advertise the right attitude towards them. Keep it up.

Type 2 fun and overthinking. I am good at enjoying both.
Bouldering: I enjoy it, even though I’m not great at it. My short wingspan doesn’t help, and neither does my fear of heights. Every climb is a mix of determination and second-guessing my life choices and I'm excellent at the latest.
Gardening: It sounds relaxing, but in reality, it’s a cycle of overthinking. First, I stress about planting. Then I wait. And once/if it grows, there’s a whole lineup of threats: slugs, cats, deer, boars, hail… basically, everything conspiring against success. Not sure what I enjoy about it but I'd say I am moderately successful and can eat a self planted potato every year

A hobby becomes a job when you worry if you are good at it.
- I don't think that's universally true, I agree with some other posters here that a big part of enjoying a hobby is the learning process and getting better at it.
  Yes, excessive comparison to others and worries about performance and the like are killers for enjoyment, but the pursuit of skill is a major part of a fulfilling hobby for me.

As good as I care to be. Hobbies are supposed to be fun.

Creating games: Good enough that my IT teacher was impressed enough that he recommended that I go into the game industry
Drawing: Good enough that I've got hundreds of followers and a lot of people like my art
Games: I can beat the original Pikmin in 7 in-game days and I also beat Mushihimesama Futari's final boss on Ultra Mode.
- Lovely drawing style. My compliments.
  
  Aw thank you so much! ❤️
- This is some dope ass shit
  
  Thank you so much!! 😃

One of my hobbies turned professional :)
- You ended up actually selling your soul to a devil IRL in exchange for dark warlock powers?
  
  That d10 cantrip doesn't come without cost

Awful! But the fun is having something i don't need to be good at. Though i now have a lot of things i'm at least mediocre at, those are just old hobbies.
I usually learn my hobbies at small fraction of the rate i would have learned something in school. Years instead of weeks/months. I learn them deeper this way and don't develop burnout.

Mediocre at best, and I lack the mental fortitude to work at much of anything these days, so wherever I'm at, I'm not going to improve much.
Some people relish the feeling of swimming through molasses for the next hit of progress dopamine, or they don't get that feeling at all, but that's what happens to me and it basically short-circuits something in my brain. It's bad enough that I struggled to write the last part of that sentence, and it's happening while I'm proofreading this as well.
or treacle if the unintended concept of small mammal anatomy bothers you.
- Hey mate, are things a bit tricky for you right now?
  
  Thanks for your concern. I'm getting by.

Um, I beat Noita once. I beat FTL: Faster Than Light on Hard sometimes. I beat Pocket Rogue once. I also scored first-place in some hard-difficulty Moon Rider VR beatmaps, but I gotta get back into that.
- You can beat Noita 😅? Hahahaha, it's so brutally difficult. Still enjoy it a lot though. I got to phase 2 of the boss fight in FTL on normal with the default ship. It was a massacre. Great soundtrack to die to.
  
  Hey, I'll watch you stream Noita and FTL whenever! I'd walk you through them as best as I can! Noita is almost entirely a game of visibility, IMHO; the All-Seeing Eye perk is unbeatable, rivaled only by immunities. And yes, FTL has a tremendously awesome soundtrack!

Well I turned one of my major hobbies into a job so I'm pretty good at it. But now that I do it for work I don't do it for fun anymore.

Hobbies are about enjoyment, not skill. You should never measure your accomplishments with hobbies based on how good you are at them.
That said... when I was younger, I only indulged in hobbies that I had any skill in. If I sucked at something, I typically gave it up quickly and looked for something else to do.
Video games were an exception. I enjoyed the gameplay so much, it didn't matter that I was awful at them. I'd grind the same levels over and over, hoping to finally beat it this time.
Interestingly enough, I'm actually really good at video games now. Not professionally so, but I have a lot more skill than most of my friends. I'm usually appointed team leader in any co-op games I play with my friends because I'm really good at tracking the mission objective and keeping everyone together. And now that I'm retired young, I spend a lot of time gaming throughout the days, which only makes me better.
I don't play games for the challenge or skill, though. I mostly play to enjoy an interactive story. So I usually turn the difficulty down to the easiest option so I don't get stuck from progression at any point. I can handle really difficult games, but I just don't want to. Unless my friends want a challenge, then I'll crank it up and then be constantly bailing them out from the nightmare they chose to play.

I'm a good enough cook that several friends have seriously suggested I apply for Masterchef, but I have no interest in the restaurant side of the competition.
- Holy shit!! How did you get to that level?
  
  I'm not entirely sure, a lot of it is instinctive. My weakness is baking because I'm mostly a 'measure by eye' kind of cook and baking requires more precision than that. I guess I also have quite a good ability to imagine flavor; if I can imagine how a combination of ingredients will taste then it'll usually be a pretty good meal even if I've never tried it before.
  Also, I enjoy cooking which helps a lot. I like playing with good ingredients, learning how they react to different cooking techniques and so on. And I love to entertain and watch people eat food I've prepared. Food is love!
  [Come on over to !recipes@feddit.uk and !cooking_with_fire@feddit.uk - both could do with more regulars!]

Video games? Bad at them. I play lowest difficulty and still die but I have fun. Baking? Pretty good! People like my baked goods and they are almost always eaten before they go bad (unless I make far too much)
- I'm awful at video games to the point I can't progress. Instead I watch twitch which I really like. What kind of gaming do you do?
  
  A lot of roguelikes/lites where I just don't win runs. Also a lot of rpgs, but those usually on the lower levels give ways of reviving! Which is nice.

Not very good, but that's sort of the point for me; my favourite part of any hobby is the learning. I did a woodworking class the other day!
It's taken a lot of work to get to the point where I can be comfortable with being mediocre at something and just doing it for the joy of it. I'm quite an intense person, with perfectionist tendencies, so it's nice to be able to carve out some things that I can be more chill about.

Not good at all, but I'm just happy to be there.

I played Clash Royale and was top 5 in Chile for some seasons, I play Risk Global Domination and ranked Grandmaster, I play chess in Lichess with ratings just under 2000(I once luckily defeated a National Master at a simul), I do Windsurf and I'm terrible at it, I have played Football all my life and I'm average, I like painting and I'm worst than terrible at it. That's about it.

Boardgames, around 75%
Badminton, around 55%
- And 80s arcades, pretty good.
  Can 1CC about 15 games.

I'm terrible at them. Baked a flat pancake that was supposed to be bread. Fumbling on the guitar. Haven't drawn anything in the past 3 years. Electrical projects on hold.
I think I have to focus a little bit more 😅
- I found a long term goal and give myself 30min a week with drawing. I find this keeps the drawing supplies more ready and apparent. So i end up spending a few hours a week because it's right there on my desk. Knowing I've made even a little recent progress is more motivating than none.
  Long term goal is getting through Riven Pheonix' structure of man.

Ages ago, before i started to teach my techniques to the masses, i was considered the international specialist in that field. I have withdrawn since then, but I am still good.

In a few of my creative hobbies, I've been complimented by others in a way that I would consider sincere to the work.
I'm shit at video games.

Fucking terrible, I took up hockey last year as an adult.
I'm the best I've ever been, but I'm skating with guys my same age that have three decades more practice.

I have no idea honestly. I do mountain bike trail riding but I've never done it with anyone else so there's no one to really compare myself to. I do ride on lot of trails that I rarely see other bike tracks on but I don't know wether it's because the trail is too technical or because it's just not fun to ride.

Fighting games: I'm a solid upper-intermediate player in most of the games I play. I've got a few tournament wins under my belt for smaller local brackets. At majors, I usually go 2-2 or 3-2, consistently finishing in the top half. Best I've ever done in a large bracket was 9th in Them's Fightin' Herds at Combo Breaker 2022.
Riichi Mahjong: Master 1 on MajSoul, 7th Dan on Riichi City. Our local club runs a seasonal league where I took 2nd last season and am currently ranked 4th this season, though with IRL games the sample size is a bit small. I know I have a lot to improve on still, my deal-in rate is akin to repeatedly putting my hand on a hot stove.
Versus puzzle games: Retired out of spite for the sad state of the competitive scene today, but I used to be the top Puyo Puyo player in my state, peaked at a 2700 rating back then. That is a big fish in a small pond though, top Japanese players are so far ahead of us because barely anyone in the west ever took this game seriously. Which leads into the long rant about why I called it quits... I've dabbled in a lot of other games as well, but when it comes to competitive scenes everything else is even more nonexistent than Puyo. There are a lot of games I can call myself good at just by default.

I'm pretty good at super smash bros.
Everything else is complicated. I want to improve but I also don't. I also don't want to stagnate or get worse. And I don't want to abandon them either but I hate doing them.

One hobby turned into a career (software engineering), which hopefully means I'm decent at it. I also play the bass guitar, which I okay at, but eagerly trying to reach a high level. I have a million other hobbies that I do fine at. But grading yourself is only useful as a way to keep from stagnating and to create healthy goals. The internet is really dangerous in this regard, because you'll always find someone who's way better than you. At the end of the day I just want to keep my brain stimulated and have fun with the time I have.

My hobby has a leaderboard, so for better or for worse, I know exactly how good I am at it. Currently sitting around the top 0.01% of Power Shift players in The Finals, down from top 0.001% last season. Part of me hates knowing this, because I tend to obsess over it. But another part of me loves it because I never get to gloat about anything in life, so it's fun to brag once in a while.
- What is Power Shift?
  
  It's a kind of "side" mode in The Finals, which is an FPS game. In Power Shift, 2 teams of 5 try to push a floating platform from the center of the arena into their opponent's base, in a sort of reverse tug-of-war battle. As the platform traverses the arena, it effortlessly demolishes all structures in its path, so the destruction and chaos are cranked to 11.
  It's sort of similar to "payload" type objectives in some other FPS games like Overwatch or TF2, but instead of teams taking turns, they're both pushing against each other with the same payload. It's a ton of fun!

Decent at some and a beginner at others. Tbh, I have more hobbies than time to practice and really get good at all of them. So progress is slow, but I enjoy each one of them and don't want to give up any just yet. Guess I'm taking the scenic route to mastery, maybe by the time I retire I'll be really cooking. And if not, I still would consider it time well spent.

Was consistently in the top 15 or 20 in my age group (obstacle course racing) and was gearing up to aim for a podium finish but got rear ended on the way home from work one day in November so in recovery for a back Injury. Hoping I can get back to it again by the end of the year to but gotta hurry up and wait.
Started growing my own veg a year or two ago so getting steadily better at that and enjoying the process. (this one kinda skirts the line between just being self sufficient and a hobby though so make of it what you will)
Similar to others, pretty adequate at plenty of other stuff, the two above just immediately come to mind

I'd say I'm pretty decent at bouldering, and have noticed that some people at the gym have started to ask me how to do problems and stuff, so that's cool.
Woodworking it really depends, sometimes I surprise myself and make something I actually quite like, other times Ill mess up the most simple things again.. But i just started out with my first hardwood project and I'm excited to see how it will turn out.
Sewing I'm very much a beginner and ask my girlfriend for help every step...
- I’m pretty decent at bouldering

I'm fine in poetry, and terrible in skeleton reconstruction or things like taxidermy because I'm terrible with my hands, but I'll keep trying

On a scale of total novice to master, 1 to 10, I'd say I average about a 3. Handily capable compared to the layperson, but unremarkable compared to other hobbyists. I do have a lot of hobbies though

I used to do my hobby as a full time job, I realized I didn’t enjoy it as much when it was my job so I switched careers so I could still enjoy it.