Would you rather get silver in a 2-man bracket or default gold in a solo bracket?

[MadMartigan119 35]

I totally understand the seeding consideration. In sports like Tennis, you see seeding put to use so that the highest draws do not face each other too soon and get knocked out in the first round. No one wants to see Andy Murray lose to Novak Djokavich in the first round, when they could meet in the final instead.

That said, I have never competed where that would be a relevant concern. Rather, we get seeded at random and 'get what we get, and we don't get upset'. In that circumstance, I would much rather actually compete... even if that means losing, than take a meaningless piece of hardware. If fact, I have done that, moving up a weight class so that I could at least fight. I went from a guaranteed gold alone to winning a silver in a 3 person division (winning 1, then losing the next to the guy who got the bye). Because I actually earned it, that silver means much more than the free gold ever would.

 

[Gyakuto128 137]

I’d rather enter a tournament with 1 million other contestants, before the gods of Mt. Olympus, fight and defeat them all and have to be awarded a diamond medal (with platinum oak leaves), conjured by the Olympian gods, because I was so much better than expected

 

[Prince_Alarming66 2]

I'll take the silver. At least then I actually get to fight and I've sort-of earned the silver. Easy gold would be inauthentic for me. That said, I don't compete, I'm a trad karateka. I haven't been to class in a while because of a string of injuries, and I can only do 20 honest pushups now. Still, 20 honest is better than 50 carpy IMO- I've seen some very, very bad pushups in karate classes. I'm 41, and I'm beginning to feel it. The person I'm competing against is me, and I'm still winning.