I have accomplished something only 8% of people in the world normally accomplish.

For starters, this is about a video game. If you aren't into gaming or don't care about gaming accomplishments, I wouldn't blame you for not being interested in this story. What makes this story somewhat interesting is that I can confidently say I'm one of the better Call of Duty players on the planet and I have the rank to prove it.

For those who don't know what Call of Duty is, it's a first-person 'shooter' game and is one of the most popular video games in the world. Within 24 hours of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 going on sale, it sold over 6.5 million copies. It was the second-best-selling video game in 2023, selling 21.2 million copies, according to Game Informer.

For a solid chunk of Call of Duty players, they're just playing the game for fun. They join up with their friend/s and don't take it very seriously. That's why I started playing. During COVID, I only played as an excuse to hang out with my friends because we couldn't go anywhere or do anything. I didn't start playing Call of Duty until around 2019. I didn't play growing up and I wasn't interested when I was a teenager.

My friends and I would join in a group online, have a few beers, and just hang out. The game is really only background noise and it was just something to do while we chatted and talked smack. The issue with that for me was, that I'm secretly a pretty competitive person.

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I wanted to win every match we played. I enjoy casual games from time to time but when I started getting decent at the game, I wanted to see how good I could get compared to other players.

Call of Duty Ranked Mode

Call of Duty has a section of the game for players who aren't just playing to hang out with their buddies/girlfriends. "Ranked Mode" is for players who want to play against people who are equally as good or better they than are, and see how good they really are. Everyone is trying to win every match and as you climb the ranks, you play against more skilled players.

According to Radio Times, "Ranked Play is a feature-packed, stand-alone competitive Multiplayer mode that leverages the Call of Duty League approved rules, restrictions, maps, and modes. You can track your standing with a visible skill rating and earn rewards across multiple Skill Divisions and Tiers."

I have now reached the top 8% of players who play ranked Call of Duty.

I recently earned the rank of a diamond-skilled player. I knew I was getting close to finally hitting the diamond ranking but I didn't know exactly when I'd get there.

Here's what percent of players hit each rank. Most players end up with a silver or gold ranking.

Does This Mean Anything?

Nope. This doesn't mean a whole lot. I still only play the game if I have a friend or two who are playing. I still usually play as a fun way to chat with friends who do not live in Iowa. It's nice to stay in touch and shoot the breeze for an hour or 2, on a random weeknight, when we have nothing going on.

There are still a bunch of Call of Duty players who are way better than I am. There are probably people reading this who could post a Crimson, Iridescent, or Top 250 ranking, which I think is awesome. Those are the 3 ranks above mine. I'm not sure if I could ever achieve those rankings but you never know. Very few ranked Call of Duty players reach that level.

I'll never have a Call of Duty streaming career, I'll never be a professional Call of Duty player, and even though I do enjoy being pretty dang good at the game, if my friends completely stopped playing, I would too.

Some people will also think this is stupid and a pretty big waste of time, which is also perfectly fair. My competitive spirit would argue that if you enjoy doing something and you're pretty good at it, why not see how good you can get and how you compare to other people who do it? In my case, the other 10s of millions of people who play.

My wife, my family, and my friends who don't play couldn't care less, and rightfully so. They shouldn't. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter at all.

I just think being able to say I've reached the top 8% of ranked players in the world is pretty cool. Out of the millions of people who play this game, I'm better than most of them. Not a lot of people can say they're in the top 8% of anything.

I'm sure my family will be elated when I let them know at Thanksgiving.