This is like people talking about K/D in shooters. Recent BF games sort of made it better with squad points since that meant you were doing stuff that benefited the team instead of sitting around and sniping stuff or whatever like swimming...
It depends. For some, it's like a way to boost their self-esteem, others see it as a way to gauge their performance and use it as a way to improve along with the replay function, and some just don't really care.
I don't really care since lag already makes up about 30% - 50% of my losses. The rest is just plain being bad, facing an unfamiliar match-up, facing a pro, and being stupid. Hey, a ledge, let's walk off... I don't know, I have those moments were I just do stupid things for the hell of it. I mean, how would you react to a dude shooting a LMG randomly in the air or constantly in front of him for no reason?
From another standpoint, my competitive scene began with MAG where deaths didn't really matter as long as you weren't dying constantly for no reason and that your deaths benefited the team in some way like being a decoy. I remember drawing attention to myself or taking out enemies so my team could have an easier time. So, it created a mindset of fun first, team/victory second, and records last. It's how I've played ever since MAG. It's dead by the way; interesting game with a cool idea, but it wasn't popular like PlanetSide.
