After a couple of decades of playing in a hobby that was started and is based on competition, I spent a year interacting with a performance community: the belly dance community is about shared performances and supporting each other's performances.
Competitions seems to me to breed an emotional drive toward "I'm better than you". Emotions are at the core of our being as humans, and therefore drive our behaviors. I've been around the block enough times to see that "I'm better than you" brings out some undesirable behaviors. (Yes, in matters of self-defense, those behaviors are exactly what's needed; but those times are the exception, not the rule.)
Performances are not competitions (despite the yearly televised shows about the awards). There's room throughout the performance world for all performers. I've had some experiences with some performers (fortunately not very many) who seem to be driven by the competition front. Not the type of performers with whom I like to socialize.
There is more than enough loss in this world without our hobby artificially creating more. Major loss that I've experienced include two marriages that resulted in divorce; the death of multiple, close friends; death of friends' significant others that have left them devastated; death of many pets over the years; and the loss of my job at Intel to a lower-paid part of the planet.
If there's something that two decades working at a competitve company has taught me, it's that the constant competitive environment wreaks emotional havoc on a person's psyche. I spent a more than a decade competing in that hobby as well, and both of those are likely contributors to my failed marriages.
