I don’t know how it is with other cultures but I’ve noticed that there are exceptional rope tops who have massive egos and one’s that don’t. Most of it seems to deal with the person in general. Rope is simple, it’s people that are complicated. The percentage in bondage is about the same that it is anywhere else. In everything that we do there are people with inflated egos made of glass and people who are simply awesome without being an asshole about it. The most ego I’ve ever seen was in the vanilla world of sport cracking.

I can understand how easy it is to develop an unhealthy ego. If you have ‘the bug’ then you practice more and you improve faster than many of your peers who don’t have ‘the bug’. Pretty soon after that you have your selection of willing uke and you keep hearing how amazing you are. If you hear something often enough you’re probably going to start believing it. It’s one of the reasons that I prefer constructive feedback by a small handful of people that I know have no fear in letting me know where I can improve. I’m not going to lie, positive feedback following a performance or a scene feels good. I get a warm tingle down my spine but I don’t let it go to my head.

In conclusion, feel free to compliment people, it makes them feel good. If you’re the one getting complimented don’t let it go to your head. Bear in mind that you can always do better and there’s probably someone better than yourself out there.