Most kids around 6/7 years old are horrible losers and HAVE to win.
I'm going to disagree with this somewhat. I knew a few kids like this--and a few who were REALLY like this--but quite a lot who were not. I'm not sure how much gender comes into play here, but the boys did seem to be more intense about it. My own daughter has quite a lot of difficult and intense personality traits, but this is not one she possesses. She would PREFER to win, mind you, but more than that, she wants to keep playing. I have seen her intentionally lose a game so as not to aggravate a competitive friend whom she knew was likely to quit if he lost. She also does this with her little brother. (I file this one in my "Hmmm...that's not very Asperger's-ish" column.
I only really got bad with the hypercompetitivness to the point of physical violence in high school.
So, it was more of a teenage 17/18 year old thingy for me. Scholastic competition as bloodsport.
This is why I generally avoid competition like the plague. Because of the risk I could pose to other people. It's generally only a problem when I'm sleep deprived.
My problem is that competition causes stress which causes sleep deprivation which reduces my inhibitions. And since my underlying mood is generally intense anger (because you are trying to destroy the competition) when I'm engaged in competition it's best that my inhibitions are present.
A catch-22, really.
I just wish that I could get my DD9 to *play* board games. She hates losing to the point that she would rather not play. My DS6 is competitive and dislikes losing, but at least he will play games.
