A Theory About Player Levels and Harder Fights?

Is it the case that players, as they gain levels, get into harder and harder fights with players, because the time to gain levels is faster than the time to improve in first-person shooting games?

This might help to explain why players, as they gain levels through progression outside of just shooting, slowly but surely encounter career veteran FPS players who have had years of experience well beyond Marathon's release.

And this season level does not go down ever, which means the more you play, despite your attempts to get better, cannot soon approach the 10,000 hour mark that some other players have.