I think it's wonderful that the style of aikido I do doesn't have competition.
Already doing karate means I get my quota of ego pummelling.
One of the things with competition is that the techniques and training are only suitable for competition. I know some people (in karate) who, I'm not entirely sure, know the difference between "point scoring" techniques and "real" ones. Which is a worrying if they end up in a real life confrontation.
It also leads to "training up" for specific events. Which is nigh on like banging one's head against a wall and in some cases make you feel like the instructor is just a mean git out to give you a hard time. Don't get me wrong, sparring/kumite and competition, I enjoy very much...but the number of times, I've felt like flipping the finger at the instructor during competition run up season! Argh!
So it's nice that in aikido, you can learn valuable stuff and explore ideas without the pressures of ego prodding. So don't go changing!