2003 Mini Cooper shifter question

Have a 2003 mini cooper. Not sure if this is a problem. My car is a 5 speed manual transmission. I was practicing shifting without the clutch, no grinding happened during this. I stopped doing it after I felt gears 2 and 4 become a little more loose. It did not become loose in side to side movement, but I was able to slide into those gears more easily. It also feels like gears 2 and 4 have more spring at the bottom of the gearbox, rather than the feeling I had previously, which felt like it was hitting a wall when I would shift. Now it just feels like it slides into gear but no hitting the wall feeling and has a spring feeling in the bottom gears. Again not side to side, but more loose up and down