How I Knocked Out My Brother

When i was about age 7 my brother, who must have been around 12, was heavily into mortal combat and relished in learning new intricate moves and beating every opponent. One day for lack of another opponent/to show off he asked me to play. I proceeded to hit all the buttons at random causing my avatar to spastically attack in an indefensible manner with bazaar moves knocking out my brother. Much put out my brother said I wasn’t playing properly and very rarely played opposite me again while our elder brother laughed maniacally at his defeat. Ironically to some extent he now holds many international tae kwon do titles, with 5 golds in the last world champs, and yet I at age 7 could beat him, by not playing by the rules simply because I had no idea what else to do. Personally at this age I didn’t see why he should be so grumpy since I hadn’t done anything beyond what the game would let us both do. I learnt that there are many ways to play games, primarily the intended path by its creators or the alternative possibilities of my random flailing, some of which is far more entertaining in my mind than sticking to the rules. About two years ago I played the newest version of mortal combat against a friend of mine and employed the flail technique with some success. He too was somewhat put out if baffled, I just laughed. While skill is generally required for 'proper' game play to me it doesn't mean you can't have fun, aka piss off a sibling, or even win without it.





Katrina van Roon