The winning strategy

Kevin said something interesting the other day in class that highlighted an aspect of human nature: we stick to what we know to be the tried and true way. He mentioned that once we start to form strategies in a game and figure out how to be most efficient, we stick to those ways even though our way of playing the game becomes really really boring and we no longer remember why we play that game. I recently started playing Starcraft and if I reminisce over my journey of learning the systems of the game, I would have to conclude that I found playing the game much more enjoyable when I was just coming into grips with the ways of the game. Once I had experience in the gameplay and made up certain strategies that I see is most effective in the game, I never change how I play! Its gotten to the point where I don’t enjoy myself as much as I used to and it is completely my own doing. I cant speak for everyone, but if you are like me then you don’t like losing in games. I wonder then, is winning more important than having fun in games?

I speculate that a lot of games exploit this very human tendency of never wanting to lose to get us hooked on their games. Competitiveness is a powerful tendency that directly taps into pride. Our pride is perhaps the reason why we do not like to lose and competitiveness is showcased really well in games. Next time we are playing a game, it would be an interesting exercise to check the emotions we are feeling because that could reveal a few things about ourselves.