It's About the Journey - Gaming

Eric, Shawn and I play Dominion at lunch, once a week, when we can. (Sometimes more often, but usually less. [We play in my office, with the door shut, so as not to get disturbed.  But I digress.])

We have started a routine of writing on my whiteboard who won the last game, and who lost it.  Does that make us sound competitive?

Well, it depends on what you're thinking of when you think of the word.

When we're playing, we compete.  Clearly, we are each trying to win the game.  So, in that sense, we're competitive.

And, each of us wins about as often as either of the others.  So, in that sense, we're competitive -- there is no imbalance.

But while I am pretty confident of the statement above that "each of us wins about as often as either of the others" I can't be absolutely sure, because, you see, we don't count wins and losses.  The point of tracking who the last winner and loser were is so that, in the next game, the winner does not get to start the game.  (So why track the loser?  Well, sometimes, maybe, we try to make sure the loser of the last game goes first in the next, but to be honest, it's more often used to remember how badly the losing player lost, in case we can tease that player one more time ... before he wins again.)

You see, if we were the kind of "competitive" I see in other game/sport players, we would be tracking a cumulative total of wins and losses or something.  But that's not us. 

For us -- and I think I speak for the other two, but I know for sure I speak for me when I say -- the fun of the game is in the journey.  It's in the analysis of the particular cards in the particular game, and trying to find the best tactics and strategy for that  situation.  It's in the drawing of each new hand and dealing with the fortune and misfortune of the luck of those draws.

A "competitive" player puts far more stress on the outcome of the game than we do.  When we finish playing a game of Dominion, it's pretty standard to hear one of us say "That was fun!"  And, more often than not, the person who says it is not the winner.  Because playing the game is fun.

This is not unique to Dominion.  This is how and why I enjoy gaming.  When I play a game, and when I like that game, it's not because I win more often than I lose.  It's because I like the aspects of that particular game which make the process of playing it rewarding.  It's the journey.

Skip-Bo is fun because of the social aspect of the game, the history of the game in my family and group of friends, and planning my play so that, once in a while, I can have a long, productive turn.  But if I were "Competitive" I would never want to play on a team with anyone other than Sherry. (She wins more than random chance would allow.  She's good at the game; better than I am.  Probably better than any of us, who play together over the Christmas/New Year's holiday period.  Ask anyone of us.  Have you been on a losing streak?  Do you want to have a good chance to win something?  Partner with Sherry in Skip-Bo.)  But I don't really care -- I will play against Sherry (and lose) and have fun.  It's the journey.

Heroes of Might and Magic 3, and Civilization 3 (and 4), and Talisman are fun because of the journey.  In fact, winning the game is almost anti-climactic.  The fun is in the adventure, in the discovery, in the overcoming of challenges.

And, this is why some people just cannot get into role-playing games, and others can.  Most RPGs don't have winners and losers, so playing the game is all about the journey.  And, as you know by now, I play a couple of RPGs, and I enjoy them immensely.

It's about the journey.