Learning to Play Games

When I learn a new game, I like to know the rules and that's it! I hate when people try to teach me the strategy. “Do this, don't do that. If you do this, then this will happen” etc. Just keep this all to yourself, is what I want to say...

When I learn to play sports games, the same thing applies. When I play squash, and somebody tells me: “You should hit the ball this way, that way, you should do this, do that” it always seems so artificial, like cheating. I play to have fun. Getting good at it is something I want to do on my own. When people tell me what to do, it kind of ruins the fun, since I really want to figure it out on my own.

There are really good players (hockey, soccer). They start off by having awesome fun and then someone notices their talent. Eventually they get a coach and learn more about their “fun” game. Finally they become so good, that for them, it's only "fun" to play with players of their own caliber. They no longer have fun to playing street hockey with their neighbourhood buddies. They no longer can have fun like at the beginning.

There are really good chess players. They start by learning the rules, and then they like chess so much, that they play any chance they get. They memorize moves, they memorize plays. Sometimes they get a chess coach, but mostly they read strategies in books. After all that "training" these chess masters can play two or three games simultaneously, sometimes even blind. If these “masters” play against the ordinary chess player, they are almost wasting their time – no fun involved (for either of the parties). The two oponents are on a completely different level. One could say that they're not even playing the same game. The “masters” have no more fun playing chess with their dad, with their grandpa, or with their high school teacher, as they did initially.

However, when a new game is introduced, everybody once again becomes equal, and the basic fun restarts... for everyone.

In my most recent physics class we were doing an inclined plane lab, and for some reason the students needed masking tape and meter sticks. At the end of the class, some of the boys were putting away the rolls of masking tape and the meter sticks by shooting the rolls of masking tape across the floor with the meter sticks. Other students intercepted with their own meter sticks, and thus a new sport began: the masking tape and meter stick ringette. For recess and lunch that day, my physics students were in my room with meter sticks and a masking tape roll, playing continuously and had the best fun ever! In fact, at lunch they brought in their English teacher into it, and he had a blast as well. The next day, the students brought in their own wooden sticks, and the sport was spreading in the whole school!

One boy in particular was totally into this masking tape ringette. He loves hockey and in grade 11 he is pretty much playing professional hockey. In fact his contract for his team states that he is not allowed to play hockey outside of practices and games for his team only (probably they don't want him to get injured). Even if he did play hockey with his buddies, it wouldn't be that fun, because he would beat them all up. But now, he has this sport: masking tape ringette. He loves it probably because they just “invented it” on the spot, but also because now he is pretty much an equal with the rest of the boys. Now he can actually have fun again. Now none of them are experts. All of them are starting on equal footing once again...

Games are supposed to be fun. But because the object of any game is to win, we try to get better and better. This in turn makes us have fewer opponents of the game that can give us the same pleasure or satisfaction in the competition. When achieving the master stage of any game, we can only play other masters, as they only are the ones that can give us a true challenge. Finding it harder to find them, we have fun less frequently. The game that initially gave us so much fun can deteriorate only because of our desire to become better at it. What a strange conundrum!?