The Way of Games

Today I was thinking some about what I want. And in a way I feel like I want to win at the game of life. So what does it mean to win at the game of life. The idea I had today is that one wins by finding a Way that gives them some modicum of satisfaction.

So, naturally I want to find a Way of Games. But I think for a Way to be truly satisfying it has to be a personal way. That is, it has to be tailored to the individual. There are many Ways but each person has to find their own. But this is not easy.

Fortunately, it is not a totally blank canvas. I know games are important to me. I also have certain spiritual principles that I abide by to the best of my ability.

So, what does this personal “Way of Games” look like?

I think it is crucially important to find a balance between respecting games and enjoying them. What does this mean? I want to say that respecting games is tied to some concept of appreciating their difficulty and making some effort to learn how to play the game. Obviously this partly refers to learning the rules but more so, it is about learning what it takes to play well and making some attempt to actually learn those lessons and apply them. This involves some degree of effort. But it is no fun if it is all discipline and hard work. So somehow there has to be a balance between these two. So enjoyment to some extent means playing loose and just doing what you feel like.

I also think there is the third side of the triangle (I believe I have talked about that before). The creativity side. It is really important that there is some degree of creativity in games. There are a lot of different ways this can express itself.

I think there also needs to be some balance between being a player and being reflective. I think being a player means some desire to commit to the game and like seeking out opportunities to take the game seriously by playing in events. But I also think an important part of what I want out of a way of games is to be reflective and able to detach and be an observer to some extent.

I think one of the most difficult things though is this problem of variety vs devotion. I find it pretty hard to find the right balance in this regard. Sometimes I want to be exclusively devoted to one game and sometimes I want to bounce around. But it is really difficult to accept this divergence. I think in some ways this is the aspect that causes me the most trouble. There is one part of me that is passionate about wanting to find one game to devote myself to and feels bewildered by variety and feels frustrated when I jump around. But equally there is part of me that really passionately dislikes being constrained.

I think those are the main axes, but perhaps I will discover more.