Competition
without rivalry
Recently
I’ve been giving some thought to what games teach us, as adults
about ourselves, our society. But as usual also what they teach our
kids as they develop to be the adults of our future.
This
come as I watch my daughter sit on my husbands knee and watch an NFL
game between the Miami Dolphins and the Jacksonville Jaguars. He's
in heaven that she asked to come up onto his lap and watch and she's
asking questions where her older sister has about as much interest in
the game as I do (which is to say, none).
As
they sit there and she asks questions I hear him say, 'we are going
for these guys, not those guys we hate those guys.” and “Who
goes for those other guys? Silly people do.” and I realise just
how much bigotry and hatred cam come from the fandom of these
'games'.
I
know it before of course, the rabid fanaticism that comes with any
fandom baffles me, from the screaming and crying fans of Bieber, to
the riots at soccer games, to the twihard moms who queue up and drool
all over someone young enough to be their own child.
However
I notice that within the competition world there's so much...hatred
involved. One can be a fan of an artist for example ad that doesn't
automatically create a rivalry, it merely expresses and appreciation
for the creations of said artist. When it comes to games, sport,
board, and even computer, there is by nature competition.
I
encourage my husband to share his favorite sport with the girls, and
the environment of friendly competition, I however discourage
sentiments of 'hating' another sports team simply because you support
someone else. Even more so I discourage the fostering of rivalry
amongst fans. Really? Why is it even a thing? I can like
something, you can like something else, do we need to compete amongst
ourselves? Can't we leave that competition to those who are paid
absurd amounts of money to play that game?
How
does this translate to board games which is what this blog is about?
Quite simply, I want to encourage,
without,
This is probably to be
expected given my preferred kind of board game is the co-op game, the
idea of working together to achieve a goal versus defeating someone
else in order to secure your own win. However there are many games
that are adversarial, or competitive and they are fun. Depending on
how the other people to play it. I have labelled player elimination
games as the 'glorification of bullying' and I stand by that, anyone
who deliberately and relentlessly targets someone in order to win a
game or for the increase of their own enjoyment of the game is
participating in bullying behaviour. And I see the rivalry that is
created within sports fans as a similar sort of thing.
So what would I like to
see my kids raised with?
Competition without
rivalry.
Support a team,
celebrate their
achievements,
cheer
play your own game
don't
boo the other team,
don't revel in their
losses.
No gloating
NO HATRED! (seriously
hatred is a serious, sad, and dangerous thing, games don't warrant
it)
I know some people have
a hard time with the distinction, it's really not that hard. I see
it as standard human decency really.
I can even say I have
been in the past a fan of a sports team, in the days of Rodman,
Jordan, Longley, and Pippen I was a Chicago Bulls Fan I followed tier
games watched them, perched on the edge of my seat as I watched them
play their way to the NBA championship back in high school. I liked
that team and hod no particular opinion of any other team, why would
I give them my time when I was following he Bulls? And buying into a
rivalry that's 'always been there' as a matter of course (because the
teams themselves obviously will form such backgrounds and rivalries
amongst themselves) is just being a sheep and following the crowd.
Ok enough preaching.
Now that I’ve
possibly offended every person I ever knew, I’m off to the
gamesfest! Another blog entry tomorrow on today's event.
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