Going back over a reference to make it gender neutral is hard. And sticks out like a sore thumb anyways. That's it, back to how it was.

It's been a while since the last time, but...

When I play games, more traditional sit down in a play room, break out the golf pencils games, it's usually with a particular friend of mine who's social circle I have now invaded. That is to stress the rarity of this scenario, where I don't have all that many of the rotating cast comprising these games as even FACEBOOK friends. I mean, I've got some random guy from New York on facebook because I got a friend request, as well as a networking comedian. I don't really know their names.

Anyway, this friend often cites "game theory"- especially when I make a move he deems ridiculous, because I have made a move counter to my goal of winning.

What is surprising about this, to me, is the lack of perspective on my friends part. He asks why I would do that, without offering up any answers, or even asking me the reasoning behind it. He thinks I just like messing with him.

Actually, that sounds pretty close to the end of it- but what it really is is the fact that this person is very good at winning. Very rarely will he NOT win these things. So my goal or win condition is "he does NOT win".

Even then, my "success" rate is pretty low.

Take a similar situation, playing Smash Bros. with the guy and others- why in this scenario do I disproportionately attack his character compared to the others? In this area I'm actually pretty good, so my having a win condition of "winning" is actually feasable. But even then, if I were to really break it down, my win condition is "winning by taking out each player in order from toughest to weakest competitor". I'll generally take pot shots at someone who strays too close, but that is generally my strategy, because otherwise the weakest players get booted out immediately and have to sit there watching for five minutes.

Of course my weakening the strongest players will often lead to a win for a weaker participant, but I'm thinking they'll have enjoyed the game more, and I got a fun challenge out of it, so I won too.

Uh, just to be clear, I'm not going to say this happens ALL the time. If someone is really good at taunting me, well, things are tough all over at Final Destination.

Not that knowing this would help provide much of a defence against my admittedly lame win conditions... unless your defence is to persuade me to change tactics. That's a possibility. Yeah, but anyways, when it's all spelled out like this, it makes sense, right?

I'm reading a book right now called The Art of Strategy, it's very interesting, it's all about game theory, and right away- in the inttroduction- the authors point out how much their own understanding had grown since their similar book was published in the 90's (I THINK that one is "Thinking Strategically") especially within the realm of different motives. There's winning in the now, and there's setting up the future win. Or to put it another way, spending and earning political capital.

I read through volumes 4-7 of the Brian K. Vaughn written Ex Machina today- a book about a relatively realistic superhero (he does have powers, but the story would be just as fascinating without them, though naturally it would change a few things around)turned politician. All the time the protagonist has to make deals so something else will happen- compromising with the goals of another, a win-win, or he'll do something intended as a goodwill gesture only to have it backfire because of how someone else saw it- he failed to predict that he was doing something counter to that groups goal. The back and forth of motivations is pretty cool. Of course it helps that it's told in such a dramatic way, with maybe some mystery motivation being revealed at the end.

Which isn't that different from most stories I suppose, but it's standing out in my mind right now.

Do you ever question your motivations? I do- all the time. Am I doing something bad for a good reason? Am I doing something good for a bad reason?

Oh, I wanted to say, I had all those Ex Machina trades at once because I'd got vol 6 at the library a while ago, and picked up vol 7 today- but I've been waiting probably about two weeks for volumes 4 and 5 to come through, even though I ordered them waaay first. They've been "in transit" for a week. So I finally got sick of waiting, hopped over to a library I'd never been to before (Coxwell and Danforth- little small, but not bad, and pretty new facilities. My other library books beeped on the way in.) and picked 'em up. Three more trades and I'm done the series.

"Will I ever get better with my tenses?" he is to be said.

My neck is tense, that's all I know.

Ugh, it really is, I must have pinched a nerve or something. Feels better than yesterday though.