Rules of the Game(s)
Tuesday, December 18th, 2018[ by Charles Cameron — a quick, deep (or high altitude) look into various ways to play ]
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I learned quite a bit on a topic of huge interest to me — playing games — in short order over the last couple of hours.
To wit, from Pine Gap, the Aussie espionage series on Netflix, which is how I take my naps — Pine Gap (Netflix) s 1 e 4:
There are three ways to play any game:
A: Plan your moves so far in advance your opponent can’t predict them,
B: Make your opponent watch what you’re doing with one hand while your other is busy with your real game plan., or
C: Play your cards very, very close to your chest..
Sometimes all you can do is wait.. until your opponent makes the next move.
Another game rule, this one from MTP Daily (MSNBC) 12/18/2018, which obviously obviated the nap:
Whatever comes of this, both sides have got to save face.
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And back to Pine Gap s1 e 5:
Good game ..
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A loss is always a bad game.
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That covers quite a decent bit of ground: strategies in competitive games; games of negotiation, quasi-competitive, quasi-collaborative; games as play, pretend-competitive, non-competitive, playful — “For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes – not that you won or lost – but how you played the Game” — and game as victory or defeat, period.
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Now, get this, with an associative geopol link below, from Pine Gap s1 e6:
We’re on the same side really, aren’t we? I mean, we all just want to be safe and happy, and our leaders want to be rich and powerful.
Sure, but there are differences, too. See, uh, Americans play Chess, right? Where the object of the game is to kill the other king. A fest attack, a total victory. But we play Go, where the object of the game is to gradually own the most territory, slowly acquire a .. a winning position, which is a completely different approach — to, uh, life, business — even relationships ..
Read that, which ties up many strands in the plot of Pine Gap, and also applies interestingly to events in the South China Sea: “to gradually own the most territory, slowly acquire a .. a winning position”.
It’s been a good afternoon for picking up game quotes.
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And holy moly, there’s more:
It’s not about winning, Kath, it’s about maintaining dominance. [..]
We keep everybody in check. [..]
You played a good long game, Paul..
We both played a pretty good long game, mate. I’ll be watching to see how yours plays out.
And the coup de grace, quietly yet quite viciously delivered, wrt a divorce & who gets to keep the cat — with high irony:
Shake hands, well played. Moving on, that’s me. No thoughts of revenge whatsoever.
