I originally started this blog on the 29th July 2013. The domain went idle and eventually expired, but I do still have the articles saved on a CMS backend. Revisiting the articles, over a decade later, I still felt something. So here we go…

There is a book online at https://www.sirlin.net/ptw/ called Playing To Win. I am not affiliated at all. It’s free to read and I’d encourage it. In hindsight, this domain is a bit close to the bone, but the content is in no way related. Sirlin inspired the name, shaped my thinking, this is just a blog.

The book (you should read it, it’s really good) talks about a broad range of ideas, but the key take away for me was “Don’t be a Scrub.” A Scrub is someone who imposes their own mental restrictions onto their competitive game of choice. They believe the game is “more fun” with these made up rules, and will adhere to these made up rules even if it means losing. They are not playing to win, they are doing something else.

The obstacles vary from genre to genre. If you’ve ever played an FPS you’ve probably heard people complaining, “Stop camping you noob!” Yet if camping is the way to victory, and a Scrub has decided that camping is against their own personal made up rules… they’ve handicapping themselves because nobody else is playing by those rules.

Don’t get me wrong, self imposed challenges can be fun and I’ll surely post about them… but in the context of competition, when your outcome is Win or Lose, these self imposed restrictions mean the Scrub will ultimately never beat the people playing to win.

… which is fine, by the way. To each their own! I have no prejudice against the “playing for fun” mentality. It’s just that, personally, winning is fun. Winning by skill. Not winning by luck, not winning because RNG match making decided I needed a win, but winning because I improved, raised my skill level, outplayed my opponents. To me, that’s the most fun you can have in gaming.

More than a Game…

While reading the book, I had the realization that I do some of these self imposed handicap rules in my real life. Rules that nobody else was following and as a result I was “losing”, putting myself at a disadvantage, for a given game.

It gets more complicated for sure. In the real world, it doesn’t end with the Win or Loss. There are consequences, there are repercussions. “Winning isn’t everything” is true… but I’ve often caught myself handicapping myself in ways that just aren’t necessary.

Might be a crappy example, but if your goal is a promotion at work, then apply for the promotion. Don’t do some weird… “Steve was here first, and I know he really wants it… It wouldn’t feel right if I got it before him.” You’ve just invented a new rule “I can’t have a promotion until Steve has one.” and nobody else is playing by those rules. There’s still 9 applicants for the promotion instead of 10. Maybe you’re the best suited for the job and would’ve taken it. Maybe Steve’s the least suited and will never get it. Best case scenario you’ve pushed your promotion back, worst case you’ll never even apply.

Back to the Blog

So hopefully that’s a fairly average introduction to the name of the blog. It’s not just about gaming, it’s about life. It’s an ethos that I’ve tried to stick to. This blog is a place for me to express these feelings, as well as some gaming stuff. I hope you enjoy what I’ll waffle about. I appreciate feedback good & bad.