Tuesday, February 05, 2008

The Game Dynamic

In his post below JJV refers to playing various games with friends, including myself. This has been going on for over 15 years although the proliferation of children has virtually eliminated the all-day sessions we would have from time to time.

He refers to the economic powerhouse and the primitive violent anarchist, but leaves out the opportunistic pirate that often infests such games. Perhaps because, and this is hardly a J'accuse! moment, that pirate is none other than JJV himself.

Then there is the player who only wishes the benefits of civilization while doing his best to avoid conflict, and when conflict comes, as it always does and in enormous quantities, bad things happen. That person, of course, is me and in my defense I will say that that approach worked for me once, sometime in the late 1990s. The rest has been a desperate struggle to avoid the cellar.

Still, the games are good fun most of the time and we are gearing up for another session this coming Saturday evening. Sadly JJV cannot make it but I will do my best to convince others to not pick up his cudgel.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

While it is more than self-evident that the "opportunistic pirate" fits in nicely with the amalgamated Republican psyche described by JJV below (GWB, anyone?), it is a cause for some concern that the resident Democrat in the house self-identifies as a pacifistic idealist who gets steamrolled by inevitable conflict engendered by the less principled opponents. I say, man up Mr. Slattery (and by inference, HRC and BHO) and grab the opportunistic pirate's cudgel in his absence, lest he will surely use it upon you!

Dave S. said...

Lietzy speaks truth and offers good advice. Cudgels give me blisters, though, and I usually use them without careful planning for the consequences. Perhaps I should be more like JJV and not care about the consequences.

I am also a terrible liar/dissembler which puts me at an enormous disadvantage in these situations.

jjv said...

Hey, that implies I'm some kind of good lier dissembler which I'm not. However, my favorite is the all purpose excuse for an renumerative "unprovoked" attack. (Shrug), "you were weak."