Monday, March 21, 2011

"I Could've Been a Contender"

One thing that never ceases to amaze me about gamers is their inability to change their modus operandi when faced with a situation that continually has proved troublesome.

If you’ve played someone over a period of 12 months and you’re sitting 0-10 then it’s pretty clear what you are doing is not working. They say the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect different results.

We see this play out at a lot of tournaments and from a dispassionate observer it is fascinating to watch. Typically the “patsy” is big fish in their own little pond and they come together with other “ponds” at 5-6 events a year. Mr. Patsy thinks he’s a contender but his record against the real Big Fish is probably 0-10. He goes along with the same list and lo and behold his record is 0-11.

What I never see is that Mr. Patsy has sat down and had a little think. He should have realized that to actually be a contender he needs to beat Big Fish and therefore his list should be solely aimed at being 110% effective against Big Fish. It shouldn’t matter if it is only 80% effective against other players if Mr. Patsy really is a contender.

But you know what? It’s easier for Patsy to go along doing what does because in the end he doesn’t have to take the risk that he really tries (to play the meta) and loses. Then he would have to admit he wasn’t really a contender after all.

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