Have you read Playing To Win, by David Sirlin? It makes many of the points that you make here, but it doesn’t shy away from winning as the ultimate goal, as you seem to be doing. Sirlin doesn’t fall into the trap of lost purposes. He keeps in mind that the goal is to win. Yes, of course, by all means try new strategies and learn the mechanics of the game, but remember that the goal is victory.
It’s foolish to accept a final goal someone else gives you, let alone a piece of paper in a box. If you’re not thinking about why you want to win, you’re being foolish. I’m sure Sirlin goes into why winning is a good goal, but you haven’t given us any clues here.
Games, unlike many real life situations, are entered into by choice. If you are not playing to win, then one must ask why are you bothering to play? Or, more specifically, why are you playing this game and not some other?
That other character you were messing around with might be just the thing you need. Too bad you didn’t explore that, you were “playing to win.”
The Karmic justice of it all is that love of the game really does count for something. Those who love the game play it to play it. They mess around. They pick strange characters, try strange tactics, face others who do the same, and they learn the secret knowledge. Those who play only to win can’t be bothered with any of that. Every minute they spend playing goes toward climbing their current peak, attaining their local maximum.
Have you read Playing To Win, by David Sirlin? It makes many of the points that you make here, but it doesn’t shy away from winning as the ultimate goal, as you seem to be doing. Sirlin doesn’t fall into the trap of lost purposes. He keeps in mind that the goal is to win. Yes, of course, by all means try new strategies and learn the mechanics of the game, but remember that the goal is victory.
It’s foolish to accept a final goal someone else gives you, let alone a piece of paper in a box. If you’re not thinking about why you want to win, you’re being foolish. I’m sure Sirlin goes into why winning is a good goal, but you haven’t given us any clues here.
Games, unlike many real life situations, are entered into by choice. If you are not playing to win, then one must ask why are you bothering to play? Or, more specifically, why are you playing this game and not some other?
That’s what the whole post was about. You don’t seem to be engaging with it, just contradicting it without addressing any of the arguments.
It’s possible I would have encountered some of this when I used to read game design theory like a decade ago.
Here’s one where he acknowledges a tradeoff between winning now and winning long term https://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/love-of-the-game-not-playing-to-win