Its not clear to me this attitude is always optimal even if your only goal is to improve. The fundmaental question is ‘Is the information we get from finishing this match in X minutes greater than the information we would get by spending X minutes toward playing a new match?’.
If the endgame is relatively long and not particularly interesting just concede. We aren’t going to learn much from actually playing it out even if I am 2-5% to win.
Say we are practicing for a 1vs1 Terraforming Mars competition. On generation three you get out AI central and I don’t have a huge lead in other areas to compensate. I think its rational to concede here. Terraforming mars takes a long time to play out. Is not really clear how exactly you will beat me, but you will draw a ton of cards and kill me somehow. I doubt you need practice crushing someone with a normal draw when you have an active AI central.
In a game with substantial luck I think it matters what caliber of opponents you are expecting to play against. If you are anticipating playing vs people substantiall worse than you it can make sense to practice winning from ‘objectively lose’ positions. If you are substantially stronger than the opponent you actually can win. But if your expected opponents are capable and playing the game out will take awhile just concede.
Nevermind the fact it is phycologically unplesanat to play out almost certainly lost positions. So if you are playing for enjoyment its often rational to concede. Of course during a literal tournament match play it out til the end if you are playing to win. Though make sure you are not screwing yourself because of timer rules (for example not conceding a game of mtg quick enough can make it unlikely you can finish the bo3 match).
sidenote: I have also had quite alot of success playing games. Though I don’t really play competitive games anymore.
I’m actually not sure re: practice. I know people who would just play out the first X turns of a game then reset to get deliberate practice on the openings; I think there’s some merit to that, but I also think most people don’t practice fighting back from really unpleasant situations enough. Not sure how these effects line up for particular individuals.
Its not clear to me this attitude is always optimal even if your only goal is to improve. The fundmaental question is ‘Is the information we get from finishing this match in X minutes greater than the information we would get by spending X minutes toward playing a new match?’.
If the endgame is relatively long and not particularly interesting just concede. We aren’t going to learn much from actually playing it out even if I am 2-5% to win.
Say we are practicing for a 1vs1 Terraforming Mars competition. On generation three you get out AI central and I don’t have a huge lead in other areas to compensate. I think its rational to concede here. Terraforming mars takes a long time to play out. Is not really clear how exactly you will beat me, but you will draw a ton of cards and kill me somehow. I doubt you need practice crushing someone with a normal draw when you have an active AI central.
In a game with substantial luck I think it matters what caliber of opponents you are expecting to play against. If you are anticipating playing vs people substantiall worse than you it can make sense to practice winning from ‘objectively lose’ positions. If you are substantially stronger than the opponent you actually can win. But if your expected opponents are capable and playing the game out will take awhile just concede.
Nevermind the fact it is phycologically unplesanat to play out almost certainly lost positions. So if you are playing for enjoyment its often rational to concede. Of course during a literal tournament match play it out til the end if you are playing to win. Though make sure you are not screwing yourself because of timer rules (for example not conceding a game of mtg quick enough can make it unlikely you can finish the bo3 match).
sidenote: I have also had quite alot of success playing games. Though I don’t really play competitive games anymore.
I’m actually not sure re: practice. I know people who would just play out the first X turns of a game then reset to get deliberate practice on the openings; I think there’s some merit to that, but I also think most people don’t practice fighting back from really unpleasant situations enough. Not sure how these effects line up for particular individuals.