In the “playful fighting as a preparation for real fighting” situation, you are still trying to win. It’s just that you don’t mind losing, you may have a lot of fun losing (because that is what motivates you to continue the training despite the initial losses), and you may even know that you don’t have a realistic chance of winning (yet). But still, on some level, you are trying to win; hoping that one day in the future you will win for real.
Like, when I am play-wrestling with my 2 years old daughter, she will laugh when I grab her or push her on her back, but she is also fighting back. And when I pretend she defeated me, she pushes me on my back, and them jumps on me and laughs.
And this is the aspect I don’t see mentioned in the article. I guess there is a chance the author feels that this part is so obvious it’s not necessary to mention it explicitly; but it doesn’t seem to me that this is the case. For example, the disclaimer “I’m not longing for a clear status hierarchy” makes more sense in context where the author is otherwise proposing unilateral status displays, that in context where the author proposes that everyone should display status once in a while. I may be wrong here, of course.
EDIT: Okay, this comment suggests I am wrong here.
In general, sure, but let’s look into details.
In the “playful fighting as a preparation for real fighting” situation, you are still trying to win. It’s just that you don’t mind losing, you may have a lot of fun losing (because that is what motivates you to continue the training despite the initial losses), and you may even know that you don’t have a realistic chance of winning (yet). But still, on some level, you are trying to win; hoping that one day in the future you will win for real.
Like, when I am play-wrestling with my 2 years old daughter, she will laugh when I grab her or push her on her back, but she is also fighting back. And when I pretend she defeated me, she pushes me on my back, and them jumps on me and laughs.
And this is the aspect I don’t see mentioned in the article. I guess there is a chance the author feels that this part is so obvious it’s not necessary to mention it explicitly; but it doesn’t seem to me that this is the case. For example, the disclaimer “I’m not longing for a clear status hierarchy” makes more sense in context where the author is otherwise proposing unilateral status displays, that in context where the author proposes that everyone should display status once in a while. I may be wrong here, of course.
EDIT: Okay, this comment suggests I am wrong here.