The Art of Play (2008)

By request, I'm posting my Art of Play article here and stickying it.  There will be more to come.

The Art of Play

I want to keep this article simple.  The purpose of this writing is to clarify my own thoughts and viewpoints on game-playing, and to try and express them in a way that others can benefit from it.

I am not Sun Tzu.
I am not Machiavelli.
I am not a famous general or war historian.

What I am is a person who can admit to himself that playing games is as fundamental to his existance as breathing.

I play games.
It’s what I do.
It’s who I am.
It’s that simple.

So, what can you guys get from this?  After all, you also enjoy playing games – and I’ll bet that you are probably pretty good at them.  You have your own perfectly good reasons for playing, and for the ways in which you play.

Well, maybe if I go in depth into my own motivations, rules and strategies, it might encourage you to do the same – and maybe make you better at what you do, too.

I’m going to try, through a series of posts on this thread, to establish a simple set of principles (guidelines) of playing games and game players.  We’ll be able to discuss it from there.

Let’s begin.



The Oneness of Nothing and Everything

My first principle of play can be stated thus:

“Everything in life is a game, and therefore nothing is.”

By this, I’m not trying to trivialise or denigrate things that happen in life (a lot of which is not fun for an awful lot of people).  To get at my meaning, I think I’ll have to define the word “game” in this context.

A game to me is a fairly nebulous concept and pretty much encapsulates anything that can involves rules or guidelines that must be used, interpreted or manipulated for the simple pleasure of exercising the brain in doing those things.  The point of playing a game is, therefore, to play it (as opposed to winning it).

Life itself can be looked upon as a complex interweavng of rules and guidelines (e.g. social roles, heirarchies, relationships and conflicts) that can be played upon in exactly the same manner.

From this standpoint, there is nothing that can’t be treated as a “game” under the correct circumstances.

With that nailed down a bit, let me expand on why this is my first principle of play. 

If everything is a game, then nothing should be taken seriously.  After all, if it’s a game, it’s not something that really matters.  Conversely, if something is a game then, because it means nothing in the grand scheme of things, then it can safely be allowed to mean everything to you for the period of time the game exists.  If it can mean everything to you, and you can adjust your mindset to allow this to be true, then it means that, for the time you play, the game is the only serious thing in the world – and you can play as if the chips are down, while knowing that, as soon as it ends, nothing has actually been risked.

If, by the way, you think your life does actually matter in the grand scheme of things I suggest you  take a look at the following link to get things back in perspective (it works for me!)

http://www.rense.com/general72/size.htm


Getting the mindset right is fairly tough, and being able to drop into this “duality” of mind will mark you out as being abnormal.  Guess what – it’s the same mindset used by profesional sportsmen and women who give up whole portions of their life and change thier personalities and phsyiology in order to achieve the goals they have set for themselves.

The state of mind that allows a person to believe that something as trival as a race, a football match or a game actually matters isn’t that hard to grasp when you think about it – but getting into that mindset requires a little discipline and thought.

This will help you play better in two ways.  Firstly it will allow you to concentrate and focus better – key elements in learning your craft and interpreting your opponent.  Secondly, it will help you develop the state of mind known as “flow”.

Flow is a state of conciousness in which seemingly concept actions and problems suddenly seem effortlessly easy.  Its not a state of hard concentration, but almost of meditation in which you simply produce results that are optimum for any given task.

When you see atheletes preparing for the next 100m race at the olympic games, take a good look at their faces.  They will look almost vacant.  Trust me, they are’t concentrating, they are pursuing a state of flow.

I have entered a state of true flow myself, but only for limited periods and I can tell you, the returns are astonishing!  You simply don’t let your brain get in the way of your actions or decisions and you find yourself responding faster and better to any problem encountered.

B grasping the nature of the first principle of play, you can prepare your mind for this too.

Good luck!

Next post – the second principle of play!

Total Respect

My second principle of play is:

“have total respect for your opponent”

By this I mean that you should play a game against an opponent in the spirit of total repsect for them as a person, as a combatant and to show respect for their skills and tactics.  It’s an oft quoted phrase that it “takes two to tango” and this is especially true for game players.  When you and your opponent(s) get together to play, you create a “game” – your attitudes, moves and behaviours will shape the nature of the game.  The moves of the pieces, or playing of cards, or nature of betting begins to become a language in which you both communicate.

Think about this in terms of warhammer and our beloved ogres – when you deploy your troops you are sending signals to your opponent, “This is my threat over here”, “I’ll be trying to block you over there”.  When you look at your opponent’s deployment, you read the same interpreations into his moves.

Reading this language – and being able to communicate in it – is the real skill of any game.  When you’re good at it, you can begin to lie in this language – and that ability to send false signals is a massive benefit to you as a tactician and strategist.

To read the language of a game requires you to properly assess your opponent – and this means showing them total respect.

Not fear.
Not anger.
Not pity.
Not underestimating them.
Not overestimating them.

Fear and anger have no place in a game.  Not in your mind.  Maybe before a battle, maybe after a battle – but NOT during one.  These emotions with cloud your judgement and will prevent you from reading the game language fluently – they will cause you to make mistakes and be suseptible to the “lies” in the game language of your opponent.

Pity, likewise, has no place in a battle.  To show total respect for your opponent means to play against them as hard as you can at all the times during the game.  You owe it to them.  Sometimes, especially in friendly games, you can be tempted to “lighten up” the pressure on your opponent if you are already in a strong position in a game.  Don’t give in to this impulse as it is insulting to your opponent.

If someone were domianting in a battle against me, having crushed half my forces while taking little damage, and it looked as if my defeat were inevitable, I would take it as an insult if my opponent was to start playing to a “lesser” degree. 

In fact, I’ve taken advantage of just this kind of situation and turned the tables pretty quickly.

As an example.

My second ever 2000 point battle was against a tournament player using a VC army.  I had not played against VC before, it was my second 2000 point battle that evening (and I’d lost my first to Bretts) – after a full day teaching. 

The game began and he used his superior knowledge to tactics and his own army to lead my forces about.  He used invocations to divert my pair of rhinox riders away from the battle by summoning units of zombies in front of them and angling them away from his lines.

He then used his ghouls to soak up any magic or shooting I had coming his way and, frankly, out-maneuvered me with his blocks of skeletons and zombies and smashed a couple of units of bulls.  He took out a butcher with a fast-moving thrall, and then detained my second with the same character.

Then he “lightened up”.
I didn’t.
He moved his necromancers, including his general, out of their big units and charged these units at my ogres.

I fled from one of these charges and used the resulting gap to charge my tyrant out of his unit and into his general – crushing him and crumbling the VC army over the next couple of turns – turning a loss into a victory for the ogres.

My opponent was winning – and he took his foot of the gas.  He should have nailed my coffin lid shut.  Other opponents I’ve faced have not been so “generous” and when they’ve beaten me I have had nothing but respect for their skills and for their treatment of the game.

On under and over estimating your opponents – this is done before a game begins.  Do not be distracted by the age, experience or models of an opponent – nor by their friends or other entourage around them, nor by how they run their mouths off during a game.  Many players will attempt to use “gamesmanship” against you – a kind of low level “cheating” or “jedi mind tricks” which I do not condone.  The only language that matters is that of the moves on the table – ignore all others as a distraction from the game in hand.  They are tyring to influence your mental state.  Appreciate the fact that they are doing this, but do not react emotionally to it.

Being friendly over a game, sharing a smile or a laugh is fine, in fact, I’ll always encourge a friendly atmosphere – but don’t let that affect your table moves either.

A game is a dance – and dancing partners depend on each other in order to have a great dance together.  You and your opponent are the same – and you need to treat a good opponent well – you’ll both have more fun and play better if you do.

Next post – the 3rd principle of play.

Multi-Level Thinking

You may have often heard it said that you should try and think “a few moves ahead”, or that, “you should have a plan” when you enter a game.  These are common and commendable ideas. 

By thinking a few steps ahead you can try and anticipate the moves your opponent might make in response (the game language again – see the second prinicple on this), and think through your responses to those possible moves.  Doing this will help you become a good tactician.

Having a plan before battle will help you deploy your forces and will mean that you are thinking about the game before it begins (sometimes days before) – having this time to mull things over and make key decisions will help you understand your resources and your own mindset better.  Doing this will help you become a good strategist.

Good, however, is not good enough – not if you want to progress as a player.

I’m not going to suggest that you shouldn’t do the above – of course you should - but you must also realise that if you do just these, and nothing else, then you haven’t really taken the stabalizers of your bicycle yet.

Once you know how to plan, predict, anticipate and counter – the 4 basic building blocks of strategic thought, then its time to remember another old adage,

“No plan survives first contact.”

Everything you planned for goes out of the window the moment a game starts.  If you try to hold to a plan, you’ll be predicatable, obvious, hesitant and easy to stop.  No matter how good your original plan was.

So why plan?

Simple answer is, as always another question – why do soilders drill?

They do so in order to practise and exercise their skills before needing to employ them in a “live” situation.

We plan to exercise our minds in the ways of our games and to ensure we pay full attention to the rules involved.  Plans are good at “drilling” your mind – but never expect one to actually work as laid out in your head.

So, how do we need to think in order to progress as a player? 

The answer isn’t to think more steps ahead – that’s just leading yourself down a yellow brick road.  If I can think 5 steps ahead and you can think 7 are you a better player?  Answer: No – those steps might well never occur and you’ve just wasted precious time and grey matter thinking about them.  Daydreaming during a game, the most common result of trying to stretch too far forwards, results is a loss of focus and mindset.  You will effectivly distract yourself and find it hard to regain your focus and re-enter flow (see the first principle of play).

I’m sometimes guilty of this – hey, I’m only human!  But it is something I try to guard against.

The answer lies, not in thinking further forwards, but thinking in several directions at once using different levels of your conscious and unconscious thought to do so.  Not stretching forward, but going deeper.

To create these levels of abstraction, you need to practise thinking about multiple things at once. 

One exercise for this would be to think of a question that could be debated – such as “should drugs be legalized?”  The topic doesn’t really matter, just as long as its something you can debate both sides of in your head.  Silently conduct this discussion – marshall your arguments for and against and begin to play out how you’d put your points across.  Try and leave some emotion out of this.  You may find yourself talking to yourself, don’t worry about that – your already abnormal anyway! J

Now while your doing this, you layer a second task under it – something not connected with words, but more keyed to visual stimulus.  Playing a simple card game like solitare, a visual game like tetris or simply replaying the last movie you watched in your head will do (although the sounds you may remember might hinder you).  The trick is not to loose track of your arguments while performing the visual task.

This takes some doing, but is great mental exercise and can be done anywhere – just as long as you’re not having to concentrate on anything important (like driving, for example).

Once you can do these 2 things at once pretty much at will, you need to layer in another level to it.  Once your doing the above, the next level is to add in some cold hard facts or maths “behind” the other layers.  Something clinical or abstract will do.  I use the term “behind” as that where this level feels it is in my brain when I do this.  Again the maths/abstract doesn’t really matter as long as it’s fairly cold.  I use mobius rings, fractal, totalling dice rolls, mathimatical sequences (e.g. the fibonacci numbers).

The last level, the emotional content, doesn’t have a single palce in my brain – it kind of moves about it as my eyes and ears are wandering (your brain is distracted by the other stuff your doing).  In this level, try to put yourself in different emotional states.  The arguments/internal movie of the maths can all trigger these states for you – your job is to try and change states consciously and then, once you’ve done this, don’t try and hold the state, but let it move on its own.

Practise doing these things together when you get a chcance, but at least once each day.  You will find your mental abilities picking up speed after only a few days exercise.  Soon, you’ll find yourself thinking in this way almost out of habit (something that can be a little disconcerting for others – you’ll find yourself skipping about in conversations on in lessons as you’ve already leapt past stages you’ve dealt with internally).

Apply this when you play.

The emotional content is the game language of moves sent by you and your opponent.  The maths is a the calclations of risk and reward you make in your decisions.  The visual content is you taking full note of the battlefield and models upon it and the arguments are your tactical “planned steps and moves ahead”.

What’s more – you can do this while your opponent in thinking, and then act swiftly without merely reacting emotionaly to his moves without proper thought.  This puts your opponent on an a back foot, robbing him of the time he needs to grab the initiative of a game.

The dice can always be against you, but your mind can always be on your side if you give it a little training.

Next time – the 4th principle of play

Practise makes Possible

When it comes to games where there is an element of “imperfect information” then practise can never make perfect.  By imperfect information I refer to games where something is hidden from you (e.g. in poker you don’t know what cards your opponent has).  I regard these games as superior to those of perfect information (e.g. chess), as they acknowledge a certain amount of luck – just like life does.

Practise doesn’t make perfect, but by practising your gaming skills frequently and well, then you will develop as a games player.  Practise will make things possible for you.

So, how do you go about practising your skills, and what are the main skills you need to practise?  Well, I want to keep this article from focusing to much on any one game, so let’s get the fundamentals right here.

1)   Memory

The ability to remember things is a key skill for a gameplayer to develop.  You’ll be able to keep track of rules, turn orders, abilities of your pieces or cards, effects that are in place during the game and much more.  Getting better at this will make you more effective.

To improve your memory ability, you need to exercise it.  Next time you need to remember someone’s phone number or post code, don’t write it down or pop it in your phone – commit it to memory instead!  You can assist yourself in doing this in a few ways

a)   when you are trying to remember it, repeat it to yourself out loud.  By picturing the number and by hearing it at the same time you create extra pathways to retention and retrival of the information.

b)   Attach a memorable picture (the wacker the better) to the number.  This works with me for post codes. 

(e.g. I used to live at postcode BD7 3 dancing teddybears – or BD7 3DT to you)

c)   Attatch the memory to a place.  When I memorize something I focus on a place or object and say “remember, remember” to myself.  Next time I see that object or place, the thing I wanted to remember pops back into my head.

With a little practise you’ll be able to remember entire army books and the BRB word for word. J

Sorry for the long delay on getting to the next points – life stuff happens!  Let’s get to the next skill you can develop:

2) Empathy

Empathy is the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes – to perceive the world as they do.  Generally, this skill is more developed in older people (those out of their teens) as younger people have not often had the life experiences, or developed the mindset to make use of these skills.  When playing a game, it is the use of this skill that will enable you to “read” your opponent’s intentions and current state of mind.  Empathy is more about feeling than thinking – it is not just going through the cold logical appraisal of:

“if I move my unit there, then logically he will move his unit there, so that means I should…” 

It means your internal monologue should be running more like:

“I’m getting the sense that he’s frustrated and angry, so if I move my unit there, he’ll react quickly and badly, meaning he won’t do the logical thing.”

Or

“I’m not getting any feeling at all from him, he must be trying hard to conceal something, let’s check the board again for possible traps…”

This isn’t about consciously trying to read body language or signals from your opponent – it’s more about trying to do so unconciously.  To reach out and conenct to the emotional state of your opponent.

So, how do you practise this?  Well, conversations are the perfect thing!  When talking to others, no matter what the subject, try and read the intents and emotions of the person youa re speaking with.  When you think you know what this is, steer the conversation into an area that you know will spark an emotional reaction from them (e.g. bring up fox hunting with an animal rights supporter) and, in your head, watch their reactions as the conversations continues.  Monitor your own emotional state also, to gauge your own reactions to the emotions of others.  The trick now is to remember these things and to try this on as many different people as you can.  Once you can do this using highly emotional subjects of conversation, you’llbecome more skilled at doing it with less and less evocative subjects – until ANY conversation allows you to assess the emotional state of your subject – even with total strangers.  Before any game, I like to talk to my opponents.  I like to find out if they’ve had a good day or trip, if they’ve come far.  I talk to them about their models.  I do this because I am genuinely interested in other people and I’m a friendly kind of bloke – but I don’t pass up the opportunity to “read” them either….

I’ll post again soon, promise.

3)   etiquette and courtesy

Of all the skills and principles I’ve talked about so far, this one deserves a special mention.  Without these skills, you’ll soon find that you won’t be able to play any games – you’ll have run out of potential opponents, and built yourself a bad reputaition at the same time.

Games involve competition, and generally a string for a position of dominance over your opponent.  This, when you think about it, if really quite primal and preadator-like.  Guess what?  For all our nice clothes and technology, we’re only a heartbeat away from the primal predators our distant ancestors were. 

Games are a way for all other animals to prepare themselves for the actual struggles of life (watch lion cubs play-fighting for example) – and our games are no different. 

Problems then, can arise when you or your opponent “falls from grace” – when you forget that your struggle is only in a game and it becomes an desire to humiliate and crush your opponent and take delight in his defeat – rather than anything healthy.

A good general doesn’t gloat in victory or wallow in defeat – both are pointless activities.

I'm sure this thread will become a much valued treasure of the gaming world, not just ours here at the stronghold, but with time will transcend across into many wider circles too Well done WC, it's a masterpiece

JJ

Well written and it accurately sums up a lot of things about myself I take for granted (both good and bad). Bravo!

wow. that´s one hell of an article there, wildcard!

Actually, after reading it, I sure wish there was a "wargaming" lesson at school and I sure wish you would teach it

actually, all the lessons I teach in school can be applied to wargaming - just as all the things you learn in wargaming can be applied to all facets of your life.  Just keep twisting the pieces really looking at them until you find where they can fit in the jigsaw of your life

actually, all the lessons I teach in school can be applied to wargaming - just as all the things you learn in wargaming can be applied to all facets of your life.  Just keep twisting the pieces really looking at them until you find where they can fit in the jigsaw of your life

I have heard such lessons yet I still have both of my buttocks handed to me in WHFB against a 12-year old.

you should have paid more attention

Besides, you know me Vyvyan - I won't do your work for you, you still have to apply the lessons, and you can only do that with practise and adaptation.

actually, all the lessons I teach in school can be applied to wargaming - just as all the things you learn in wargaming can be applied to all facets of your life.  Just keep twisting the pieces really looking at them until you find where they can fit in the jigsaw of your life

yeah I know, my point was more like you SHOULD open a private wargaming school
It was such a...methodical article
You sure must be a great teacher.
Mind if I ask what do you teach and how old are your pupils?

I teach ICT to years 7-9 so 11-14 years old.

Sorry for the totally OT here but what does the "C" stand for nowadays?

It used to be just plain old "IT" in my day 

LOL!  Its

Information and Communication Technology nowerdays

Think yourself lucky - in my day there was NO lessons in it at all and only BBC model B computers in the school

LOL!  Its

Information and Communication Technology nowerdays

Think yourself lucky - in my day there was NO lessons in it at all and only BBC model B computers in the school

Whoa! How old ARE you?!?

JJ

33

Not that old then Have computers really evolved that fast?!

JJ

Yep!  I own, and still use, technology older than some of my students!  (I have a psion series 5 PDA - still working since 1997)

I keep a BBC and an old ZX81 in teh classroom as well to trya nd inform my students on just how far things have come. (they both work as well!)

That's amazing Well done mate They must be worth a bit

JJ

Thank you for the well written article. I might add its easier to know than to execute, at least for me. Clearing my mind and concentrating after a hard day or negating emotions has never been easy for me. Nevertheless the principles are well thought out and well formulated. I think its a good philosophy for all games (and not just tabletops).

no problem!

I'm writing a new piece for the Art of Play at the moment, and I'll address the issues of how to achieve the mental state while tired, etc. in it.  I'll also look at how to put information into practise through some mental/emotional exercises too!

Are you including specific warhammer situations?
I was thinking about training forms you could do with a mate where for example:
you practise bait and flee or trapping another unit in a flank/ front charge from you.

just like with football, people practise getting the ball in the goal.

generally, what I do with my own practise is non-warhammer specific, but I could work up some examples of that Lexy

effectivly they'd be mini-games of a sort aimed at improving particular skills (If you think about the "training" games from Wii Sports and their relationship to the acutal golf/boxing/etc. you won't be far wrong).

I'll work those up over the weekend and post it on Monday.

33

Really? I thought you were 28!

effectivly they'd be mini-games of a sort aimed at improving particular skills (If you think about the "training" games from Wii Sports and their relationship to the acutal golf/boxing/etc. you won't be far wrong).

you're going to make training games for on the WII? you must be the best ICT teacher in the world

It's been a long time since I did that much programming   no, I'm not making we games.  But I might come up with rules for the warhammer equivalent

Very good stuff, I know to do most of it, but often just ignore it. Especially taking your foot off the pedal. Here's an example from my last tournament game:

It's turn 6, and I have all but annihilated my Orc opponent, using Lizardmen. He has a single Black Orc unit left, and it's within charge range of my Salamanders in the flank, Stegadon in the front, and my Oldblood in the rear. My opponent says he'll flee with the unit, which will kill it, but I say he might as well hold. In truth, the best thing to do would have been to not charge, and blow it up with my Salamanders, and I knew that. But the Black Orcs had done nothing all game and I decided it would be fun to charge them all in.

The Stegadon killed a grand total of 1 model with impacts and attacks. My Oldblood challenged the Black Orc BSB and got 3 wounds- I re-rolled a 1 to wound, and got another 1. Salamanders then scored zero wounds. In response, the Black Orcs (using the +1A banner), killed both skink handlers and put THREE wounds onto the Stegadon. And so, my Oldblood and Salamanders fled, unable to rally. Incredibly the Stegadon took two more wounds next turn (I saved one however), but lost combat and broke. On average I would have have done 8 wounds to the unit and BSB with no return attacks, I didn't care about breaking the unit, I just wanted a big scrap to end the game.

But instead this one "fun" charge costed me 700 points in units, plus 100 points for table quarters, and if either the Stegadon or Salamanders had survived, I'd have gaind 3 bonus Battle Points for having 4 US5+ units alive at the end. As it was, I didn't gain them, and an enemy Pump Wagon (the only other enemy unit left) also got incredibly lucky and killed my Scar Vet general on the last turn of the game after I put it in the way so he could charge if he wanted. 1000 points down. All for having fun. The saddest lesson of all: don't ever put fun above winning in a tournament game. It's only a game, but fun is to be discouraged in those situations

Has this idea died or what Wildcard? were all on teather hooks

Scroth

P.S Hurry up

not died - but I have both kids and the wife ill at home at the moment - so I'm not getting the sleep/time I need to do a good job yet.  Progress is happening, but its a bit slower than I would like.

Don't worry, just give me a little longer.

Fair enough

Scroth

Greatly written! Love the section on empathy! Favorite line is: "A good general doesn’t gloat in victory or wallow in defeat – both are pointless activities."

I'm sorry wildcard, but I'm afraid you are sun tzu

Well written wildcard! This post is top notch, and the philosophical insight into the "life is a game" argument is so true!

If you have the time you should keep up the writing in this post since you clearly have a way of putting complex ideas into simple words.

Also, and this post might already exist somewhere (but since I'm new to the forum I haven't had the chance to go through all the posts... which reminds me... I have exams next month so I SHOULDN'T be going through all the posts ), wouldn't it be a good idea for experienced warhammer players (such as yourself) to write short articles on the various phases in the game (I believe this was done in white dwarf a couple of years back) with particular reference to OK?

Obviously this would not be a canonical entry but rather a post open to discussion and ideas.

HRed

Absolutely brilliant article I can't believe i've only just found!

Inspiring stuff

Unbeliavable article!

Wildcard sure knows what he's talking about. Made cold shivers to my spine. Man, if i'd live where you do, i'd like to shake your hand.
I think that everyone of us should take time to fully study this article.

Thanks for a great thread Wildcard. Totally awesome. Gave me the kicks.






Ragnar

Vyvyan - this is a sticky, so can't be threadomanced!

Damn- sorry, I guess that this will go on my personal record? Does it draw the hammer of face ever closer to my head?

Mr wildcard sir i salute you reading this thread and the "paradgrimshift project" (not sure how its spelt  )
has helped me alot as im sure it has many other stronghold goers your like our drill sergant,
By a shocking coincedence when i was reading through the first post on here the song "ill make a man out of you" from disney's mulan drifted through the door from the front room and made me smile ,
thanx alot,
cheers,
tlk

Inspiring...its how we all should think, well done wildcard

Prod...

*pleading tone* Wildcaaaaaard, please continue this great thread

An exercise I was told about and helps me is playing games against myself.  Getting up walking over to the other side of the table and going .... ok what information do i know as this player, what actually seems threatening to me, what can i discern, how would i be acting as the other player right now?

Physically getting up and swapping spots back and forth and then seperating what i do know from what i don't as each player really helps me read my opponents and "get into thier shoes".

First of all, Wildcard, you a regular reader of rense.com?  I used to look at that site all the time.

Interesting corrolation between work and play.  I'm a land planner and I have to deal with ordinances and codes all the time.  If you think about how your decisions are going to impact a person and how much money swings on you decisions, it's tough to take a stand.

Ah, but think of an ordinance as a rulebook!  Now, you're just interpreting the game's rules.  Just as the GW games have certain loopholes in their rulebooks, a book of ordinance will typically have theirs.  And just as GW will close loopholes in rulebook updates, so too will we try to update our ordinances.

Being a land planner is just learning how to play the game.

Not a regular reader, but I've been there a time or two.

I'm currently researching desion making processes, paradoxical logic and expert intuition for a more in-depth looking into the art of play - maybe deep enough for a short book or a paper.

I would gladly pay a fee to get insights in a more in-depth research like that!

Being a newcomer to this forum I am still in the process of stumbling upon random threads and subjects. This thread certainly stopped me dead in my tracks! I would never have made the ultimate juxtaposition between games and other aspects of life, although I am constantly reminded of overlapping features.
That section of mental "multi-tasking" blew my mind!

One thing is for sure. This thread is bookmarked and will be carefully studied several times.
Thank you.

thanks you for the comments

research work is still ongoing - but I think I've found some interesting ideas to follow...