I mean it.

I think only losers like having won.  And I mean, really like.

Liking the present tense, winning, is a different story. I’ll ‘splain what I mean.

There is a weird phenomena among marathon runners, when they’ve done the race, even within their goal, and depression becomes a thing they’re extra susceptible to.

I understand that.  It’s because the run is over. Something you’ve been so focused on, something you’ve trained your brain to hone neurons over, to release dat serodope in response to performing well regarding, and to think about to a near obsessive level.

It’s over.

Gaming will teach you the same thing, especially multiplayer games.

Often, an everchanging landscape with increasing challenges is key towards longterm playing potential.

In global agenda, with its persistent, exclusive access grids players have to fight for, there becomes a thing where, it’s clear who is the top dog.  In a given night with a given group of people with their given skills and tech, usually, 90% of the time one team is clearly superior.

It’s very, very rare to find a stubborn asshole like me who’s willing to come back as many times “as it takes” and “learn” and grow.

(There were even times I decided it was necessary and made war by occupying a better skilled team’s time so they couldn’t hold off another gang who was even worse than us. This frustrated the players who were “winning” the battles but failing at their goal of retaining land, anyway. #Insurgency

I’m proud of me: not only did we get better than the opposition I’m thinking of within that week, but it takes a lot to rally a consistent group to “lose” with you repeatedly over a couple of hours. Esp. to show up the next night and do it again.

Perhaps I’m as capable of a leader, but more bullheaded than I thought.)

 

And no this isn’t just about reliving glory days. This is just the point’s build. Because GA was a great experimental concept, which makes GA just a great go-to for a very general point:

GA sucked a couple of days after it was clear my team was the new best. After switches and player pulls, after we were that team who could in theory own every hex on the board, after I platformed from the cash tournament I won, then fucked with global psychology to the point that people didn’t even want to attack us, I broked it.

There was nothing left to do.

That’s where we started jumping into other games, because we knew it. Those 22 guys we maintained as a core and the 7 skilled new guys who were riding our victory bandwagon and I all knew it inside: we had won GA.

It sucked.

There comes a moment after every struggle where a smart person should and will go back and review how they get to where they are.  The same applies for victory.

And it was a great journey. I mean it when I use the word wonderful. But the feeling is the same as today when I look at my neighborhood Pokeyman gyms within a neighborhood of Mystics and Vals:

Stale.

When you win, it’s time to move on and do new things. It’s time to take the skills which generalize, and apply them to snowball at something else with a starting advantage.

That’s really the bottom line.

There are times with social conflicts, where this applies. There are times where animals battle and one submits, and the other creature must think “ok I’m gonna either cross the line from aggression into violence and maybe eat this motherfucker, or I can save my energy and most minimize the risk of freak injury.”  When things are serious, that winner doesn’t run in a circle dabbing for himself . They rest.

When animals at play battle, they pull off before the actual win. They are excited by the impulses they feel inside, rather than the play itself.  And the thing that brings on that excited state is the unplaying thing.

A challenge is not stale. In fact, a conflict is one of the most excited states.

When we don’t see ourselves in a rested state of victory, as the “played” thing, our existence is improved with purpose and that serodope potential that allows us to improve ourselves in some way.

I think we can make our lives most interesting if we work ourselves through our biggest challenges, and never stop never stopping.

Hence, winners are never stuck on the feeling of having won. They might like that feeling when they pull ahead, but they’re always better plugged in over being burnt out.