Best Of

Like I said I think this has much to do with the way you, and perhaps lots of other people, relate to games. Games have taught me much about teamwork, camaraderie, good sportsmanship (the ability to not be so hurt at a loss or smug about a win, which happens all the time in life). In my experience games are fun and light, they teach valuable life skills about interacting with others in fair and just ways.

I used to be competitive in athletics and one thing I liked was that it put me to another gear of effort, but that's far in the rear view mirror for me. I have another memory playing chess with a guy who was renting a room in our house for the summer when I lived at university. I lost every game and I guess I was competitive but also not really competitive. I mean I was trying to make good moves but I was just happy I had some fun for the summer and the pain of losing took a back seat to the joy of learning and of camaraderie.

I came across this quote…

“Playfulness is not then and there: it is herenow. Seriousness is goal-oriented. And even when a serious person starts playing, he transforms the quality of the play — it becomes a game; it is no more play. That is the difference between a game and a play. When a play becomes serious, it becomes a game.”
— Osho

Just to explain, Osho’s view was that play was a good quality, but that seriousness was rather like a disease, that bringing the desire to win to games and sport was not good for people.

“People go to see wrestling, people go to see bull-fights or American football — ugly, violent, inhuman. The people who are going to see these things are immature, a little perverted too. The spectators are as ungrown as the gladiators. And both are in some way catharting; in the name of the game, they are throwing their rubbish, they are simply vomiting their violence.”
— Osho

And in a way he is right. The desire to win, which is present in kids games as early as Tag, is a very egoic expression.