How things have changed
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All of us grew up playing games. Some of us played Sports. Many of us played Board games. A few of us were early adopters of Video games. Practically everyone played Card games. I could go on and on but one thing is for sure. I played them all. I didn’t just play them though. I played to win! You see the one thing that was similar about all of the games I played was that they included an opponent. Another person, a few other individuals, or another team that I had to beat. This was one of the main things about games that made them appealing to me. You had a quantifiable way to determine if you were better than someone else. I was naturally competitive so I tended to win more often than I lost. Which made playing games one of my favourite things to do. But what if you were somebody that lost most of the time? Well fortunately for them Video games increased in popularity, and quality as a direct result. Home Video game consoles turned gaming into a solitary affair. Eventually though people began to miss the connection with others they used to have playing games. But how could they get past the inherent competitiveness of it? Along came the current generation of cooperative games. Games that allow a group of people to play together to achieve a common goal. You either win as a team, or all of you lose collectively. It creates a sense of equality that wasn’t present in the games we played as kids.
Congratulations for coming out
It’s commonplace for children’s sports leagues to give every player a trophy at the end of the season. The reason for this is to prevent anyone from feeling less accomplished than anyone else. Some leagues no longer keep score during games. That way there is no winner or loser. Everyone is considered an equal success for having played. Do agree with this new way of thinking? No I don’t, not at all. That’s a whole nother article though, and I won’t go into it now. I’ll just summarize it by saying it’s wrong to make someone feel inept, but it’s equally wrong to marginalize someone else’s talent. I’ll leave it at that. Cooperative games make this new way of thinking unnecessary. The best games require multiple disciplines, and innovative thinking to succeed. In this way they can appeal to many different people. Probably one of the best examples of this is Escape Rooms. I’ve played Escape Rooms that required athleticism, manual dexterity, trivia knowledge, and of course puzzle solving. Just imagine the group of people that would be required to work together as a team to be victorious in that particular Room. Schools should be working towards incorporating extra curricular activities similar to Escape Rooms if they are concerned about all participants feeling valuable.
Kitchen table battleground
Cooperative Board games, and Card games have turned what used to be the family Kitchen table battleground into a friendly cooperative affair. My family played cards when I was a kid, and I could probably give lessons on how to play competitive Crazy 8s, Hearts, or Euchre. A particularly brutal night of cards could lead to me receiving a couple of days of the silent treatment. It also meant that the next family game night wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. What if we were playing a cooperative game instead? If I won it meant we all won. No more jealousy or resentment, just celebration. Games like Escape, Curse of the Temple or if you are feeling really adventurous and have a few hours Gloomhaven are great games to play that require real teamwork to win. The best part is losing only makes the group more determined to win next time, and winning becomes addictive because of the group celebration. You won’t have to wait long no matter what the result was before you get together to play again. I’ve become a real fan of cooperative games because I can approach playing them in a far more relaxed manner. My competitive instincts are still there, but the anxiety that usually goes along with it is gone. I still want to win, but I don’t need to. If you have played anything at a competitive level you’ll know what I mean. The other major bonus that comes with playing cooperative games is finding others to join you is much much easier. Trust me, there was a time that finding someone to play me head to head at Magic the Gathering required a tournament entry. Cooperative games are here to stay, and I am really glad that they are. If you haven’t played one yet. I suggest that you give one a try.
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