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From Game To Gambit
From Game To Gambit
Game
to
Gambit
The
Abstract :
Cheating in Games is as old as the games have ever existed in the human civilization. As Game design students
we were exposed to themes like Society and Play and Dishonest Behaviors . It was interesting to look
upon games as the reflection of the society and the propagandas that are addressed through games . I was intrigued when I started looking the world through game psychology ; where the world appeared as Poker game ,
the current life struggle as game play , the social order as the rules , the Humans with great ambitions as Players
who would like to win a game irrespective of their circumstances. It was thus not difficult to find notorious act
of cheating akin to the Gambits that are deployed by the clever lot to attain unfair advantage in the real world.
The Colloquium paper thus tries explores Gamesmanship as a behavioral phenomenon and the decision making by individuals through Gambits in different genres .
The
Background:
The Great Indian Civilization officially dates back to
3300 BC , however different organizations have tried
to establish it even older then the accepted norms
and with every research that takes place , and predates the continuous living Indian civilization. Agriculture brought several changes to the Indian society. The social setup changed from a Nomadic social
order to a civilized world and hence recreational
activities too were re-defined in the new social order and Games played an important part to provide
recreational activities in the ancient era. Many of the
prominent games that are played in the world are the
gift of Indian civilization to the world. There have
been cosmetic changes in these games to adapt the
societies where they spread however the core game
play has always remained the same. These games if
analyzed would give us great information about the
social order of the world.
The early man who was predominately a hunter ,
lived in the awe of uncertainty for his life and for his
prey. Irony was , the Hunter was the prey by himself
. This would have perhaps made Hunting as the first
ever game in the History of human race where survival of the fittest would have been the norm. Just
as in a game , where players evolve , improvise on
their skills and modify their strategy , the creatures
of those early times would have evolved to survive in
those harsh times to keep pace of the worlds brutal
game of Hunting.
What
is
Cheating :
Cheating defined in simple words is the tampering
of rules to gain unfair lead in a competitive scenario.
Cheating thus is an act of dishonest behavior which
challenges the fair code of conduct . Cheating as a
phenomenon is thus meant to attain preference over
existing completion through an unfair criterion. The
code of conduct under question may be explicit or
might be left on individuals morality based upon the
moral conduct as demarcated by the contemporary
society. Cheating has thus evolved as an act which
whose influence can be felt across all the genres that
involves competitive behavior.
Gaming the System is an offshoot of cheating that
derives its soul from the error or the exception in
the rules , the gap that has been thus created which
allows misconduct by the errant to practice actions
that can lead to unfavorable outcomes though yet
approved under the social order. The act of gaming
the system leads to the phenomenon of Gamesmanship.
Gamesmanship is term derived as opposed Sportsmanship. The Term Gamesmanship takes into account where the player is motivated to play a game
with an intense spirit to win where the true spirit of
instant victory supersedes the spirit of enjoying and
mastering a game through sheer practice. The Phenomenon of gamesmanship therefore employs dubious measures though they are not Illegal but pushing the rules to the grey areas of the game to achieve
desired end .The simplest game of Akkad bakad
bambe bo played by the Kids in the Indian subcontinent , where children would intentionally add a
word or shall skip their favorite friend in the game to
avoid getting out of the game is the simplest example of the Gamesmanship as experienced in the kids.
Gamesmanship,
Motivation factors
and
Gambits deployed :
Unsportmanship : Such players follow rules
, but also violate some unclear rules . These players
have great desire to win. Thus the Gambits deployed
by such individuals are within the premises of the
social system
The Cheat : Such players secretly break the
core rules of the game. These players too have great
desire to win. The Gambits deployed by such individuals work on bending the social norms as demarcated by the social system.
The Spoil spot : Such player neither follows
the rule nor has any desire to win. A gambit deployed
by such players is help the other players to cheat and
to provide him with undue advantage or merely to
frustrate a dedicated player. The acts of spoil spot are
difficult to trace as he acts like the brain and doesnt
physically breaks the rules , these acts too are therefore within the vicinity of social order.
The
Mythological
Gambit :
The War of Mahabharata is a vivid example where
the war is a game and the established moral code for
warriors is akin to the rules , the warriors in the Mahabharata are akin to the players that posses great
ambitious pursuit and the desire to win at all odds
lead them to break the warrior code.
In the war of Mahabharata, Krishna vows on not to
wield weapons during the war. Understanding that
Pandavas will deal with ethical dilemma of fighting
with their family members that comprised some of
the best warriors of their time. The war would thus
not be easy for the Pandavas . Therefore Krishna ,
cleverly finds a loophole in his own vow so that he
can available for his beloved Pandavas during the
war. Krishna thus accepts to play the role of charioteer for Arjuna where he shall be continuously
available for his guidance and motivation. Again
on the 9th day of the war , Krishna rushes with the
wheel of a fallen chariot against the Bhishma where
Arjuna reminds him of his vow of not to wield weapons where it is cleverly represented that Wheel of
the chariot is not a weapon.
Thus both the acts of Krishna to become a Charioteer or using Chariot wheel as a weapon can be taken as mere references of dishonest behavior and the
Gambits which yet take care of the social order or
the rules of the war.
Krishna predicts that it would be difficult to win the
war as long Bhisma was fighting in the war against
the Pandavas .Krishna again cleverly proposes a
strategy of placing a eunuch in the field to face Bhisma which is against a loophole in the warrior code
of not to attack an eunuch . Krishna further helps
Arjuna to slain Jaydratha before the sunset by using his Sudarshana Chakra by covering the sun and
faking it as sunset which thus finally helped Arjuna
in fulfilling his promise. Krishna was also instrumental in deploying the way strategy which could
be deployed in the Night and asks Bhisma to summon Ghatotkacha , his son from the Rakshasa clan.
This forces Karna to use the weapon on Ghatotkacha
which he had intentionally saved to slay Arjuna.
The
Economical
Gambits :
The
Political
Gambit :
Culture of Fear is a similar phenomenon of dishonest behavior of inciting fear in common masses to
achieve political goal. Such a practice is often used
by the politicians and leaders to reunite masses in
their favor and projecting themselves as the leader
in such projected fearful situations. The Prominent
stories of Blood Libel have been used against Jews
to prosecute Jews since Christianity established its
roots in Europe. The Blood libels accuse Jews of kidnapping and murdering young Christian children
and using their blood for the baking of matzos. The
similar fear culture was exploited by Hitler during
the II nd world war two and inciting mass prosecutions against Jews and projecting himself as the leader of German masses. United States of America and
Europe too have justified numerous policies against
minorities exploiting the Culture of fear in the aftermaths of collapse of world trade centre.
The Principle of Moral hazards in economics further talks about high risk that an individual would
take in a certain situation when a different party
shall bear the impact of the risk in the negative aftermaths of the event. The partition of India under the
Imperial British regime and the Bhopal Gas Tragedy
by Union Carbide India limited are such cases where
the aftermaths of these events have been burdened
by the common masses and not by the risk takers.
The unpopular US subprime crisis too have been
the results of the moral hazards.
The Biblical Parable of The Good Samaritan as
mentioned in the New Testament is again one such
philosophy which questions on the noble cause of
charity. The Philosophy brings forward an ideology
of eradicating charity due to the selfish nature of Human beings. Under a given condition of Charity the
receiver shall act either utilize the charity to get better off his current situation or under the assurance
is likely to rely on the charity as his tool for survival.
The Ideology was again bring into use by the economist James M. Buchanan where such an ideology
promotes fair competition under capitalism where
people work for their own upliftment and thus contributing to the nations wealth against the core state
ideologies of communism and socialism where the
subsidies and states policies are considered equivalent to charity
A Filibuster is a parliamentary procedure where debate over a proposed piece of legislation is extended,
allowing one or more members to delay or entirely
prevent a vote on the proposal. It is sometimes referred to as talking out a bill or talking a bill to death
.In the parliamentary procedure of Filibuster , where
a sly member would extend his speech for hours to
avoid other members to prevent voting on a certain
bill which is considered mandatory. The word is derived from Dutch word vrijbuiter which is akin to
privateer , a similar term is also described in English as Freebooter. The first such act of filibuster is
known to have been practiced by the Roman senator
Cato who prolonged his speech till nightfall to block
Julius Caesars petition of In absentia before the
senate. In Europe where such acts were yet popular ,
no wonder British had learnt some bitter lessons till
the time they arrived in India as colonial power and
hence therefore kept the right of closure of such debates at the discretion of the speaker. Such power till
date is considered as the discretionary power of the
Speaker in Lok Sabha.
The
Cultural
Gambit :
The
Corporate
Gambit :
Policy based evidence making is a dishonest practice utilized by corporates where a research project is
commissioned that can conclude the findings in favor of a policy that has already been secretly planned
and has been prepared to be implemented in the future. The ideology of the practice is to find evidences that can create a platform for the already planned
policy to seek public acceptance .
The
Legal
Gambit :
SLAPP , Strategic lawsuit against public participation is a dishonest legal practice which aims at censoring and silencing the critics by imposing them
with the expenses of legal defense until they give up
their criticism in the respective case.Normally the
Plaintiff in SLAPP cases are not expected to win the
legal suite but at aim inducing the defendant from
the criticism by bearing the cost of the lawsuit due to
the fear of loss of prestige and goodwill is often considered as a legal threat but has yet existed as lawsuit
to facilitate justice to those who would otherwise
will not be able to afford justice due to high fee incurred in the legal procedures.
The
Conclusion :
The virtual world of Games and the real world of Gambits have much in common. Understanding the real
world of Gambits through games has been an old phenomenon. Attempts have been made to connect the dots
between the real world of Gambits and the virtual world of games to simplify complex phenomenon of Gamesmanship and cheating styles that exist in the contemporary world.
The
Bibliography :
1.
2.
3.
The Books
Rules of Play by Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen
Culture of Fear by Garry Glassner
Science of fear by Daniel Gardener
4.
5.
6.
Article
Rules do not make Ram by Devdut Patnaik
Websites
7.
www.softpanorama.org
8. www.quora.com/which-are-the-best-filibusters-in-history
Blogs
9. https://truthabouthinduism.wordpress.com
10. https://tportis.wordpress.com
Acknowledgement:
The Paper would not have been possible without the continued support of Mr. Mihir Bholey ,my Guide Mr.
Shekhar Bhattacharya , and Mr. Sajith Gopinath Coordinator Toy & Game Design at National Institute of
Design
I would further like to thank Mr. Sudarshan Khanna , Educationist and Play design expert , Mr. Jai Sharda
Financial Expert and Economist and Mr. Shailesh Prabhu - CEO , Yellow Monkey Designs who helps me
pick up valuable pointers of Gamesmanship and subversion behavior from across the Genres and establish the
connection between Games and Gambits.
I would also like to thank my seniors , batch mates and friends for their curiosity and patience and helping me
look across genres and helping me arrive at logical conclusions after every discussion which helped me edit the
text of this paper to a meaningful result.