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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 9:50PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Feb 10, 2007
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In forcing myself to do a blog post every day, I find that I'm delving deeper into my gamer psyche. I posed this question to myself tonight, and I'd really like to get a range of opinions for a future blog post.
So in terms of casual gaming, why do we like to win?
Or
Why is winning preferred even if we get nothing from it?
You can define casual however you like.
Thanks all!
Here's my shameless plug for my blog. Check it out, you can win stuff on days I don't post! http://rayofpaintstudios.blogspot.com/2013/01/setting-goals-and-giving-swag.html
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 9:55PM
#2
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In casual games, all I care about is my crazy decks working. Usually, that involves winning. So, I suppose I like to win casual games because it means my deck did the cool thing I wanted it to do. However, if my deck does its thing and STILL loses, I'm not really that bothered, since winning isn't my real goal. For example, my necroskitter  deck doesn't win that often, but I can still have fun with it as long as I get to yoink creatures and go crazy with blowfly infestation  . Or getting my vengevine  deck to absolutely explode in 'vines and rootwallas  . So winning is more like a secondary thing attached to my real goal for having fun.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 9:58PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Feb 10, 2007
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So winning is more like a secondary thing attached to my real goal for having fun.
That's a good point. Maybe I should broaden it and ask why you play casually if winning isn't the goal. I'm really curious to see how others treat their casual play.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 12:43AM
#4
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See my post about the 18/18 Drudge Beetle  . I knew I'd lose, but I still got to feed my inner Timmy.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 1:58AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Jul 23, 2003
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See my post about the 18/18 Drudge Beetle . I knew I'd lose, but I still got to feed my inner Timmy.
If this was Facebook, I'd "Like" the hell out of this. As quasi-Spike as I get with EDH, it's still a Timmy format, and I love winning... Or even screwing the board six ways from Sunday before I die.
Scope my YouTube channel!The U.S. Army: The best job in the world, working with some of the best people in the world, for one of the worst employers you could ever imagine. Here's a shout out for Scholars' Books & Games in Bridgewater, MA, and for Paladin's Place in Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany where I was stationed for two years. Support your FLGS! | Attacking the darkness since 1987, turning creatures sideways since 1994. | Billy Goat Gruff in the House of Trolls. |
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 2:45AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Jun 14, 2006
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The goal is ultimately to win. A game is not fun if players are not trying to win. Casual frequently cares more about "how" you win which is something that competitive games don't usually care about.
Don't be too smart to have fun
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 4:41AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Jul 17, 2003
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I play casually for the social aspect of hanging out with the same circle of friends, making dumb jokes. Getting my sillier decks to work is another reason I play casually; having a variety of personal goals along those lines helps: for me this is often tied to how many tokens/how much mana/how many counters/how much life/how much damage I can generate without using infinite tricks. Other times, the goal is more along the lines of piloting a (mostly) tutorless deck until that new single I picked up sees play or trying to defeat a specific deck (every group has a top deck or two they just want to take down). Mostly, though, I play because it is a fun, stress-free environment. Lots of laughter, decent food, occasionally beer, some mental challenges (I seem to be one of few people in my regular circle who can mentally track the mana from a deck that chain-casts Mana Geyser  s and Geosurge  s for some truly mammoth X-spells), unexpected card interactions, and the occasional alternate format (Emperor, Star, 2HG/3HG where EVERYTHING is shared) keep games fresh, fun, and explosive. Besides, there are no MP tourmanents in the area, only duels - and Standard legal, at that. I have 19 years worth of cards, and I want to use all of them. Cheers!
A shout out to Gaming Grounds in Kent, Ohio and Gamers N Geeks in Mobile, Alabama.
www.zombiehunters.org for all your preparation needs.
http://shtfschool.com/ - why prepping is useful, from one who has been there.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 5:48AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Feb 22, 2008
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Becauase winning in any game releases substances in your brain that gives you a pleasant feeling? It is hardly a mystery that the feeling of winning is not related to what you get from winning, but to winning itself. Also, to move beyond the scientific explanation, casual formats allow you to focus more on playing what you find to be fun or silly rather than relying on netdecking what is optimal, or relying on how many mandatory cards you can afford to buy, as is the case in standard, modern, and legacy (even if less so in modern and legacy due to more cards to chose from, still, it is quite telling when you got to a legacy tournament and EVERY SINGLE DECK runs 4 force of will  ). So, you not only get the same satisfaction from winning, but you likely have more fun getting to the win than you would in other formats, and more likely to meet weird, silly, or quirky situations than other formats and on top of it all, losing is less negative if you are not actually losing something, so the overall experience would obviously be positive.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 7:51AM
#9
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Date Joined:
Apr 28, 2012
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Why would you ever play under any circumstances and not on some level try to win? What would be the point? It would be like if your chess strategy was just to make a smiley face on the board with your pieces, it's a waste of both players' time and there are certainly more fruitful ways to draw smiley faces.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 8:03AM
#10
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Date Joined:
Apr 28, 2012
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it is quite telling when you got to a legacy tournament and EVERY SINGLE DECK runs 4 force of will ).
I've played a lot of legacy and that really hasn't been my experience at all. There are a lot of really weird decks in Legacy that hold up pretty well and a lot of the weirdest don't even run Blue.
Force of Will  is certainly GOOD and its existance is essential to the format but I honestly wouldn't even say its particularly powerful when it all comes down to it. The majority of the time when I play it I find I'm actually upset about having to lose the extra card and I have to balance that out in my head against losing the game to come to terms with it. The thing you counter has to be something that will ABSOLUTELY KILL YOU for it to be anything but a waste of cards. Legacy just happens to have a lot of those things coming out in the early game.
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