“Only Losers Care About Winning”

I’m not talking about my time playtesting my work at Multimedia Games. This is about what I learned with a controller in my hands. When I was younger, I played video games every week. For a time, I even wanted to be a game developer. Though I rarely play video games anymore, I had a ton of fun and learned a few things.

StarCraft: Brood War, one of my favorite games. (Source)

1. Work before Play

When I was young, I played StarCraft over the Internet. It was wonderfully fun, but you needed other players to be online at the same time. The servers were pretty quiet before 4pm, so I learned to do my chores (which were eventually unavoidable) earlier in the day. This let me devote more time to StarCraft in the evenings.

2. Can’t Win Alone

Later, when I played League of Legends, I found it difficult to “carry” the team to victory by myself. Sometimes, when we performed terribly, some players would angrily blame the other team members. I thought it was a better idea to keep a good attitude and encourage my teammates. After all, I can’t win alone.

3. Diamonds Don’t Matter

Only losers care about winning. No matter how great you think you are at a game, you will eventually stop playing it. You can be a “diamond tier” player, but outside of the video game, your rank doesn’t matter. I aim to win, but if I lose, I don’t care. It was a fun experience either way.

Have you ever learned anything by playing games?