How to Still Appreciate and Respect Your Games, Even After You’ve Seen Them Naked

My friend and I once derailed a Dungeons & Dragons session for 30 minutes while we argued over whether or nor my wizard could cast a “hold animal” spell against a human.  Geeks, amiright?  My contention was that humans are animals; in fact they are primates, which was one of the categories of “animal” listed in the spell description. His contention was that was not the intent of the rules, evinced by the fact that there was a separate “hold person” spell, in all functionality the same, but explicitly described for use on humans. Who won the argument? Who cares!? The moral of the story is we wasted 30 minutes of our lives and ruined the fun for everyone at the table.

All this was because, when I was younger, I used to obsess over the concept of the “official” rules to a game. It came from growing up in a family culture of vicious Monopoly play and other snide victories in games. Back in those days, the definition of what made you a “good” player had less to do with strategy and more to do with cheap tactics begotten by a better understanding of the rules than the other players had. Winning on technicalities. Winning at all costs, regardless of whether the experience of playing a game was actually any fun. I was very much a “letter of the law” kind of gamer; not so much “spirit of the law.” Really, I was the exact opposite of the kind of gamer I lauded in “There Is No Game.”