When do you draw a line? It really irritates me that whenever i play a sport (whether it is basketball, volleyball or whatever) in a recreational settings, people who suck always think we should be playing for fun and not to win. WTF?
If smashing the ball in their faces and winning is “fun” for you, there is obviously no line. Tell them that they are indeed being competitive, just that they are competing to have the most fun or to be the most noncompetitive. Do not be fooled.
since when is playing to lose fun?
Winning is part of the fun, but even if you lose, isn’t it better if it’s still a positive experience?
show me a person who likes to lose, and I will show you a LOSER
No, I mean the losing itself is not fun, but the fun of playing should offset the un-fun of losing, resulting in net positive experience.
There is nothing fun about losing.
ohai Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > No, I mean the losing itself is not fun, but the > fun of playing should offset the un-fun of losing, > resulting in net positive experience. Maybe it “should”, but it doesn’t.
It’s not playing if it isn’t fun. So just make sure if you’re going to send someone to the hospital that they know it isn’t for fun. And make sure you play little kids. It’s easier to win that way, so you drive your stats up for when you’re talking to other people. In real life, you want a “play game” to be challenging enough that you aren’t bored by playing, but also engaging enough that there actually is some uncertainty in the outcome of who is going to win.
mar350 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > since when is playing to lose fun? I get what CSK is saying, for instance, when we play open hockey sessions, we don’t keep score. It’s more backyardish. I think it’s just generally acceptable to play more competitively the better you are. It’s directly correlated to your skill level. While it’s annoying when those two factors get misaligned, the best you can do is just find guys who are at the level you want to be playing at and happy there. Then you tend to get a pretty homeogeneous balance.
ohai Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Winning is part of the fun, but even if you lose, > isn’t it better if it’s still a positive > experience? What is a ‘positive experience’. Also, what satisfaction do you get from playing if are constantly losing/looking terrible/can’t even make basic plays?
Joy of the game man, depends on the company. If you’re out with a bunch of tool bags then sure, if you’re not playing well enough to let yourself feel superior to someone else you’re out of luck since the company sucks too. But if you really enjoy the sport and are playing with people who’re all friends, it can be a blast. When I started whitewater kayaking, I blew chunks, but still enjoyed the days out on the river and hanging with the water people. I’ll never be a competitive runner, but again, I still enjoy the experience and hanging out with the fast guys before the races and for the first 30 seconds after the start. Rock climbing, same general thing. It’s definitely possible to just have a lot of fun challenging yourself without having to benchmark it. I mean, what I love most about ice hockey is just the feeling of moving smoothly at high speed and the feeling of the cold air as I swoop in on a puck. Simple as that.
Here is the phenomenon I think you are describing, specifically to competitive contests (not snowboarding, rec running, rec biking, etc.): 4 Possible Combinations: 1) You suck and try hard. You are able to fail without being embarrassed or beaten down because you are going to try again until get better. 2) You are good and try hard. It is fun to be invested in the game because you usually win. 3) You suck and don’t try. This is usually because failing is tough for some people to accept so if they remove their investment in the game as a serious competitor they do not have to face failure. They can say they weren’t really trying. 4) You are good and don’t try. Maybe you don’t want to embarrass the other person, or maybe you used to suck and still think you suck so you don’t want to try (stuck in bucket 3, above).
it really depends what you’re doing, but i think the basic guage should be level of effort. when i play sports with friends its really not fun if they’re terrible and don’t try. the most fun you can have is if you can find someone, or a group, at the same skill level so you’re constantly pushing and pulling each other in a competitive game. the best example i can think of is a simple game of h-o-r-s-e. you don’t have to be an nba calliber player to come up with creative shots. you just have to put the effort into making the game fun.
comp_sci_kid Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- >people who suck always > think we should be playing for fun and not to > win. > > WTF? I hate the people that suck who are playing hard. They’re fat, foul on every trip down the court, double dribble every time they touch the ball and try to go for rebounds like they are the combination or Rodman and Barkley while throwing elbows. Listen, we all want to win but if you don’t know how to play, dial it back a little until you figure it out.
Black Swan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Joy of the game man, depends on the company. If > you’re out with a bunch of tool bags then sure, if > you’re not playing well enough to let yourself > feel superior to someone else you’re out of luck > since the company sucks too. But if you really > enjoy the sport and are playing with people who’re > all friends, it can be a blast. When I started > whitewater kayaking, I blew chunks, but still > enjoyed the days out on the river and hanging with > the water people. I’ll never be a competitive > runner, but again, I still enjoy the experience > and hanging out with the fast guys before the > races and for the first 30 seconds after the > start. Rock climbing, same general thing. It’s > definitely possible to just have a lot of fun > challenging yourself without having to benchmark > it. I mean, what I love most about ice hockey is > just the feeling of moving smoothly at high speed > and the feeling of the cold air as I swoop in on a > puck. Simple as that. Black Swan, i get what you are saying but here is a problem. You are not talking about team sports. I am. Especially about Volleyball. What makes Volleyball so unique is that even 1 person on your team is terrible, your entire teams suffers enormously. In basketball you just don’t pass the ball to the sucker, but in volleyball it is very hard. One bad person can ruin your entire game and experience.
murders&executions Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > comp_sci_kid Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > >people who suck always > > think we should be playing for fun and not to > > win. > > > > WTF? > > > I hate the people that suck who are playing hard. > They’re fat, foul on every trip down the court, > double dribble every time they touch the ball and > try to go for rebounds like they are the > combination or Rodman and Barkley while throwing > elbows. > > Listen, we all want to win but if you don’t know > how to play, dial it back a little until you > figure it out. Trying hard and playing hard are different things, but i concur, you have to understand when you suck and maybe you should just be a lone on the court and practice those lay-ups instead of ruining a good pick up game
Just be like Brett Favre. Play like a kid, have fun, and be a loser.
Well obviously, I would not want to play basketball every day with Kobe Bryant and get destroyed. This would not be fun for me or for Kobe. However, if I were to play tennis regularly with my buddy who is a bit better than me and usually wins, that might still be fun. Like Black Swan says, the company is pretty important. Besides playing tennis, we are also hanging out and can talk about things like which of shefa or MiserableLawStdnt we would rather bang.
I think you should play seriously, but not really be concerned about winning, I would rather play technically well and lose.