Selfless Go

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This page seeks to apply the Zen theory of Nonself to the activity of Go.

This page is part of both The Zen Way to Go and the Mentality Path.

Selfish Go

In a game of selfish Go, the players try to win, because they want to win. This desire imposes the Self upon the game.

Selfless Go

In selfless Go, the players try to win, because they are playing Go. The game of Go requires us to make the best moves we can, and thus trying to win is inherent in the game. Thus, in Selfless Go, no Self (specifically, desire to win) is imposed upon the game.

Alex: This is actually an argument I have with people a lot, particularly people who don't play many games. They often ask me why I take games (not just Go) so seriously, why I seem so fixated on winning, and why I get annoyed or angry with people who make bad moves "for fun", or make their allegiances in multiplayer games based on real-life loyalties rather than on what they believe to give them the best chance of winning.

These people often mistake this attitude I have for egotism or hyper-competitiveness. I don't deny that I'm an egotist and occasionally a bit too competitive, but those personality features/flaws aren't to blame in this case. Rather, it's a principle of my philosophy that (most) games are designed with the idea in mind that players will try to win, not to validate themselves as people, but because that's the point of the game. If you aren't going to do whatever you can (within the limits of the rules of the game and your own ability) to win, why play?

It's immature to be unable to enjoy a game if you don't win. However, that shouldn't be confused with the much more sensible attitude that, to enjoy a game, you must be TRYING to win. Losing a hard-fought battle to a superior opponent is, for me anyway, way more enjoyable than winning sloppily against an inferior one.


Page Created by Jared in September of 2004


Path: MentalityPath   · Prev: TheZenWayToGo   · Next: AZenWayToJoseki
This is a copy of the living page "Selfless Go" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2005 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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