Hypography Is A Game(theory) Playground

[Turtle]

___Hi! Do you play Hypography? Well I do, & I wonder how many of you have this approach?
___Either you play, observe, or neither. To play, you must join. Once you start play, a few immediate options arise. An absolute loss is banning or quitting. The wins however seem rather dynamic & slippery, quite contingent in many regards on the goals of the player.
___In my little geometric view of this, each post is a play or "move" if you will & you may move as often as you wish. All manner of strategies present themselves in reagrd to a goal & the diverse unanticipateable plays of other gamers.
___Anyway, watercooler stuff; do You play Hypography? How (or is it secret)?

[infamous]

Originally Posted by Turtle

___
___Anyway, watercooler stuff; do You play Hypography? How (or is it secret)?

Yes Turtle, I play the game of Hypography. Best game in town, and I don't lose a lot of money in the process. But truly, I'm not much of a gambler any way. I play because people really amuse me sometimes. And I'm not saying that to make light of their intelligence or their motives. The reactions you get from others are almost always a surprise, I just like surprises.

[Turtle]

___Ok, that's a start. So in playing "just for amusement", is it fair to say you play not to win (or loose) but only to draw? This is assuming of course you have set but one goal, i.e. only one condition for winning or drawing.
___I stipulate loosing is technically a goal, but as it is easy to intentionally loose with a single move, I deem it trivial in the sense of not meriting a discussion of different loosing strategies. (Unless someone wants to debate that! )
___You just want my secrets first hey? OK, but just 1 to start things rolling: I apply a strategy of keeping my moves no longer than the space in the standard edit box.
___Others?

[IrishEyes]

I love to play!
I play to win, but also for everyone else to win.
I like to try to keep up with the Updated topics threads, but I only comment if I really have something to say. People that feel the need to comment on every single post are very annoying to me. I'm also not big on one-line answers, they tend to annoy me as well.
A "win" to me is at least one very good post every day, one post where someone says "thanks, you made me think about that in a new way" or a post where I actually get to help someone. That's a real 'win'.
A 'lose' for me is having to moderate a thread, or having to reprimand a member for something. That makes me feel like I have failed, because I just think that everyone should be nice to each other. However, if I have to do it, I try to be as tactful as possbile. Sometimes I even succeed.
And I like to use the quick reply box, just to curb the urge to click on too many smileys. Overuse of emoticons gets annoying as well, and this way, I only use the ones I remember (which isn't very many!).

[rockytriton]

Yes I play, but I'm only a casual player, the goal is to educate the masses on science. But uhoh! watch out for that pesky bible thumper, he will try to thwart your plans to educate by hitting people over the head with his bible and make crazy claims using only his book that his parents gave him for proof. But seriously, keeping a balance between science and spirituality is a challenge, it's just too bad that a few bad eggs on the religion side end up being the voice of the spiritual community.

[Turtle]

___Very nice. We now have introduced the concept of "opponent" to our game. Perhaps one thinks "opponent" always means "player", but for me, the game itself is the opponent. I play against the game, not the other players.
___It is clearly the case from the new comments that a player may take up an alliance with the game & so "opponentize" themselves. My strategy in this case is based on the particular player opposing me by alliance with the game; anywhere from ignoring them (because they have no perceived power in the game), to disarming their power by logic or humor.
___The game is afoot.

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by Turtle

...We now have introduced the concept of "opponent" to our game...

In game theory of course, cooperation can be a highly effective strategy... until of course it becomes popular to engage in self-serving destruction ("the firstest with the mostest"): this can be a dangerous strategy with hefty costs, although its always possible to wallow in victimology if you play this strategy and lose.

The other key element is the roll of the dice (sorry, "probability cubes"!): What's gonna be in the last 10 posts list when you hit the portal page? Is it deterministic? What factors are involved? Can you beat the "house?"

Strategically tactical,
Buffy

[pgrmdave]

I play, and I try to 'win', by learning and teaching. Like Irish said, when I can either read a post that changes how I think, or I can make a post that changes how somebody else thinks, I have 'won'.

Question: as an administrator, am I part of the 'house'? Am I part of 'the game'?

[C1ay]

I play to share. My reason is probably misunderstood though. I find the general media and news reporting mostly a biased and twisted effort to pass on man's pitfalls and tragedy. Mostly the media tries to see who can capture a glance from the most rubber-neckers. I choose to seek out man's accomplishments and discoveries though, and share them with somebody like my fellow Hypographers

[Buffy]

I play to win friends, and influence people!

Carnegiesque,
Buffy