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        Arimaa >> General Discussion >> Musings on the psychology of Arimaa
        
(Message started by: megajester on Apr 10th, 2011, 3:52pm)
Title: Musings on the psychology of Arimaa
Post by megajester on Apr 10th, 2011, 3:52pm
Anybody else who gets really angry with themselves when they lose? To the point where you can sometimes lose the will to play?

Somehow I get the feeling that losing at Arimaa makes me feel stupid more often than losing at chess. Perhaps because I find it easier to lose pieces in stupid ways in Arimaa than in chess. Or maybe it has at least something to do with how Arimaa is more "human"; my mistakes are more obvious in hindsight.

Either way Arimaa is teaching me humility. To be able to enjoy playing the game at all, I have to completely disconnect my ego and tell myself that my purpose is to learn something not win.
Title: Re: Musings on the psychology of Arimaa
Post by Fritzlein on Apr 10th, 2011, 5:30pm
Oh, yeah.  I handle it very badly when I lose at Arimaa.  Like you, I find that the best medicine is telling myself it is about learning and not about winning, but sometimes this isn't enough to calm me down.  :)
Title: Re: Musings on the psychology of Arimaa
Post by ginrunner on Apr 11th, 2011, 1:19am
I lose too often to get too attached to winning I think. I was trying to climb the advanced ladder minus the CC bots. I got to marwin fast and lost way to many in a row (I either make an incredibly dumb mistake, have something like an important phone call or something happen, or just barely lose). ive grown accustomed to losing sadly lol.
Title: Re: Musings on the psychology of Arimaa
Post by Fritzlein on Apr 11th, 2011, 12:17pm
On the topic of learning being more important than winning, this year in the Postal Mixer I am forcing myself to use a different setup in each of my eleven games.  It is easier, and probably better for short-term winning percentage, to pick something I like and get very familiar with it, but in the long run experimentation should make me a more well-rounded player, even if that means losing an extra game or three in the process.
Title: Re: Musings on the psychology of Arimaa
Post by UruramTururam on Apr 11th, 2011, 12:59pm
There is something in that you have already said.

When I lose a game of Arimaa I can rarely blame independent causes (like urgent calls or connection difficulties). Most of the time it simply means I am not good enough. For Postal Mixer I play to win - of course (just not to look for excuses if I lose) - but I hope to learn something as well. And if I need to boost my ego thre are always a few bots to kick their butts.

> ginrunner:
For a long time my nemesis was clueless2006P1 - I learned to recognize some dangerous patterns thanks to those games as well as not to stop focusing just because I'm a piece or two ahead.
Title: Re: Musings on the psychology of Arimaa
Post by RonWeasley on Apr 11th, 2011, 7:18pm
Yes.  I sometimes go for days being afraid to even look at my opponent's move in an owl game, just because it might expose a blunder I just made without realizing it.

The remedy?  1) Remember how much fun it is to figure out a move, even in a losing position.  2) Even chessandgo loses.  Why not me?  3) Think about how good you make the opponent feel if you lose.  4) Even Fritzlein blunders.  Why not your opponent?  5) My rating's too high.  I need to lose to be more honest.  6) Look at a few of jdb's puzzles to convince yourself how hard this game really is.  Therefore winning is random, and therefore shameless.  7) Remember how little it means to *you* when somebody else loses.  In an upset, you congratulate the winner, but nobody obsesses about the opponent.  It's almost like there are no losers.  Except in musical chairs when Crabbe and Goyle punch each other over the last remaining chair, but the chair is cursed and breaks when either of them sits on it, but then it reassembles itself because of the curse and they start fighting again even though the house elves start playing the music again, which is bad because house elves play really bad music because they think wailing at the moon is music, but it's more like giving a bath to a bunch of cats just rescued from the whomping willow.  Almost exactly like that.
Title: Re: Musings on the psychology of Arimaa
Post by omar on Apr 13th, 2011, 10:32pm

on 04/11/11 at 19:18:06, RonWeasley wrote:
Yes.  I sometimes go for days being afraid to even look at my opponent's move in an owl game, just because it might expose a blunder I just made without realizing it.

The remedy?  1) Remember how much fun it is to figure out a move, even in a losing position.  2) Even chessandgo loses.  Why not me?  3) Think about how good you make the opponent feel if you lose.  4) Even Fritzlein blunders.  Why not your opponent?  5) My rating's too high.  I need to lose to be more honest.  6) Look at a few of jdb's puzzles to convince yourself how hard this game really is.  Therefore winning is random, and therefore shameless.  7) Remember how little it means to *you* when somebody else loses.  In an upset, you congratulate the winner, but nobody obsesses about the opponent.  It's almost like there are no losers.  Except in musical chairs when Crabbe and Goyle punch each other over the last remaining chair, but the chair is cursed and breaks when either of them sits on it, but then it reassembles itself because of the curse and they start fighting again even though the house elves start playing the music again, which is bad because house elves play really bad music because they think wailing at the moon is music, but it's more like giving a bath to a bunch of cats just rescued from the whomping willow.  Almost exactly like that.


I really love your humor RW :-) If you add a few more, we can turn this into the list of Ron Weasley's top 10 remedies to recover from a loss.
Title: Re: Musings on the psychology of Arimaa
Post by RonWeasley on Apr 16th, 2011, 2:32pm

on 04/13/11 at 22:32:51, omar wrote:
I really love your humor RW :-) If you add a few more, we can turn this into the list of Ron Weasley's top 10 remedies to recover from a loss.

8) If you win too much, everybody wants you to play Fritzlein.  A slow humiliating control game loss awaits you.  9) If you win too much, everybody wants you to play chessandgo.  An embarassing series of forced tactical loses await you.  10) If you lose, nobody cares if you play me and you can remind yourself you're not a total loser.


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