C. Thi Nguyen

So striving play is when you're trying to win, not because winning is valuable, but because you want something about the process.

And I think it's really clear.

I think

Party games make this particularly clear.

Because when you have your friends over, unless you're a complete asshole, if you try to win, but you lose, and you all had a great time, you don't think the evening has been wasted, right?

So I think the crucial thing here is to understand the structure of games.

You have to understand that for some people, winning...

is the purpose.

Their goal and purpose are one.

If they just want to win, they just want to win.

But for some of us, I rock climb to clear my mind.

And what's interesting is I cannot clear my mind by trying to clear my mind.

So the philosophers have a name for this.

This is a self-effacing end.

You cannot clear your mind by trying to clear your mind.

What's interesting is you try to clear your mind by trying to climb the rock as hard as you can and forgetting that you're trying to clear your mind, right?

It's like falling asleep.

Exactly.

And similarly with party games, one of the worst way to make a bunch of people chill and relax is to shout at them, now it's time to be chill and relaxed.

And one of the interesting features of humanities, you can give people a dumb party game