wedrifid comments on Rationality quotes: October 2010 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Morendil 05 October 2010 11:38AM

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Comment author: wedrifid 19 December 2010 02:47:42AM 2 points [-]

Are the rules of ... hopscotch right or wrong?

Wrong. It's an idiotic game. Makes no sense at all.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 19 December 2010 09:01:19AM *  1 point [-]

Eh? On looking it up [1], it seems about as sensible as any other children's game. It encourages dexterity and fitness, it's spontaneously played by children, and it only needs a stick of chalk and a pebble. Whence this burst of antipathy to a game mentioned only in passing?

[1] It was played when I was a boy, but in the culture I grew up in, it was exclusively a girls' game. I never figured out what the rules were just from seeing it played in the street.

Comment author: HonoreDB 19 December 2010 09:25:06AM 2 points [-]

You know what children's game is wrong? Elbow Tag. It requires a large group, but at any given moment, only two people are actually playing. If the chasee is faster than the chaser, there is an equilibrium state that lasts until the chasee has mercy on the rest of the group and voluntarily lets someone else play...but even if that happens, since the new chasee is rested and the chaser is the same, you're normally back in the same boat.

Ugh. I have no idea what wedrifid has against hopscotch, but I empathize with the sentiment.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 19 December 2010 10:35:50AM *  0 points [-]

there is an equilibrium state that lasts until the chasee has mercy on the rest of the group and voluntarily lets someone else play

So the game teaches how to have cooperative fun. This is a feature, not a bug.

Comment author: wedrifid 19 December 2010 11:46:29AM *  1 point [-]

It sounds like it is a game that mostly allows people to demonstrate superior status by proving how inconsiderate of others they can get away with being. I consider that a bug. I have more respect for games in which people can gain status by proving how skilled they are at said game. (There are other ways to flaunt the ability to be inconsiderate and attention seeking that don't waste game playing time.)

Comment author: HonoreDB 19 December 2010 11:28:50AM 0 points [-]

Don't all games do that?

Comment author: RichardKennaway 19 December 2010 11:32:31AM *  0 points [-]

Don't all games do that?

As does life itself. But different situations teach different aspects of a lesson in different ways.