On 4/5/07, miyu <xmiyux@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I do however feel that it would be a losing battle to get kids to enjoy a game where there is no competition nor sense of struggle against a greater "enemy." It seems like it would go against our very biological drive territoriality and competition.
I think games require opposition. If it's not me-vs-you it's us-vs-them. That's what games are. Anything else is better categorized as an exercise or a puzzle. If you want to teach kids to work together AND ONLY together, have them build or design something (like, maybe, a game). That kind of collaboration is definitely a positive life skill.
This alone runs contrary to much of our culture and is anathema to the very basis of our sports consumed by the general public.
Sports, in pure and proper form, are not adversarial. The true object is the joy of playing. Has that theme been culturally subverted? Depends who you ask. I think it's too easy to fall into the trap of believing that the athletes (and there, as you put it, deification) is somehow a symptom of their own narcissism and drive to prove their superiority. I would counter with a belief that that perception is less caused by the athlete's actions and more by the league managers and other suits behind the action. But that's getting off topic. My point: competition, in and of itself, is not bad or wrong or a path to violence. Competition, done right, is fun. Too often however, it is conflated with a much deeper opposition. Once the competition goes beyond the game, it's not fun anymore. I read, years ago now, a paper on how boys are socialized to understand and accept "friendly competition" much more easily than girls. You can be on the other team in kick ball, but we're still best friends. Girls, apparently, according to some study I can no longer recall, are socialized to an all-or-nothing point of view of friendship and competition. To reuse the same analogy, if you're on the other team in kick ball, you are my enemy in all things. The truth is probably less extreme, but I've notice elements of this in real life, even among adults. Boys/men will fight and get over it while girls/women will fight and stay mad much, much longer. I think I'm rambling. Anyway, food for thought. -- - |) () /\/