Jaqui's Guide To Living: Chapter 2

Chapter 2
The Game

I was thinking about “The Game” that we play when we start out a new relationship. And believe you me, I am playing very fast and loose with the term “relationship”. The Game of, “when to text”, “how long to wait before you text back”, “whether to phone”, “whether to compliment the other person”, “whether to request him/her as a friend on Facebook”, “when to ask her/him out”, “where to go on the first date” etc.? Personally I’m not a fan of “The Game” it’s very stressful, there are rules and I’m generally not one to stick with rules. For example there’s the, “wait at least 2 hours before replying to a text message rule”, the “say you’re busy when he asks you out” rule, the “refer to your outfit as ‘this old thing’ when he compliments you” rule. It’s just not my thing at all. In hindsight this may be why I’m so bad at “The Game”.

So thinking about the games that we play I decided to Google it and what I found was much more interesting. I don’t know what I expected to find; maybe something resembling He’s Just Not That Into You. Instead what I found was a reminder that I’ve actually been winning “The Game” for nearly 2 years.

There is a well known psychologist in Hilton (the village where I am from), a man called Barry Tim (Ashrafism). Barry Tim says that if you can sit or stand on a carpet without thinking of polar bears it will be able to fly. However the catch is that you have to have been told about this in order for it to fly. I have not yet been able to make a carpet fly because every time I think about getting it to fly polar bears come flooding into my head. This concept is at the heart of “The Game”. The Game has become a phenomenon and the simple idea is that if you’re thinking about The Game you’ve lost. The rules to The Game are very simple; when you think about it you lose, you then have to announce that you’ve lost The Game otherwise you’re cheating. You have a grace period of 10-30 minutes after you’ve lost where you can think about The Game but once this has passed and you’re thinking about The Game again then you’ve lost... again. People who are not thinking about The Game are winning. However if you’re not playing you can’t win, and you have to be aware of it to be playing. Sounds simple and ridiculous; that’s what I thought.

I first heard about “The Game” in The Metro (a free morning newspaper) but I just glanced over the article so I wasn’t completely aware of the concept in its entirety. I kind of got the gist but didn’t give it much thought. Hence for nearly two years I’ve been winning The Game and up until a few moments ago I was blissfully unaware of how awesome this was. I am bitterly disappointed at my loss and can now think of nothing else but this game that seems so utterly pointless.

Delving into the premise of The Game is deeply fascinating. It’s more than a game, it’s a virus. Each time I lose The Game I have to tell someone that I’ve lost it. This person then either asks me what I’m on about or then admits that they too have just lost. Ultimately everyone will become a loser. The idea behind The Game is make everyone aware that they’re playing it, and the game will only end when everyone knows about its existence. The Metro article that was published in December 2008 was a hoax in order to infect over 3 million people with The Game. Radio stations have infected listeners by announcing that they’ve just lost The Game.YouTube and Facebook have infected millions of people and continue to do so.

It’s been referred to as a “mind virus”. Once you have it you can’t get rid of it and it will continue to spread each time you lose. Since finding out I’ve lost The Game I have told people about it and I’m beginning to feel that it’s now ethically wrong, but the problem is the more I tell people the more I win. My aim is now to infect as many people I can with The Game virus.

At the heart of The Game's success are our channels of communication. What has become apparent is the speed at which information travels, is the key to the longevity of The Game. With the Internet, Social Networking Sites, Mobile Communications, Email etc. The Game can spread globally at speeds that cross boundaries.  So who is safe from The Game and how does one protect oneself from The Game? Postmodernity has dictated that I have had no choice in avoiding The Game. I am infected.

Ironically medical viruses that spread in the 3rd world will largely be spared by The Game. But ultimately the question is, how far will humans go to win The Game and at what cost?