One of my favorite things to do is to watch sports and games that I know nothing about. I do this because I believe that there are principal values that tie all games together and that by understanding these values we can more rapidly come to understand, spectate, and even design competitive sports and games. When it comes to my favorite variety of game, the decision-making contest, the unifying thread is strategy.
Strategy is the universal language of games in which Tactics are the words. It’s a complicated language. Every move you make in a game is a tactic and every tactic is a communication, voluntary or involuntary. To master strategy is to become fluent in that language. New games provide new dialects as each game encourages unique and different tactics. Understanding strategy is how we come to understand games and sports we’re unfamiliar with; which in turn makes us better spectators, players, and overall participants in sports and e-sports culture.
In exploring the essence of strategy I want to create a bridge of understanding for hobbyists, gamers, and sports fans so that we can better appreciate the games we love and learn appreciation for games we don’t.
