[nsim]

I can relate.

This also made me think of this article Are you playing to win or playing to play (https://commoncog.com/playing-to-play-playing-to-win/) which is about doing things that aren't necessary to achieve the goal, but which you do to feel like you've done it right (as opposed to objectively doing it right).

An example from the article is someone who doesn't want to win at Street Fighter using throws, because they are seen as cheap: "Throwing violates the rules in their heads even though it doesn't violate any actual game rule"

Saving you potions feels like a rule derived from efficiency or frugality, trading off leveraging the resources you have.

Lots of mind traps here.

[davedx]

Yeah me and my friends had endless arguments about throws in SF2. Not just the throws but how they were done: jump with heavy kick timed to keep them blocked into a throw was cheap; walking quickly into them to throw wasn’t. Bizarre how complicated our notions of “fairness” can be.

We played that game (and its many sequels) to death…