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GeneralZorpa on Yugioh
Why I Play
June 30, 2008

It's All In the Beginning
 
In all of the bustle attempting to locate hard to find and expensive cards for Yu-Gi-Oh! I have sort of lost contact with what I decided that I wanted to play the game for, or for any game for that matter. I treat each tournament as if it was as important as the Super Bowl, which helps me to win, but also takes a hefty emotional toll. I get angry at even the slightest failure of my deck, usually due to a failure in my shuffling. I get angry at my friends when I lose, which is a fast way to lose them. In short I am losing everything that I got into the game to gain. I wanted to gain friends, explore new strategies, and just have fun, and I am starting to lose that.
 
I "woke up" in a sense through an odd series of events. My local card shop just started up a Pokemon League for people interested in getting started in the game. I decided to sign up, as a friend of mine was interested and he wanted someone to play around with The catch was that we had to pick a starter deck and ONLY use that deck when playing other people. No collecting, no trading and suddenly the stress of winning was gone. It was just me and my friend playing a game that we loved. It certainly wasn't Yu-Gi-Oh!, but the important part was that I was having fun with a game.
 
Engage!
 
The message here is that we should not lose track of what we got into gaming for in the first place. Whether you play Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon, video games or board games, it is more important that we stay true to ourselves and have fun with the games that we love. Therefore, I devised the following tips to avoid "burning out" playing your game.
 
1) Try and mix it up with your game. If you like to play a certain strategy, mix it up casually every once in a while. I have a Normal deck that I now play, as well as a casual Dinosaur deck. Even though you may love your deck or your character in a game to death, it is still good to mix it up, as playing through a game again, or trying something different for a change will help you to have some more fun, as well as gain experience and knowledge about your game.
 
2) Don't take your game so seriously. Games were invented for fun, and that is the way that they should be played. At my third Regional tournament I was having a ball. And guess what? I made it into the top 8 for the first time and finished 5th. My next Regional I took everything seriously, trying to maximize my success. I didn't break the top 50 in a 70 player tournament.
 
3) Don't try to be like the pros. What works for them might not work for you. Instead you may find yourself taking the game far too seriously trying to compare yourself to a famous gamer. You can take their strategies, but always adapt them for you. This way you keep yourself playing the game your way. By all means this doesn't mean that you should play a deck with your weak but favorite creatures, but only use the traits that the pros use that can help you.
 
4) Try out other games. Wow. This is the big one. Sometimes you get tunnel vision from playing the same game for too long. I know that some people are religiously devoted to their game, but it is still good to try and mix it up. So buy that Pokemon deck and fool around a little. Try playing Halo with your friends in between Magic Regionals. If you can fool around with another game, you release the stress of playing games competitively without giving up the edge that you have with your chosen game(s).
 
This is a short article, but I feel it is necessary for all gamers to realize what is happening to them. IN order to reach me regarding concerns, advice or anything else I am available at raptor1k@hotmail.com , and please put YUGIOH or POJO in your subject, otherwise I may ignore it.
 
Thanx for reading
GZ