I've been playing fantasy football this year and it's brought to mind two things. One, it's hard to play games where I don't have any control over the outcome. More about that another time. The second problem is that I can lose (and, in fact, have lost a number of times). Our gaming tradition is founded on competitive play where there is a winner and there are losers. Video games, especially single-player games, introduce a new dynamic. The competition is the game itself; and, with a little effort and dedication, the player can always "win."

I was playing Dragon Age: Origins the other day and I reached an especially difficult battle. I failed several times. Eventually, I was forced to dial down the difficulty, beat the bad guys, and continue on my way. Failure did not result in me losing, it was just a temporary setback on my way toward eventually winning by beating the game. I like this model much better than competitive gaming. I don't usually play online because there are winners and losers and I don't much like losing. Online co-operative play (as in Burnout Paradise or Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2) is a lot of fun. Even when I'm playing with my kids, I'd rather play LEGO Batman than Super Smash Bros.

I don't know if there's any deeper meaning to this. I just don't like to lose.