Life is more like Tetris than Chess

I guess I'll be the one to add the old classic (which I'm sure the author intentionally left out): "In Tetris, just as in life, it is your mistakes that pile up while your accomplishments disappear."

I was going to come on here and maybe write something clever, or something from a different angle. Then I saw the responses that were already here. A few fun snarks, and the rest? Lots of criticism, and some outright ridicule.

So much for not challenging yourself.

Just before my 30s, I was getting knee deep in learning about strategic thinking. The art of making decisions in the unknown. All about Sun Tzu, Musashi, Col. John Boyd. Maneuver warfare. Stacking things up, eliminating the opponent's means to win ... and the will to win. Tried to apply it in Go, and in my martial arts.

Sometime in my early 30s, I found myself in the middle of a spiritual quest. The things that this guy is saying were one of the many themes that I had learned during that journey. The metaphor that clicked for me wasn't tetris, it was mountain climbing. The only person you are challenging is yourself. I had noticed everything this author had said -- inventing difficulties to feel that sense of victory.

I learned the difference between winning by prevailing and winning by making the other guy lose. And yeah, in the end, you play to play.

There's nothing wrong with voluntarily stepping up to greater challenges. However, it's one thing to do that with eyes clear and mind open, and another to do it to make it seem as if you were fighting some big monster, when ... that's not the case.

I don't play too many games these days. My meditation practices are far more demanding and challenging than most games.

And sometimes it's hatetris http://qntm.org/files/hatetris/hatetris.html, the tetris that hates you.

Life is like http://agar.io - Everything about that game has a parallel concept in real life.

It teaches you about society, luck, greed, injustice, wealth, collaboration, risk, power, companies vs startups, etc...

If I had to have a bible to teach me about life, that game would be it.

I prefer chess to Tetris. I like a clear goal, something achievable in a short time span. I like something where I have to think. I don't like shooter games (or Tetris): I mean, what's the point? Has chess improved my thinking skills in other areas such as mathematics. I don't think so. So, as I type this, I am trying to work out why I like chess. Some reasons: I have some friends who also like to play, so it provides an impetus for us to get together. I have got better as I got older. I have given it away a number of times, principally because of work commitments or because other entertainments such as bridge (the card game) has captured my interest. But as I mentioned, I have got better as I got older. This is a source of satisfaction. My sporting abilities have very obviously got worse (or become nonexistent), so it encourages me to find I am getting better at some things. I am sixty now and could easily beat both my 16 year old self and my 30 year old self. Just writing that perks me up.

>If you played Tetris at the slowest possible speed for the rest of your life, you could possibly never lose. The only enemy would be fatigue. But the algorithm for beating Tetris is not complicated, and you have plenty of time to move the pieces to their optimal locations.

I believe this is inaccurate. If you play long enough, you always lose. Proof: You cannot cleanly make lines with only s-pieces. If you assume a random distribution of pieces, you eventually get a string of s-pieces long enough to exhaust the game board, though you can keep it going for a very long time.

I would like to hear this uncomplicated algorithm for beating tetris.

funny that. my analogy was always more toward backgammon because it requires both luck by the dice and strategy

This calls for game of http://blockbattle.net/, where tetris IS like chess.

Life is more like backgammon than chess, imo.

The two main lessons that stuck with me from chess: "When you see a good move, look for a better one" were always the first words out of my coach's mouth, and that not looking at things from the other person's perspective is asking for punishment.

I would have loved to hear how Tetris is more like the author's life than chess, rather than hear about how my life is more like Tetris than chess.

The only winning move is not to play?

Great platitudes! This is either slightly better than a buzzfeed listicle or worse by polluting the collective human consciousness understanding of what life is like.

It shows lack of perspective to try describe existence and life in terms of a game. Read some god damn existentialist or absurdist literature you half-baked philosophical caveman.

I welcome any repartee from the filthy plutocrat lapdogs!