Chapter 14 Advisory
A female teacher walks up to the whiteboard.
"This is a one on one period where you can contact teachers and catch up on homework. There are a lot of resources here and this is the time to do so. I'll be sitting here if you need anything."
Looks around and sees groups of students congregating. Some pull out cards, other books, one group gossips on their phones, and Marconi heads over to the techie/gaming corner.
A kid with thick glasses is in the middle of it and he has an older portable gaming controller. He plays alone, but he's in the center of the group. Marconi and other fellow gamers and techies head over. There's a sizable group carrying laptops, mouses, cords, and usbs. There are quite a few games going on and Marconi joins in.
Marconi plays competitive Tetris with a few groups and it gets quite tense as Marconi waits for that horizontal block that always never seems to come when you want it. Then the kid with thick glasses starts to join in. He performs ok, but overall he's pretty weak. On his old gaming device are blocks of thick text.
Marconi approaches him as his actions are slow and peculiar for a gamer. He performs irrational and non optimal strategies in his eyes.
In Tetris he clearly discards the horizontal block, in card games he holds onto certain cards longer than its value, and sometimes he seems to want to try to lose.
"Hey, what are you doing?", Marconi asks.
"I'm having fun" responds the kid.
"Is losing fun?", Marconi asks.
"It sure is" the weird kid responds "to just lose without knowing why is not fun and stupid. However to lose the way you want to is the best thing in the world. Trying to figure out how another person plays and lose in a fun and special way is much more interesting pursuing victory."
After pondering for a moment Marconi says, "that's an interesting way to play a game I guess. Personally, victory is more fun for me, but whatever floats your boat. Does anyone try to actively thwart your movements?".
"They can try, but I'm known as the largest loser. My name's Hamilton, gaming researcher and loser." "
Well, Hamilton the largest loser, I'm Marconi, a turn based RPG, board game, and card enthusiast. Do you want a match?"
"Sure Marconi, what game?" I challenge you to "The Game". "The biggest loser puts on a large smile, it's been a while. I thought people forgot about it. This was a game my grandparents played. There is no good way to lose this game."
"It looks like you know the rules already", says Marconi. "The game starts at the end of school. Find me when you lose."
"You're an interesting gamer, but a more interesting kid", Hamilton says. "What do you mean interesting kid? You're a kid as well.", Marconi takes an interest in Hamilton.
"Well I'm going to continue playing around, I'm looking forward to seeing you lose", Marconi says to Hamilton.
They then part ways and continue. Marconi in the last 10 minutes of the period plays a game of paper football, he loses 3-1. "Well, no one approached me so I'm a bit sad" the proctor announces, "but class is over so have fun on the open slot.