Games and Guardians 153natural ecologies, human communication are all examples
of these games, they are all built on co-operation and com-
petition, or ‘co-opetition’.
Non-zero sum games assume:
- Resources are potentially greater than any one player
would need or could use. - Everyone either has the resources they need or can
create them. - You can be doing better than your competitors and you
could still all be doing really badly. - Open strategy can be a good move – when others know
what you are doing, then they can more easily plan their
strategy so you both gain.
These two strategies are more than just games, they are
philosophies of life. A zero sum life is stressful, busy and full
of pressure and anxiety. If you are not winning then you
must be losing. Such people have to win every argument. If
you have ever met people like this, you know how annoying
they can be. Few people will ‘play’ with them once they find
out the sort of game they are playing.
Some games, however, really are zero sum, so take a look
at the game from the outside to know what kind it is before
you start. You need to be able to jump outside and look at
your assumptions about what you are doing. If you cannot do
this, then you are doomed to be in a game without end. Games
without end have no rules for changing the rules, because
there is no outside perspective on the game. These games
share one rule – participants think they are deadly serious
and not games at all.
I have met a few people who play like this. One man I re-
member was a foreign exchange trader working at a bank in
the City of London. John enjoyed his work, even though it was
stressful and meant long hours and he could quite possibly
lose a few hundred thousand pounds by not paying attention.
He played the markets as a zero sum game – if he did not
make a profit, then he looked on it as a lost bonus. He took