Nu Vibez and Roleplay Guide Magazine - December 2015 | Page 86

HOW TO BE A GOOD LOSER Turning Adversity Into Opportunity Journalist: Filipa Thespian Recent generations are not taught how to lose. Little League and other sports teams in some areas do not keep score so that the fragile psyche of a child does not have to face the thought of losing. ever came about without losing a few the first time around. Without setbacks and in some cases a terrible loss, can victory ever be satisfying and not feel hollow? Photo Shared on the RPG Flickr Group by Halfwraith They can leave a game feeling good about themselves but that only leaves them set up for later frustration and disillusionment when entering grown world where losing is a very real entity hovering above everyone’s head. Entering into Second Life where your every fantasy can come true, not many give thought to what losing can mean and how it can be beneficial at times to let yourself lose on occasion. 86 NU VIBEZ & ROLEPLAY GUIDE MAGAZINE One of the most annoying people we can encounter in Real Life or Second Life is the sore loser. We have all met this person in our lives. The whining emotional attitudinal, “life is not fair” person who once having lost, refuses to accept the possibility, kicks over the sandcastle, picks up his or her toys and stomps off in a huff. How arrogant, how utterly boring is the person with the attitude of “I win. I always win.”. No winner Tarl Cabot our Gorean Hero of the books lost many times but it is how he handled loss and overcame it that made him a hero and a winner. He lost women, fortune, a Home Stone and even his freedom, not just once, but a few times. He struggles to accept his fate, then rise above it to win. This is what made him a winner, not just winning the first time and every time. That is what the epic tales were about and made him memorable. The process of loss and victory make it all the sweeter when the inevitable triumph happens. Another classic example is Conan the Barbarian. His parents were killed at a young age, he was enslaved at the Wheel of Pain, crucified to the Tree of Woe, sold into fighting slavery until he gained freedom and climbed to being a hero only in the end slaying Thulsa Doom. If he had won and always won he would have slain Thulsa Doom as a child with his father’s sword then probably stayed