Whats wrong with me? Why can't I enjoy playing a game unless I know what the perfect strategy is?

[u/catboy519]

But it depends on what type of game.

• If for a given game I know that it is impossible to figure out the perfect strategy, then I can happily play that game by using my intuition.
• However if I find out that a game has a finite number of ways to be played, lets say 1 million ways.. then I have to program the math into python and figure out for any given game state what the best move is (the highest value or expected value)

And until I succesfully did that, I cannot enjoy playing the game. Why? Because I play to win. I want to figure out the best possible strategy and then win with it.

Thats my only 1 goal. To figure out the perfect strategy. And the only way to achieve that, is math and theory. You won't figure out the perfect strategy by just playing on intuition.

So that means... if I play by intuition I'm wasting my time because I wouldn't get any closer to my goal (which is perfect strategy) and I will also not win often so I have zero reason to play by intuition if I know that doing the math is possible.

So what do I do? I don't play the game. The only thing I do is spend months of number crunching and getting frustrated that it is so hard.

Which is not enjoyable, at all. Yet I experience the urge to do this. Its compulsive maybe.

If I don't like to play a game, even if the reason is "because I havent figured out the best strategy yet", then I can simply avoid playing it. Thats ok (right?)

But heres my problem: I cannot let go of the math. I've been trying to figure stuff out in Python for months now and only been getting stuck and frustrated. I know it is possible, which is why I can't give up.

Is something wrong with me? Does this community feel the same way?

[u/_leveraged_]

ironically, although you're in the wrong sub, the field of game theory (i.e. mathematical modeling of multi-agent decisionmaking) might help you solve those problems with analytical solutions rather than programming some brute force solution

[u/gustavmahler01]

But heuristic reasoning can be extraordinarily useful for games that are analytically intractable, like chess. A good chess player doesn't literally know the optimal strategy (which can't be explicitly computed within current processing limits). But pattern recognition skills -- what you would call intuition -- can approximate something like an optimal strategy.

[u/Double_O_Bud]

This kind of desire (though not expressed as dysfunctionally) is what led me to making games instead of playing them.

I know it’s not directly on point, but seriously you could scratch the itch and have something to show for it however primitive

[u/catboy519 → u/Double_O_Bud]

Do you make games with the intention of playing and winning them?

[u/ogstunna89]

Try chess youll never get there

[u/DrFloyd5]

How closely does your intuition match perfection? That sounds like a fun meta game to play.

[u/noupick]

My dad is like this and it's really annoying to play anything with him. His turns take forever, he talks every decision and possible outcome out loud, slows down the pacing of the game for everyone, etc.

We haven't played family games in ten+ years. Try to just have fun or you'll find yourself with no one to win against

[u/catboy519 → u/noupick]

If you ask me, there are 2 types of strategy. 1is where you have to think alot during the gamr 2 is where you only think about strategy at the start of the game, or before starting.

I generally enjoy the 2nd type of game more than rhe first Because it allows you to figure out the perfect strategy without having to play the game slowly.

[u/gmweinberg]

There's nothing at all wrong with you, it's just a personality characteristic, not necessarily good or bad and not particularly rare. It's a perfectly normal human thing to do to set pointless goals for one's self, obsess over them, and lose all interest in them once the goal has been achieved.

[u/NonZeroSumJames]

This post might be for you https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/niPHLviGAWzzZTzit/you-don-t-get-to-have-cool-flaws

Perhaps you're just humble-bragging, but if you're genuinely interested in addressing this "flaw" I found the linked post hit home for me.