Grand Chase may be my third favorite videogame in the whole world (third to Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy), but there was a time when I couldn't really appreciate it. I was too obsessed with winning and trying to impress my soulbonds to really see what was important about the game and others like it. Winning was an obsession, and if I didn't win I would behave abominably to my opponents. But I think I've learned how to really win at Grand Chase. And at the game of life. This is something that happened to me while I was staying up PVPing random people on Grand Chase last night.
I'd figured out the other day after playing with a good friend of mine that it's less important to win and more important to never give up on the character I'm playing as--usually a soulbond of mine--UNTIL I win. I did that with Mari, because I said I would never give up on who I consider my "little sister." And when I finally did win that night, and Mari's eyes just lit up like diamonds, well...I knew what I was supposed to do from now on.
So when I logged on to PVP that night and lost to a Rufus while playing as Lire, I refused to give up. It hurt to be smacked around, and I eventually saw that I was having an off night and would never win to this Rufus, but I kept going anyway. And when the Rufus left and in came a Mari, I lost to her six times too and still wouldn't give up. Everytime I lost, I remembered this story I read, about a painting of a guy playing chess with the devil. While the picture clearly looked like the devil was going to score a checkmate against the guy, and probably take his soul for it, a world chess champion stepped in and evaluated the picture closely. Then he said "Let the devil make his move, young man, because you might score a checkmate against him. Whatever move he makes, it won't be checkmate, because there's one more move on the board."
So everytime I lost to a Rufus, a Mari, an Asin, that played in my head. "There's one more move on the board," I would hear. And I'd continue to fight with Lire.
The last fight of the night was against a guy who was using Lass. Since it wasn't Rufus, I felt I had a fighting chance, even though this guy was tough. Since he didn't have guns to use anymore, I made a plan to spam him with arrows. When the fight began, I immediately did, but notice he wasn't reacting. Didn't even seem to be moving...
It could've been a front, or he could've been away from his computer. I cautiously crept over to the Lass, and saw that he really wasn't moving. So I moved to a safe distance and waited for him to either disconnect or return. I waited for about ten minutes, then he moved and we reinstated the battle.
But then he typed in the text box, "Omg, you...waited for me?" And I realized what he'd been expecting: I'd been losing to him so much (when he was using Rufus) that he expected me to just kill him while he was away and take the free win. But you don't do that--it's dishonorable and very, very bad form. So I said, "Of course I did."
And then he asked if we could be friends. I, of course, said "Sure."
I lost the game again, but I won the fight for sure. I made a new friend, so as far as I was concerned, I did nothing but win that night.
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