The thrill of defeat
“You can’t win them all†is a popular saying and not without its portion of life insight. Losing is, like death and taxes, one of those certainties of life but is that a bad thing? The winner of the Grand Final screams and yells with teammates as they feel impelled to pour whatever drink (from buckets of sports drink to decent champagne) over each other while the loser stares at a lone blade of grass as if somewhere in the chlorophyll lies the answer to what went wrong and how to move forward. Yet is losing really so bad? According to new research in fact, losing, or at least the possibility of losing, adds enjoyment to a game.
In the new study subjects competed in a video game where the objective was to slice objects that appeared on the screen faster than an opponent could do. The researchers tested the subject’s levels of enjoyment, perceived competence, suspense and performance concerns.
It emerged that when the participants won by a large margin they rated their competence as much higher than when they only won by a narrow margin. However, when they won easily their levels of enjoyment and suspense were much lower. When the subjects only just won a game they reported high levels of enjoyment and they reported this was because of the uncertainty associated with the closeness of the game. When asked which of the opponents they would like to play again in 69 per cent of cases people chose opponents they had only beaten by a small margin.
The researchers say that while succeeding at an activity has its own enjoyment, there is an added frisson of excitement (ok, so they didn’t actually use the word “frissonâ€) that comes from uncertainty around the outcome. So for the tennis player who wins in straight sets there is a certain joy but what keeps players coming back each week with anticipation for a match is actually the suspense that arises from the possibility of losing to a closely matched opponent.
It seems losing may be an option after all, at least it is if you want to enjoy the game.
