From

Game
to
Gambit

AGAM ARORA | TOY & GAME DESIGN 13 | NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN

GUIDE : Mr. SHEKHAR BHATACHARYA

The
Abstract :

Cheating in Games is as old as the games have ever existed in the human civilization. As Game design students
we were exposed to themes like Society and Play and Dishonest Behaviors . It was interesting to look
upon games as the reflection of the society and the propagandas that are addressed through games . I was in-
trigued when I started looking the world through game psychology ; where the world appeared as Poker game ,
the current life struggle as game play , the social order as the rules , the Humans with great ambitions as Players
who would like to win a game irrespective of their circumstances. It was thus not difficult to find notorious act
of cheating akin to the Gambits that are deployed by the clever lot to attain unfair advantage in the real world.

The Colloquium paper thus tries explores Gamesmanship as a behavioral phenomenon and the decision mak-
ing by individuals through Gambits in different genres .

The
Background:

The Great Indian Civilization officially dates back to
3300 BC , however different organizations have tried
to establish it even older then the accepted norms
and with every research that takes place , and pre-
dates the continuous living Indian civilization. Agri-
culture brought several changes to the Indian socie-
ty. The social setup changed from a Nomadic social
order to a civilized world and hence recreational
activities too were re-defined in the new social or-
der and Games played an important part to provide
recreational activities in the ancient era. Many of the
prominent games that are played in the world are the
gift of Indian civilization to the world. There have
been cosmetic changes in these games to adapt the
societies where they spread however the core game
play has always remained the same. These games if
analyzed would give us great information about the
social order of the world.
The early man who was predominately a hunter ,
lived in the awe of uncertainty for his life and for his
prey. Irony was , the Hunter was the prey by himself
. This would have perhaps made Hunting as the first
ever game in the History of human race where sur-
vival of the fittest would have been the norm. Just
as in a game , where players evolve , improvise on
their skills and modify their strategy , the creatures
of those early times would have evolved to survive in
those harsh times to keep pace of the worlds brutal
game of Hunting.
Though societies evolved and made progressed in the
field of science and technology conquered the plan-
ets and has established himself as the most superior
species the Universe would have ever witnessed, but
yet could not master virtue of Uncertainty. The sto-
ry of evolution states how a human brain developed
to mitigate the uncertainty that existed in the nature
which helped him to conquer the world through his
wit by taking fair / unfair advantages over the com-
petitor species of his time.
The Games too in their simplest forms are derived
from the simplest law of nature the Uncertainty.
Games too have two definite types of rules , a formal
ideal rules of the game , which users are expected to
abide by while playing the game against the real rules
that players tend to play with which have the ten-
dency to be bent and subverted . The Ideal rules thus
bring uncertainty in the game where as the real rules
bring certainty in the game which depends upon
finding the gap in the existing rules and thus subvert-
ing the rules to ones own advantage. Under an Ideal
scenario , a player would play a game with a given set
of rules and would try to win the game however this
would introduce the Uncertainty in the entire act
of play. The Ambitious nature of man thus motivates
him to overcome uncertainty by thus bending the
rules in his own favor or gaming the system which in
game design is popularly known as cheating.
What The Cheat : Such players secretly break the
is core rules of the game. These players too have great
desire to win. The Gambits deployed by such individ-
Cheating :
uals work on bending the social norms as demarcat-
ed by the social system.
Cheating defined in simple words is the tampering
of rules to gain unfair lead in a competitive scenario.
The Spoil spot : Such player neither follows
Cheating thus is an act of dishonest behavior which
the rule nor has any desire to win. A gambit deployed
challenges the fair code of conduct . Cheating as a
by such players is help the other players to cheat and
phenomenon is thus meant to attain preference over
to provide him with undue advantage or merely to
existing completion through an unfair criterion. The
frustrate a dedicated player. The acts of spoil spot are
code of conduct under question may be explicit or
difficult to trace as he acts like the brain and doesnt
might be left on individuals morality based upon the
physically breaks the rules , these acts too are there-
moral conduct as demarcated by the contemporary
fore within the vicinity of social order.
society. Cheating has thus evolved as an act which
whose influence can be felt across all the genres that
involves competitive behavior.

Gaming the System is an offshoot of cheating that

derives its soul from the error or the exception in
the rules , the gap that has been thus created which
allows misconduct by the errant to practice actions
that can lead to unfavorable outcomes though yet
approved under the social order. The act of gaming
the system leads to the phenomenon of Gamesman-
ship.

Gamesmanship is term derived as opposed Sports-

manship. The Term Gamesmanship takes into ac-
count where the player is motivated to play a game
with an intense spirit to win where the true spirit of
instant victory supersedes the spirit of enjoying and
mastering a game through sheer practice. The Phe-
nomenon of gamesmanship therefore employs dubi-
ous measures though they are not Illegal but push-
ing the rules to the grey areas of the game to achieve
desired end .The simplest game of Akkad bakad
bambe bo played by the Kids in the Indian sub-
continent , where children would intentionally add a
word or shall skip their favorite friend in the game to
avoid getting out of the game is the simplest exam-
ple of the Gamesmanship as experienced in the kids.

Gamesmanship,
Motivation factors
and
Gambits deployed :-

Unsportmanship : Such players follow rules

, but also violate some unclear rules . These players
have great desire to win. Thus the Gambits deployed
by such individuals are within the premises of the
social system
The
Mythological
Gambit :
The Act of Introducing an eunuch or to Introduce
The War of Mahabharata is a vivid example where
the Rakasha son of Bhima into the war was thus
the war is a game and the established moral code for
clearly bending the car code and the acts were thus
warriors is akin to the rules , the warriors in the Ma-
implemented only after the advice from Krishna
habharata are akin to the players that posses great
, both these acts can be thus seen as act of a cheat
ambitious pursuit and the desire to win at all odds
where bending the social code is considered approp-
lead them to break the warrior code.
oriate to win the war.
In the war of Mahabharata, Krishna vows on not to
Further Krishna uses deceit when he wants Yudhish-
wield weapons during the war. Understanding that
tra to utter Ashwathama has been killed in the war
Pandavas will deal with ethical dilemma of fighting
demotivating Drona in the act of war post hearing
with their family members that comprised some of
the death of his son and for this purpose Bhima kills
the best warriors of their time. The war would thus
an elephant Ashwathama , so that law abiding Yud-
not be easy for the Pandavas . Therefore Krishna ,
histra can speak up the truth which has a shade of de-
cleverly finds a loophole in his own vow so that he
ceit in it which can make drone renounce his weap-
can available for his beloved Pandavas during the
ons. Krishna further suggests Kunti to meet Karna to
war. Krishna thus accepts to play the role of char-
avoid brothers killing each other . The meeting thus
ioteer for Arjuna where he shall be continuously
ends up putting Karna under one sided obligations
available for his guidance and motivation. Again
but not the Pandavas . Krishna further was instru-
on the 9th day of the war , Krishna rushes with the
mental to instigate Arjuna in breaking the war code
wheel of a fallen chariot against the Bhishma where
and inducing him to shot arrows on Karna when the
Arjuna reminds him of his vow of not to wield weap-
wheel of his chariot was stuck in mud. Finally Kr-
ons where it is cleverly represented that Wheel of
ishna at last becomes instrumental by making Bhi-
the chariot is not a weapon.
ma surpass the rules of Mace war and signals Bhima
to strike Duryodhana at his thighs which were the
Thus both the acts of Krishna to become a Chariot-
only mortal part of his body post the boon provided
eer or using Chariot wheel as a weapon can be tak-
by his mother Gandhari.
en as mere references of dishonest behavior and the
Gambits which yet take care of the social order or
The acts of demotivating Drona , Putting moral ob-
the rules of the war.
ligations on Karna or Inducing Powerful Bhima to
surpass the rules of the Mace war to kill Duryodhana
Krishna predicts that it would be difficult to win the
are the events that projects Krishna in a negative light
war as long Bhisma was fighting in the war against
where he emerges as the spoil spot , The Gambits
the Pandavas .Krishna again cleverly proposes a
used motivate the Pandavas to cheat and to provide
strategy of placing a eunuch in the field to face Bhis-
them undue advantage and frustrate Drona , Karna
ma which is against a loophole in the warrior code
and Duryodhana by unfair play.
of not to attack an eunuch . Krishna further helps
Arjuna to slain Jaydratha before the sunset by us-
Krishna thus emerges as the sole character who feels
ing his Sudarshana Chakra by covering the sun and
that subversion of the established code was neces-
faking it as sunset which thus finally helped Arjuna
sary to bring a new social order. Mahabharata and
in fulfilling his promise. Krishna was also instru-
Krishna thus becomes a fine example to understand
mental in deploying the way strategy which could
Gamesmanship and the different Gambit styles used
be deployed in the Night and asks Bhisma to sum-
by Krishna to establish the new social and more code
mon Ghatotkacha , his son from the Rakshasa clan.
for the society , the new Dharma
This forces Karna to use the weapon on Ghatotkacha
which he had intentionally saved to slay Arjuna.
The
Economical
Gambits :
Perverse Incentives are similar examples of gaming
the system where the incentive policies have resulted
in undesirable outcomes as against the expectations
of the incentive planners. For example Under the
French imperialism , a policy of providing financial
incentive to people on submitting each rat tail to
eradicate rats from the region rather resulted in Rat
Farming. The Act of Endangered species in US pos-
ses legal control over the land holdings where en-
dangered species of animals and plants can be spot-
ted. This rather saw the deliberate cutting of valuable
trees and killing of endangered animal species by the
land owners from the sheer threat of not being able
to cultivate their land being discovered as the habitat
of endangered species.
The Principle of Moral hazards in economics fur-
ther talks about high risk that an individual would
take in a certain situation when a different party
shall bear the impact of the risk in the negative after-
maths of the event. The partition of India under the
Imperial British regime and the Bhopal Gas Tragedy
by Union Carbide India limited are such cases where
the aftermaths of these events have been burdened
by the common masses and not by the risk takers.
The unpopular US subprime crisis too have been
the results of the moral hazards.
The Biblical Parable of The Good Samaritan as
mentioned in the New Testament is again one such
philosophy which questions on the noble cause of
charity. The Philosophy brings forward an ideology
of eradicating charity due to the selfish nature of Hu-
man beings. Under a given condition of Charity the
receiver shall act either utilize the charity to get bet-
ter off his current situation or under the assurance
is likely to rely on the charity as his tool for survival.
The Ideology was again bring into use by the econ-
omist James M. Buchanan where such an ideology
promotes fair competition under capitalism where
people work for their own upliftment and thus con-
tributing to the nations wealth against the core state
ideologies of communism and socialism where the
subsidies and states policies are considered equiva-
lent to charity
The
Political
Gambit :
Culture of Fear is a similar phenomenon of dishon-
est behavior of inciting fear in common masses to
achieve political goal. Such a practice is often used
by the politicians and leaders to reunite masses in
their favor and projecting themselves as the leader
in such projected fearful situations. The Prominent
stories of Blood Libel have been used against Jews
to prosecute Jews since Christianity established its
roots in Europe. The Blood libels accuse Jews of kid-
napping and murdering young Christian children
and using their blood for the baking of matzos. The
similar fear culture was exploited by Hitler during
the II nd world war two and inciting mass prosecu-
tions against Jews and projecting himself as the lead-
er of German masses. United States of America and
Europe too have justified numerous policies against
minorities exploiting the Culture of fear in the after-
maths of collapse of world trade centre.
A Filibuster is a parliamentary procedure where de-
bate over a proposed piece of legislation is extended,
allowing one or more members to delay or entirely
prevent a vote on the proposal. It is sometimes re-
ferred to as talking out a bill or talking a bill to death
.In the parliamentary procedure of Filibuster , where
a sly member would extend his speech for hours to
avoid other members to prevent voting on a certain
bill which is considered mandatory. The word is de-
rived from Dutch word vrijbuiter which is akin to
privateer , a similar term is also described in Eng-
lish as Freebooter. The first such act of filibuster is
known to have been practiced by the Roman senator
Cato who prolonged his speech till nightfall to block
Julius Caesars petition of In absentia before the
senate. In Europe where such acts were yet popular ,
no wonder British had learnt some bitter lessons till
the time they arrived in India as colonial power and
hence therefore kept the right of closure of such de-
bates at the discretion of the speaker. Such power till
date is considered as the discretionary power of the
Speaker in Lok Sabha.
The
Cultural
Gambit :
Bribery is an act of receiving ones favor through a
gift , the gift can thus take any form ;Money or oth-
er inducement. Bribery is thus a term used in legal
procedures as a crime where a person serving a le-
gal duty is influenced to provide unfair advantage by
neglecting his duty. The limited resource available
leads to a fierce competition and in Economics brib-
ery is considered merely as rent and not misconduct.
Due to thin line that lies between bribery and a gift ,
it therefore becomes difficult to regard it as Miscon-
duct .
Gifts to people in authority have been seen across
cultures since the ancient times where gifts were of-
fered to the King , the temple Priests to pacify the
Gods to receive their blessings and to maintain har-
monious relationships. It would be therefore not
wrong to say Bribery has been woven in the social
fabric and it would be difficult to examine it with
great difficulty keeping in mind the social and cul-
tural customs of the concerned society.
The
Legal
Gambit :
SLAPP , Strategic lawsuit against public participa-
tion is a dishonest legal practice which aims at cen-
soring and silencing the critics by imposing them
with the expenses of legal defense until they give up
their criticism in the respective case.Normally the
Plaintiff in SLAPP cases are not expected to win the
legal suite but at aim inducing the defendant from
the criticism by bearing the cost of the lawsuit due to
the fear of loss of prestige and goodwill is often con-
sidered as a legal threat but has yet existed as lawsuit
to facilitate justice to those who would otherwise
will not be able to afford justice due to high fee in-
curred in the legal procedures.
The
Corporate
Gambit :
Policy based evidence making is a dishonest prac-
tice utilized by corporates where a research project is
commissioned that can conclude the findings in fa-
vor of a policy that has already been secretly planned
and has been prepared to be implemented in the fu-
ture. The ideology of the practice is to find evidenc-
es that can create a platform for the already planned
policy to seek public acceptance .
A similar dishonest practice of Kiss up kick down
which is against the ideal theory of Organization-
al behavior of collective responsibility where the
core essence of Problem solving is overshadowed by
searching for the Scope goat , In such a scenario em-
ployees in the middle management practice a du-
bious policy of kissing up the higher management
and making them the credit bearer of the good for-
tunes of the organization but shall Kick down the
lower subordinates in case of any potent failure in the
organization .This strategy is deployed by the middle
management to keep good terms with higher man-
agement , keeping themselves safe from anything
that wrong that happens in the organization but at
the same time keeping a check on their lower subor-
dinates to practice the same culture so that the cred-
it are attributed to them and there is always a scope
goat for companies failures.
Toxic Leadership is a dishonest practice where the
leader who would simply like to play the leader role
but shall cease to abide by the leader -follower mor-
al code by leaving the clan and his followers in the
worse scenarios , when the clan and his followers en-
counter a threat. The term is considered has emerged
as one of the significant phrases in the Post Subprime
crisis world and has its association with manage-
ment practices in the leadership traits. This leader-
ship style often promotes the culture of Fear in the
organization.
The
Conclusion :

The virtual world of Games and the real world of Gambits have much in common. Understanding the real
world of Gambits through games has been an old phenomenon. Attempts have been made to connect the dots
between the real world of Gambits and the virtual world of games to simplify complex phenomenon of Games-
manship and cheating styles that exist in the contemporary world.

The
Bibliography :

The Books
1. Rules of Play by Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen
2. Culture of Fear by Garry Glassner
3. Science of fear by Daniel Gardener

The Video references

4. Business Sutra 3 Dharma Sankat at CNBC awaz
5. TEDx talk Our buggy moral code by Dan Ariely

Article
6. Rules do not make Ram by Devdut Patnaik

Websites
7. www.softpanorama.org
8. www.quora.com/which-are-the-best-filibusters-in-history

Blogs
9. https://truthabouthinduism.wordpress.com
10. https://tportis.wordpress.com

Acknowledgement:

The Paper would not have been possible without the continued support of Mr. Mihir Bholey ,my Guide Mr.
Shekhar Bhattacharya , and Mr. Sajith Gopinath Coordinator Toy & Game Design at National Institute of
Design

I would further like to thank Mr. Sudarshan Khanna , Educationist and Play design expert , Mr. Jai Sharda
Financial Expert and Economist and Mr. Shailesh Prabhu - CEO , Yellow Monkey Designs who helps me
pick up valuable pointers of Gamesmanship and subversion behavior from across the Genres and establish the
connection between Games and Gambits.

I would also like to thank my seniors , batch mates and friends for their curiosity and patience and helping me
look across genres and helping me arrive at logical conclusions after every discussion which helped me edit the
text of this paper to a meaningful result.