November
18
How can I possibly link these two topics? Just watch me!
This past weekend Justin and I purchased Mario Brothers for Wii. We figured it would be a fun game we could play together. It would be a a lot better than just watching TV. So we grabbed the game and a book to help us along the way and we were all set.
Justin and I do not always play games together well. Justin has a huge need to win and when he starts to lose, the pressure starts to get to him. I play any game to win but I am more excited about the challenge and understand that you can only do your best.
While we play Mario Brothers, Justin gets frustrated with the game. He starts yelling back at the game as if it is the game’s fault for his errors. “The game did not register his jump.” “The game is too hard.” The game is an asshole!”
I do not understand the last one myself so do not worry if you do not as well.
I play the game to have fun BUT I like to play fair. What I mean is, we work as a team. If you get a flower then the next flower should be mine. If I get the coins, I should allow you to get coins too. I really play to be fair because I do not like to hurt people’s feelings. Justin just plays who ever gets it first, gets it. Which frustrates me.
We are both having to learn to play this game for the first time and we are learning the problems with playing two players on the same screen in a Mario game. He can push me over the edge. I can kill him by throwing a turtle shell. Just all part of the learning but adds to more frustration.
As we play the game the first time, Justin is yelling at the screen. I am yelling at Justin for stealing the coins. He is yelling at me for yelling at him. I am yelling back at him for yelling at me for yelling at him.
You can tell this wasn’t going to end pretty…
We ended up quitting the game and just not playing anymore. Of course we bought this game to spend time together and have fun and we lost all that in our yelling caused from our frustration.
Justin suggested we talk about how we could make it work. We set up ground rules to help us play the game and work as a team. We learned each other’s needs and were able to set up a nice plan.
Last night we played the game again, and even though we had a VERY hard time through a level, we had fun and we worked as a team.
It really all comes down to communication right? You have to be willing to understand that if you take the time to talk it out, you can almost always work out a great plan…
or at least not kill each other…
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JM
on 18 Nov 2009 at 4:07 pm #
That’s adorable! I am glad you got it to all work out! That game looks like a lot of fun and I can definitely relate to you on the relationship and teamwork aspects of your struggle!
Have a great day and keep up the inspiring and entertaining blog!
JM
Brad
on 18 Nov 2009 at 5:17 pm #
That is a great lesson.
I am not sure if you watch Amazing Race, the one team is 2 gay brothers, Sam and Dan. They are nice to look at and fun to watch.
I was surprised at how much yelling Dan does to his older brother Sam. Then after Dan yelled at Sam while Sam was doing a task that took a lot more time than the other teams took. Dan had a breakthrough and realized at how his words weren’t said with love and weren’t supportive and did not contribute to the success of their task.
I am glad to see that you and Justin have learned a valuable life lesson from this game.
I guess you can find “teachable moments” no matter where you look.
-Brad
Michael
on 18 Nov 2009 at 6:55 pm #
Brad,
Great example! I am watching Amazing Race and know exactly what you are talking about. It is in these little moments you learn to work together and treat people better.
Pheng
on 22 Nov 2009 at 8:26 pm #
LOL.. I love it!
mario oyunlar?
on 22 Nov 2009 at 10:07 pm #
Have a great day and keep up the inspiring and entertaining blog!
Shreyas
on 25 Nov 2009 at 6:54 am #
Good one….you may find some games which might increase the team work and would make sure of less quarrels. After all, all such moments increase the relation and lets one person know about other! I loved it.
Scott
on 28 Nov 2009 at 5:42 am #
hmm… lesson well learned. I think I will be getting Mario for Wii…. JD and I are EXACTLY the same… he is blood thirsty to win..he yells at me and I yell back and so on and so forth.. glad to know it is just not me!!
tatil otelleri
on 24 Feb 2010 at 3:05 pm #
hmm… lesson well learned. I think I will be getting Mario for Wii…. JD and I are EXACTLY the same… he is blood thirsty to win..he yells at me and I yell back and so on and so forth.. glad to know it is just not me!!