The Omnivangelist

camisuke 20 August 2008 essays/articles, strategy, videogames 3 Comments

In the previous couple entries, we’ve covered some basic psychology related to video games. Part 4 specifically discussed the psychology of video game battle with a human opponent. David Sirlin has written on gaming psychology as well in his articles on Playing to Win. In those articles, Sirlin references heavily from Sun Tzu and his treatise, the Art of War.

However, there is another major source of historical insight into battle psychology. His name is Miyamoto Musashi. Musashi was a swordsmen, an artisan, a farmer, a philosopher and a samurai. The time period is late 1500’s to early 1600’s Japan. He lived a very colorful life which has been made into a 1000 page epic story by author Eiji Yoshikawa, appropriately titled, “Musashi”. He reportedly fought nearly 60 battles to the death, never losing. Later in his life he only fought with a wooden sword, called a Bokken, because that’s all he needed to win a fight.Haomaru in the SNK game Samurai Shodown is modeled after Musashi, while his epic nemesis Sasaki Kojiro is the model for Tachibana Ukyo, whose island setting is the same setting as the epic battle between Musashi and Kojiro in real life. The whole story is in Yoshikawa’s novel and remains Japanese legend.

Musashi’s book on his “Heiho”, or path to enlightenment, is very interesting when it comes to gaming psychology. The book is called the “Book of Five Rings”. The five rings are Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Emptiness. Each book contains discussion on tactics, strategy, personal conduct, and mentality. The discussion is carefully crafted however for the lessons to be applicable to any endeavor pursued in life. Therefore, what is written is often meaningful in more than one way and should be read with this in mind.

Musashi lived largely in an atheistic and structured society. It seems the love of knowledge of the Italian renaissance diffused even into largely isolated Japan. A dominant philosophy in Japan at the time was Zen Buddhism which is different from Buddhism in general.

“Zen is a philosophy of self-reliance. Zen practitioners are not often followers. They are leaders… Zen practitioners aspire to place themselves in the same responsive relationship with the universe as did Buddha and Jesus, so that they may experience it firsthand. The Buddha said, “Look within, thou art the Buddha.” Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is within you.” This was Musashi’s insight, as well.” (Book of Five Rings Prologue, 4).

Here is my brief summary of the general content contained in each of the five books. For video gaming psychology, the Books of Water, Fire and Wind are most applicable but I’ve included a few extra summaries as well. I’ll save from discussing how to employ the strategies listed below in video games for another piece. The summaries are my interpretation of the text and the strategies suggested by each item should be self-evident.

The Book of Water – Mizu no Maki

In this book, Musashi also makes reference to the Tao te Ching. The book focuses on psychology.

1. Be the same way in any situation, keep your mind on the middle way attitude. I believe this suggests that one should be confident in all situations, and not lose focus, not necessarily meaning not to try new ideas to solving problems.
2. Do not reveal your real intentions. Your real intentions are your “hone” (ho-nay).
3. Do not wear clothing that is restrictive. Do not surround oneself in a situation that is restrictive.
4. Extend your peripheral vision.
5. Learn to adapt to given situations. Be flexible. Exposing oneself to many situations provides experience in this.
6. Practice with full focus, never half-heartedly.
7. Taking a position is not a position. All movement, all of the time is continuous. Always be on the alert. Every position is part of a movement which the final intent is your goal, whether that be to cut an opponent, or succeed in life.
8. Always focus on the goal. Do not lose sight of it.
9. Be very conscious of the intervals in time which precious opportunity is gained. Strike at that moment.
10. When there is no intention, there is no thought.

The Book of Fire – Hi no Maki

This book discusses strategy.

1. Make sure you establish the site of conflict. Always put the sun or lighting or fire to your back. Choose your site of conflict, or time of conflict to your advantage.
2. Always fight from the high ground. When chasing an opponent, ensure s/he has no time to observe his/her surroundings. Force the opponent onto areas of unsure footing or encumbering obstacles.
3. The initial attack is of primary importance.
4. It is most desirable to initiate an attack as it puts the opponent on the defensive, therefore allowing you to carry out your strategy first while the other opponent must delay his/her initial strategy in order to react.
5. It is always more desirable to be on the offensive.
6. Know your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and exploit their rhythms.
7. Do not allow an opponent to recover.
8. Imagine being your opponent and try to understand his/her intentions, thinking, and subsequent strategy.
9. To learn an opponent’s strategy, feign an attack.
10. Get your opponent bored or agitated and leave him/her the general sense that you are inferior so that s/he will underestimate you.
11. Start combat slowly to give the impression of a slow rhythm, and then rapidly carry out your strategy.
12. Fear is natural, so instill fear in an opponent through the use of voice, movement and body. Use this very small interval of time which the opponent is confused or afraid to strike.
13. Confuse an opponent by feigning attacks, or carrying out confusing action.
14. If the enemy is afraid or disordered, crush him/them/her immediately and decisively.
15. Never try the same tactic in a single battle more than three times.
16. Force the opponent to acknowledge defeat. This has strong psychological implications.

The Book of Wind – Kaze no Maki

Musashi discusses rival strategies of other schools of thought. Know your enemy.

1. Place yourself in a position which is advantageous to the tools you have to use. For shorter weapons, find confined spaces, for bigger weapons find larger spaces.
2. Stances are not of primary importance. Initiative is of primary importance.
3. Always walk the way you do naturally. To do otherwise stops your thinking process. It is because of this that other school’s thinking on footwork is disadvantageous in many situations.
4. Speed is not what should be focused on. A master does not concentrate on executing with extreme speed. What a master does seems to be done with ease and without any loss of timing. Anything performed by someone who has experience does not look busy. Haste makes waste.
5. When teaching, focus on teaching that which can be rapidly and most easily learned first. Gradually go to deeper more subtle meanings in the teachings as time progresses.
6. There are no secret stances.

The Earth Book – Chi no Maki

1. Apply your learning to everything you do, not just where seems intended to be applied.
2. Moderation in all things is the best way. Extremes are to be avoided.
3. Use the right tool for the job. Select the right people for where they are best applied. Keep your tools in good condition, keep them sharp at all times. Sharpen your tools in spare moments. This can mean study or focus or plan in spare time you have during the day. Each tool has its specific advantage and use.
4. The situations that arise in each moment are precious, whether that brief instant be where the swordsman will strike or where the businessman makes the sale, or the opportunity is seized. Each moment is precious and an opportunity. One must become very aware of every moment, so being fully conscious is key.
5. Knowing a variety of paths is very useful. Broaden your knowledge. It is necessary to polish your own path.
6. All things have their own rhythm. Victory, success, and failure each have their own.

If you have interest in Musashi in general then perhaps the remaining book will be interesting. However, this book is unlikely to be applicable to video gaming in general and so is added as an appendix. More on strategy will be discussed in future entries.

APPENDIX:

The Book of Emptiness – Ku no Maki

The book of emptiness discusses that which is unknown. It is a deeper discussion than the first four books and I will focus mainly on its discussion on the nature of reality.

“The Zen Buddhist view of reality is neither subjective nor objective. In it there is no distinction between the “I” and the “that”. Neither consciousness (your own subjective experience) nor external reality (objective, things independent of the experiencer) is considered “ultimate”. The Zen view, as always, is a practical one. There considerations are irrelevant. Everything is real only in relation to other things. Everything is devoid of reality, that is, nothing has its own independent existence. Consciousness and external reality are both real only in relation to each other. Or to put it another way, all that exists, exists relative to other things.”

This statement by the editor (who translated this text) is an interesting one. Recently I was reading Einstein’s “Relativity”. In a note written by Einstein, he said, “Physical objects are not in space, but these objects are spatially extended. In this way the concept of ‘empty space’ loses its meaning.” (Einstein, vii). Notice the relation between Einstein’s interpretation of space and Musashi’s. Both these statements seem to discuss not objects and their existence, but instead objects existence relative to other objects, or to space-time. Interesting parallel.

“The traditional Buddhist view is that the world is in a constant state of change. Nothing in the world ever “is”; it is always “becoming”. The nature of reality is a process, a continuous changing flow. Nothing is absolute; it is always changing. This process, this flow, is called ‘ku’.”

“Musashi says, ‘That which can not be known is ‘ku’, emptiness. This emptiness is not a mathematical void; it does not mean nonexistence, that something does not exist. Neither is it something unknowable, in the sense of ‘inexperienceable’. Emptiness is meant to describe something that is ‘devoid’ of an independent reality. This ‘something’ is in the nature of the relationship, that is, a process, a flow, in which all things are in a continual state of change.”

“It is this process that is called ‘ku’. It is the realization of this process that the Zen practitioner is trying to attain. Experiencing this flow, this process, directly, personally and immediately is what is meant by ‘being one with the moment’.” Zen practitioners place importance on experiencing life in each moment, not focusing on the future or past.

Musashi’s list of proper conduct:

1. Do not harbor sinister designs.
2. Diligently pursue your path.
3. Cultivate a wide range of interests in the arts.
4. Be knowledgeable in a wide range of occupations.
5. Be discreet regarding one’s commercial dealings.
6. Nurture the ability to perceive the truth in all matters.
7. Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye.
8. Do not be negligent, even in trifling matters.
9. Do not engage in useless activity.

References/Links:

Sirlin’s Playing to Win: http://www.sirlin.net/Features/feature_AoW1-SheathedSword.htm