Discernment

What Discernment means in play

A limited-time bundle offers a bright new outfit, bonus points and rewards for playing several more evenings. The countdown is more animated than anything you actually wanted to buy. You look at the price, the contents and the time the extra rewards would take. The outfit might be worth choosing. The clock’s excitement is not a reason of its own.

Discernment examines what makes an invitation persuasive. A purchase can add something you enjoy; a challenge can invite effort you want to give. A countdown or a streak can also make declining feel like losing something you had never intended to acquire. Separate the item, the activity and the pressure. Then decide whether the offer fits the play you want and the time and money you choose to spend.

Finding the balance

In ordinary play

A daily-login streak

Ask whether tonight’s activity interests you or whether you are returning only to preserve a counter.

A friend’s recommendation

Find out what they enjoyed and whether that feature fits the game you want to play.

Nearby virtues, different work

Temperance

Discernment tests the apparent reason to buy or continue. Temperance moderates an appetite after you have recognized something you really do want.

Recognizing a counterfeit

Cynical dismissal counterfeits Discernment when every enthusiasm is treated as manipulation. Examine the particular offer and remain willing to find a sound reason for accepting it.

Cultivating Discernment

• Separate the appeal of an item from the urgency of its presentation.
• Notice when a reward commits you to further play you would not otherwise choose.

Try it today

Before accepting a game offer, name what you want from its contents and its activity. Compare that with the time and money it asks for, then choose.

Questions worth returning to

• Would I still want the contents without the countdown?
• Which part of the promised activity would I enjoy doing?

Choose your practice

These pages offer ideas for reflection and character practice, not professional advice. Choose practices suited to your circumstances and abilities. You may adapt, pause, or skip an exercise; putting yourself or someone else at risk is not proof of virtue.

Quotations and further reading

Seven readings, one for each day. All remain available here. Historical arguments and fictional dialogue are identified in their source notes.

1. Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away where either were concerned.

   Jane Austen · Pride and Prejudice
   Chapter XXXVI
   Elizabeth Bennet · Hugh Thomson illustrated edition with George Saintsbury preface, Project Gutenberg 1342; title-page date not identified in Linked text

   Elizabeth identifies how preference and offense shaped her evidence. Her account invites the player to examine what is making an invitation persuasive.

2. we have always insisted upon one uniform gauge and everything we buy fits into and develops our existing railway system.

   H. G. Wells · Floor Games
   I, The Toys to Have
   H. G. Wells · Project Gutenberg 3690 transcription of the 1911 work; specific underlying print imprint not identified in Linked text

   Wells judges a purchase by what it contributes to play already enjoyed. Compatibility and purpose give the buyer concrete reasons to choose.

3. We are prone to believe many things which we are willing to hear, and so we conclude, and take up a prejudice before we can judge.

   Seneca, adapted by Roger L’Estrange · Seneca’s Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency
   Of Anger, reports and conjectures
   Roger L’Estrange, adapting Seneca · New edition, Belford, Clarke & Co., Chicago, 1882; Project Gutenberg #56075. L’Estrange’s preface identifies an abstract, not a complete translation.
   English adaptation/abstract by Roger L’Estrange; not presented as Seneca’s unmediated wording.

   The author is discussing reports about other people. The same question is useful with an enticing offer: what am I accepting because I want it to be true?

4. Different issues being at stake, different measures must be adopted, and ideas, correct in the early part of the game, become sensibly modified.

   Emanuel Lasker · Common Sense in Chess
   Lecture XI, p. 121
   Emanuel Lasker · J. S. Ogilvie Publishing Company, New York; undated title page, cataloged circa 1910, Internet Archive commonsenseinche00laskrich. Selected wording checked against preserved page images.

   Lasker explains why the value of a piece changes as a game reaches its ending. A choice makes sense in relation to the position where it will be used.

5. With great deference to the old lady's judgment on these matters, I think I have experienced some moments in my life, when playing at cards for nothing has even been agreeable.

   Charles Lamb · Elia: Mrs. Battle’s Opinions on Whist
   Mrs. Battle’s Opinions on Whist, Elia’s closing qualification
   Elia, Lamb’s essay persona · E. V. Lucas edited Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, volume II, Project Gutenberg 10343; essay first published 1821; this edited transcription is the display source

   Elia tests Mrs. Battle’s insistence on stakes against his own experience. Spending money is not the only way a game can become worthwhile.

6. The ultimate test of any game, however, from the recreative standpoint must be one of interest, and this is often found among players who are not participating in the action if competition be close.

   Jessie H. Bancroft · Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium
   To the Teacher of Games, p. 27
   Jessie H. Bancroft · Project Gutenberg #25660; introduction dated March 1909; Linked text does not identify a dated title-page imprint.

   Bancroft asks whether a game sustains the players’ interest. More players or more activity do not automatically make the play more rewarding.

7. If you could play unerringly you would not play at all. The moment the game is perfect the game disappears.

   G. K. Chesterton · Tremendous Trifles
   IV. The Perfect Game
   Chesterton’s first-person narrator · Project Gutenberg #8092 transcription; underlying printed imprint not identified in preserved text.

   The narrator exaggerates to defend the pleasure of a challenge. An upgrade promising to remove difficulty may alter part of what makes a game enjoyable.

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