Applying RPS skills to other domains

[vakra]

Hello everyone,

Just want to ask a question about the applicability of RPS skills to other domain or other games, if someone can give some examples.

Thanks

[Franklint]

Hey, vakra. Welcome. Presumably you surfed in on the annual World Championships wave.

You need some examples of a question, so you can ask one? Sure. A question is something like "how are you?", or "what is the weather like today?".

I'm sorry, I'm in a pedantic mood. I shall now respond properly.

The skills used in RPS play are hugely versatile, and can be applied to many other games and aspects of life. Let's examine some of the basic approaches used:

Personality, appearance and behaviour analysis:
This is perhaps one of the most generally useful skills a strong RPS player can harness, as well as being the "hidden gem" of RPS strategy. The wealth of information that can be gained from accurate scrutiny of another person can provide many useful insights into their life. A classic example of its use is in poker. Poker, as you may know, is not about your cards. It is about how good you are at bluffing, and leading your opponent to believe certain things that may not be true. Being able to read people and see through their deception will give you a ridiculously large edge. In RPS, when facing off against your opponent, it is important to check them out, visually (and aurally and olfactorily), very thoroughly. Watch their stance. Are they confident and rooted to the ground (a sure sign of a Rock enthusiast)? Watch their face and body movements. Do they seem introverted, with very small movements and a timid, almost scared look in their eyes (expect heavy Paper use)? Examine their outfit. Are they wearing very loud clothing, with bright colours and abstract shapes, or perhaps a crazy hat that looks as though they just might have made it themselves (you've got it, these guys love Scissors)? The list of things to consider goes on and on: gender, age, performance in recent games, presence or absence of (especially wedding) rings, apparent financial situation, presence or absence of tells...

The parallels to poker are immediately obvious, and the people-watching skills you may have worked on will be more or less directly transferrable across to this game. Run through the same mental checklist as you do for RPS, and you will have a far better chance of picking up on when your opponent is bluffing or when he or she truly has a good hand.

Naturally, this aspect of RPS play can also be utilised in a huge number of real-life situations. Are you on a date with a potential new girlfriend, and want to impress her with your mind-reading prowess? How about if you are interviewing a potential new accountant, and want to know if there's something he's not telling you? What if you're a dodgy accountant, trying to convince a potential client that you've got nothing to hide? In all three sets of circumstances, your knowledge of the "cold read" will assist you hugely in your goals.

Gambit play:
The use of gambits has long been one of the stock-standards of strategic RPS play, and is commonly employed by amateur players starting out in their training. A gambit is a pre-planned series of throws (typically three, but can extend indefinitely) specifically prepared to be tricky and unpredictable. The main advantage of their use over adaptive play is the lack of between-throw decision-making, which can often unsettle amateurs and cause them to misprime due to their slower thinking speed. The Great Eight gambits are eight carefully-chosen gambits considered to be of special significance, which have been given names by the World RPS Society.

The concept of a "gambit" is by no means exclusive to RPS (and in fact comes from the Italian word "gambetto", meaning "to trip up [someone]"). Indeed, many other sports, games and artforms have their own type of gambit. For example, in the game of chess, many players will rely on specific strings of opening moves called, appropriately, "opening gambits". As another example, the underground seduction community relies largely on pre-planned manouevres keyed towards building attraction or comfort, or seducing the female. These tidbits of conversation, with certain messages woven into the language, are also known as gambits.

Pre-planning sequences of moves (or, alternatively, developing plans of action) will no doubt prove very useful for your interactions. You may choose to plan out the important points you need to make before attending a business meeting, or draw up a blueprint of a blimp before you start making it. Both of these are extended forms of gambit-making, and the better you are at coming up with concise, effective patterns, the easier you can make life for yourself.

I think that just about covers those two categories, which are the main ones. Also worth discussion are: Chaotic vs. Random, Probability, Throw Counting, Chasing Chaos, Cloaking. I shall leave these up to other contributors.

You can find more about the relationship between RPS and life in my upcoming book, So You Want to be a Rock Paper Scissors Professional?.

Throw well,
Franklint

[vakra]

Thank you very much for you response.

I bought "The Official RPS Guide" recently and most of the strategy in this book is about physical (tatoo,hand positioning,..) and verbal stuff (boom,....). Not much about psychological and pattern matching strategy like Sicilian reasoning or throwing pattern that may be very useful against a computer or when playing online or may be in real life.

So waiting for your book. When it will be published ?

Thanks

[custardchuk]

Welcome Vakra.

The Official RPS Strategy Guide at $19.95 is fine entry level publication.

We all know that you get what you pay for however, and you, as one who obviously desires to move out of the mainstream, should consider some of the more advanced options.

Until Will completes his eagerly awaited manifesto might I recommend Roshambollah Learning Systems (TM) or, perhaps, engaging C. Urbanus as a personal trainer?

Just indicate how much education you can afford and WRPSS can tailor a training regime to suit.

regards
custardchuk

[Franklint]

Not much about psychological and pattern matching strategy like Sicilian reasoning or throwing pattern that may be very useful against a computer or when playing online or may be in real life.

This kind of information is available if you know where to look.

So waiting for your book. When it will be published ?

When you're writing a book that explores an obscure subject, it is important that it is as comprehensive and high-quality as possible. For this reason, I estimate that it will be hitting shelves within a year or two. Keep your eyes out.

Until Will completes his eagerly awaited manifesto might I recommend Roshambollah Learning Systems (TM) or, perhaps, engaging C. Urbanus as a personal trainer?

I can vouch for Roshambollah Learning Systems (TM). Their beginner program is very well-thought-out. I used it myself. It offers detailed, personalised training over a series of weeks, both online and off. It's very hard to graduate from, but the best students receive a rank of Journeyman upon completion. I believe they also offer a more elite program aimed at turning advanced players into Masters, but this is more trying on the pocket. As custardchuk so eloquently put it, "you get what you pay for".

I have heard equally good things about Urbanus' training, and that he rules with an iron fist in order to get the very best out of his students. He is slightly less famous than the namesake of Roshambollah Learning Systems (TM), resulting in less people approaching him for training. Definitely worth considering.

Just indicate how much education you can afford and WRPSS can tailor a training regime to suit.

This is so true, there is a huge amount of options available. The WRPSS, for example, runs referee training courses if you're interested in getting into the adjudication side of the sport. Contact one of the Walkers for info (or whoever's clawed their way to the top currently).

If you are prepared to read a lot and do your own research, this very forum offers a massive vault of information. Many new strategic ideas have been discussed here, and if you look through some of the older posts, you can find some great things amongst all the shit.

Cheers,
Franklint