Don't Hate the Player

Term 2: Play or Be Played; Module 5

Thesis: In a world that can often feel unstructured, games give us a tangible path to follow: rules, clear objectives, and a definitive winner and a loser. They offer control, however fleeting, in a life that often refuses to play fair. For a moment — on the court or the chess board — games impose order on chaos.

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Getcha Head In The Game

Lit Girl Term 2 has taken us through a number of psychological games — from the mind games of scammers to revisiting Huckleberry Finn through a new lens; from high-stakes art heists and the Upper East Side elite to navigating the maze that is dating in the modern age. We’ve examined how games, whether overt or covert, shape our society, and what it means to be both players and pawns.

While we've focused on metaphorical games, it’s time to examine their literal counterparts — games that unfold on courts, rinks, and competition floors.

This was the year of the game. 2024 brought us Ilona Maher and Stephen Nedoroscik, who captured our hearts at the Olympics and on Dancing with the Stars, while Challengers became a cultural phenomenon. Even Taylor Swift’s NFL relationship even drew new female audiences to the league, a trend amplified through NFL partnerships with outlets like Betches. These structured, real-world games mirror the psychological games we’ve been analyzing, weaving both worlds in fascinating order.

Love Is A Battlefield

On the ice, Tonya Harding was a technically brilliant skater — the first American woman to land a triple axel in competition. That she excelled in the physicality of her sport did not leave her immune to the invisible games of figure skating politics.

"There is more pressure on females, a stigma to be pretty and glamorous on the ice. Tonya is not in the category. She is fast and a little bit more bullish going into her jumps... That's what makes her different, entertaining. She is a fireball on ice, not a princess." (Fire On Ice, page 29)

Off the ice, she struggled to navigate the unspoken rules of the figure skating world - a sport that values polished personas and privilege over raw talent. The sport didn’t just want a winner; it wanted an ice princess. Harding's working-class background and refusal (or inability) to conform to the sport's elitist ideals made her an outsider. She was not shy about the fact that losing was not an option for her.

The infamous 1994 attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan revealed how far players and those around them might go to secure a win, exposing the darker side of competition. Harding’s story isn’t just about athleticism; it’s about how the unspoken rules of a game shape who is allowed to win.

Harding’s story illustrates how games — both physical and psychological — demand not only skill but also an understanding of unwritten rules, exposing the complexities of striving for success in an unforgiving system.

The high stakes and personal toll of figure skating find a parallel on the tennis court, where the psychological tension between players is just as gripping as the match. Both sports transcend the scoreboards, demanding not just mastery of physical skills, but also psychological resilience.

In Luca Guadagnino's Challengers, tennis is the backdrop for another game — one of ambition, love, and power. The intimate one-on-one nature of the sport heightens every moment, where each serve is steeped in the psychological warfare unfolding between our trio. Prodigy Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) and best friends turned rivals Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor), settle their chaotic entanglement within the orderly rules of the court.

“The court is just a place; the game is what happens in your head.” (Challengers, 2024)

Unlike team sports, both tennis and figure skating magnify the individual — their strengths, flaws, and vulnerabilities. The matches aren't just about winning a title — they're about power, control and unresolved desire, blurring the lines between game and reality. Challengers reframes competition as a microcosm for life’s messier moments. It’s not just a game of love and tennis; it’s a meditation on power, vulnerability, and what it really means to win.

In Your Honor, A Royal Flush

Stepping off the court, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and The Queen's Gambit explore games as spaces for creation, reinvention, and mastery. Video games and chess offer their players something unique: the chance to build worlds, solve problems, and find purpose beyond the limitations of reality. These games don't rely on physical prowess but on intellect and imagination, creating opportunities to reshape identity, confront trauma, and connect with others in unexpected ways.

“What is a game? It’s tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It’s the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is ever truly over.” (Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, page 129)

This sentiment captures the essence of a video game’s ultimate gift: reinvention. Players can rewrite their stories with every reset. For Zevin's protagonists Sam and Sadie, the structure of video games mirrors their own evolving relationship, unbound by the constraints of reality. In a video game, their identities are not fixed but constantly in flux, shaped by each click of the “TRY AGAIN” button. In this way, the act of playing becomes a metaphor for resilience, creativity, and the endless possibilities of reinvention.

For The Queen's Gambit's Beth Harmon, the chessboard is both a battleground and a sanctuary, where every move represents a step toward reclaiming control. The structured rules of chess reflect her own quest for control over chaos.

Unlike video games, where players are offered the grace of infinite retries, chess imposes higher stakes. Each move is definitive, yet the game still provides Beth a sense of agency, a place where her intellect and creativity can thrive. Chess, for her, is not just a game but a tool for survival, growth, and self-discovery. That is — if she survives the game.

Match Point

These stories serve to remind us that games — whether on the ice, a tennis court, a chessboard, or even within a virtual world — aren't about winning or losing. They’re frameworks that help us impose order on the chaos of life, offering a way to navigate uncertainty through strategy, structure, and resilience. Games act as mirrors, reflecting the best and worst of us, revealing who we are and who we could be. They challenge us to seize control where chaos might otherwise reign. From the relentless pursuit of mastery in Fire on Ice and The Queen's Gambit to the emotional stakes found in Challengers and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, the real game is in how we choose to play. Life might not come with a reset button, but like the players in these stories, reinvention is always on the table. Game on.