Games of Deception

Interpersonal deception is by tradition focused on the framework of a physical world, where there exists ethical principles that have been developed over a long time to restrain a person's actions. For example, truth is expected when dealing with people in everyday life. If someone is found to not be truthful, they are said to be lying, and their integrity comes into question, which can undermine relationships.

Lying happens in a dynamic interaction where the liar and the listener tap dance around one another, changing their thoughts in reaction to each other's moves. Lying behavior includes, but is not limited to, manipulating information to distance themselves from the message, so if the message is found to be false, they can extricate themselves. Thus, they use vague generalities and talk about other people or strategically control behavior to suppress signals that might indicate that they are lying. For example, their face may be more impassive and body more rigid. Other examples are image management, by smiling and nodding more, and omission, not exactly lying but keeping information from another person.

If you observe children who have discovered the ease of lying, they blame their siblings, put on their best “innocent” expression, and hold their hands behind their backs. At that age they are very impressionable and learn quickly. Before long they can pull the wool over their parent's eyes very well. Lying is a form of deception, but in what medium it is used subjectively makes it good or bad.

For instance, lying to one's mother's face is not considered to be good, while distorting your image online is considered not so bad. In person, lying or deception is subjectively seen as a lack of integrity and not a virtue. In the virtual world, in military war, and in strategy games such as Chess, deception may be the key to winning the game, battle, or war. In military war, this may [Page 258]be called a feint on the battlefield or possibly psychological operations to convince the enemy to focus their actions elsewhere.

Solid strategy and tactics usually require a certain amount of deception. They also require sacrifice, as pawns are called pawns for a reason. Deception can promote strategic planning and tactics—attempting to make your opponent think you are doing one thing when you are really trying to do another. A good example would be a sacrifice that you try to make look like a mistake rather than a clever ploy. It promotes the development of thoughtful planning and thinking abstractly in advance of a well-thought-out action. Deception is used in martial arts, military strategy, and play.

One game that has a long association with deception for its believers is the Ouija Board. The Ouija Board is commonly used as a game or as a way to attempt to communicate with a deceased loved one. Some users believe that demons lay in wait to gauge the vulnerability of the player and then deceive them by answering correctly. While the player may become convinced that a loved one is talking to them, the belief is that a demon could slowly work its way into the person, eventually gaining full control of their physical being. This thinking holds that “evil demons” pretend to be cooperative ghosts in order to trick participants into becoming spiritually possessed. The possession would not happen overnight but over a period of time as the demon tests the waters of their subject, and as the person gets more and more comfortable. Those who subscribe to such beliefs fear that as the entity applies more and more pressure, complete self control will be lost.

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