Cheating is Fleeting

Cheating at a game is both lame and not cheating. Game playing is not a serious endeavor and therefor cheating becomes irrelevant (but do remember the bit about it being lame).

I used to play a game (and occasionally still do) called Scramble.

 SCRAMBLE

It’s a game played on an iPhone/iPad. The object is to make as many words as possible within a certain amount of time. You do so by gliding your finger across the letters on a grid (see above picture). When you take your fingers off of the screen, if you have made a legitimate word, you earn points which are determined by the letter values attached to the letters and the length of the word. 

It’s fun.

I once mentioned the game to someone with religious convictions. I indicated that I had accomplished a very high score and explained my strategy.

My plan of attack was to start a new game and immediately examine the letters on the board to look for a favorable playing field. By this I mean that I would scan the board and if I didn’t see letters I wanted to be in play or did see letters that I did not want to see in play, I would end the game and start anew.

Upon hearing my approach in obtaining a high score, the religious person told me that I was cheating. I found her comment absurd. She said it with a smile, but she wasn’t kidding. She meant it. To her, game playing had moral implications and was a way to measure a person’s truthfulness and gauge their religious righteousness.

I will repeat that this is absolutely absurd; it is absurd for two reasons:

1)  it presupposes that there is a God and that religion is an activity that a God would have an interest in and

2)  it assumes that living a righteous life in the glorious graces of the Almighty Creator of the Universe is in part determined by one’s ability to play games with seriousness, integrity, and in accordance with God’s strict gaming laws

Did I mention how absurd this is?

… I have another game I'd like to mention. It’s called Seven Little Words and it is another game that I find very entertaining. I have, of course, developed my own irrepressible and conniving method to both play and be successful in the game. My approach is foolish in that it has no regard for the horrible consequences I am risking in regard to the final disposition of my immortal soul.

I will explain. In this game the player is shown seven descriptions or clues that when solved will result in correctly identifying one of the seven little words. In order to do so the player must connect a series of small groups of letters placed within boxes that contain two or perhaps three letters. (see picture below) If you connect the boxes in the correct sequence you will have your answer to the clues given. 

It’s fun.

7 LITTLE WORDS

You have to figure out the first word before you can move on to the second in the series of seven little words.  My evil nature has prompted me to look at the list of seven words and if I cannot solve the first word, I go on to the next with the intention of going back to the first word later. Once you have grouped the correct boxes and come up with the right word, you can eliminate those boxes when you are trying to solve one of the other words. When I have correctly grouped a series of boxes I place a penny over those boxes so that I do not have to consider them again in the process of identifying the next word.

In other words, I cheat. Or do I?

The object of the game is to identify the correct word after examining the boxes and stringing them together in the right order. There is no mention of whether the use of pennies is illegal. There’s no rule that indicates you cannot look ahead to see if you can eliminate some of the letters before trying to figure out that first word.

What is the object of the game? Is it to entertain? Pass the time? Sharpen your analytical skills? I think it could be one or more of those things. But most importantly, I think the idea is to have fun.

I don’t see why God or religion has to stick their nose into the business of people having fun. It's not really in God or religion's wheelhouse to promote fun. 

But remember, after all is said and done, cheating is lame.