Putting on a Brave Face
The key to success in any game is to be able to influence, or control, events so that they fall in one?s favor. To this end, the Player?s modus operandi is to achieve and maintain leverage over their opponent. Just like holding the higher ground in a battle, leverage helps the Player to maintain the upper hand in the relationship.
This leverage need not refer to anything with a basis in fact in order to be effective. It is enough to convince an opponent that you have leverage over him for him to experience that danger as though it were real. Thus Players have become masters at the art of managing impressions.
The Italian expression: “fare una bella figura” (“putting on a nice face”) defines the action of the Player quite elegantly. Rather than concern himself with the facts of reality, the Player imagines his own artificial reality and shapes the facts he posits to suit his own ends. Thus by appearing to be virtuous, he may in actuality be treated as such. Appearances may be deceiving, but they are also convincing, and the Player is capable enough to know that what’s underneath isn’t what counts in the Game – what matters is what shows.
The poseurs are not new to The Game, indeed they have been playing throughout our history. There have never been so many of them, however, as there are now. The trick is to appear successful in order to convince us that they are so. Thus they become the first product to be sold using their accomplished marketing skills. If we buy into their success and sincerity we are more likely to buy whatever else they are selling. In today’s world the appearance of success must precede success itself – an observation which brings to light the entirely cyclical nature of a society which prizes the appearance of success in its own right, irrespective of how much the poseur might actually achieve.
These are not real people but rather fa?ades, unable to entirely shake off the genuine article. A small number of those with actual talent are required to produce whatever product the salespeople may be selling, but make no mistake as to the chain of command: the Players are the masters here. Their subordinates may be styled as experts, developers or advisers, but don’t expect a Player to surrender one jot of his power and status: it won’t happen!