054 My Recent Games

In this episode, we're going to be talking about video games. I talk about two games that I've been playing recently, Idle Slayer and RuneScape, both unpopular games that I like a lot. I also talk about how I'm always cheating in these games, and how they are fun in a way that's different from board games.

Transcript

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Kuli English Podcast. And as always, it's me, your host, Chris. So in today's episode, I want to talk to you a little bit about video games.

And I'm going to talk to you about this one game that I've been playing recently. And I say recently, but I've been playing it for a long time. And we'll get into more detail about what I mean when I say playing it, because I'm not actually playing it.

But anyways, before we talk about that specific video game, let's talk about, I think, games in general. Because I feel like when someone says, I like to play games, then people have like usually one of two reactions. And the first reaction is like, oh, wow, that's great, like, what kind of game do you play? I like games too. And that's if you're someone who likes games. But then I think you see this every now and then, but somebody says like, oh, I like games.

And then you get reaction B, which is someone who's like, oh, you like games? Oh, okay. As long as you're having fun. And you know, that is option B. And that's probably like someone who doesn't really like games.

And so I guess it's kind of like, you know, if someone says like, I really like eating burgers. And if you also like burgers, then you can like, kind of, you can kind of like, identify with that. You can say, oh, yeah, like me too.

But then if you really don't like burgers, or you hate burgers or something, then you can't really like share the joy there. So I guess I do want to talk about games, but I'll try to talk about it in a way so that even if you don't like games, then you can at least understand why I like it. And I don't know if I can do a good job explaining that, then I'll feel good about myself.

But maybe it'll be hard to explain it because sometimes I also do weird things in games that I don't even know why, but I enjoy it. So anyways, as always, let's take a short little music break here, and then I'm going to get started and talk about games. 

All right, so I guess let's talk about games in general a little bit.

So I'm going to give a little bit of introduction about games. And if you already have played games before, which is probably most people, then you probably think this is kind of boring, but it's a little bit like, background. But a lot of games, they have like kind of like a goal.

And the goal is to either like get strong or like make money or something like that. And that's like most games. So it doesn't really matter what the type of game is, but there's usually some kind of goal.

Like you got to, you know, move forward in the story or like your main character needs to get stronger or you need to beat a boss or something like that. And then there are a bunch of different types of games. So for example, people will say something like a first person shooter, and it's also abbreviated FPS, you can call it FPS.

And that's like a very classic game where I guess you have like a gun and then you shoot people in the game. And it doesn't really matter the setting. So it could be like, it could be like, you know, a bunch of military guys, like that's like modern warfare or like Call of Duty.

These are like big names in that field. And then you can also have like cartoon people. So for example, if you have like, like Fortnite, and I actually I used to teach English by playing Fortnite with little Japanese kids.

But that's a good example where you also like shoot people, but everything is like a cartoon. So it's not really like, it's not like a war scene. It's not like someone went to war and was like fighting against another country.

It's like a bunch of kids and you can like pay extra money to become like Superman or like Bugs Bunny or like some kind of cartoon character. So that's like, you know, first person shooter. And then there's like other kinds of games.

And I'm not going to talk about all the different categories, but I want to talk about one in particular that I think I have a lot of affinity with. And by affinity, I mean, like, I like it. So if somebody has affinity with something, that means it seems like they're born to like it.

And that's what I mean. I feel like I was born to like this particular type of game. And that particular type of game is called an incremental game.

So an incremental, number one, incremental means something like, it like progresses a tiny bit. So for example, you know, like, let's say I took a test, I took a math test, and then I scored like a 50. And then like the next day, because I studied like a good amount, then I, my score went up to like a 51.

So it's like it barely increased, but it's still an increase. And that's what you call an incremental game. It's like a pretty small game.

And so an incremental game is usually like a numbers game. And the most classic one is this one game called like cookie clicker. And a cookie clicker is like a really famous game from, I don't know, maybe like 20 or 25 years ago.

But it was a very simple game. There's basically like a cookie on the screen, and it's on the computer, by the way. And you just have to click it and you click it a bunch.

And if you click it, every single time you click it, you get a cookie and the cookie is kind of like money. So each time you click it, you get a cookie. But then as you click it, you realize, wait, like this is kind of annoying.

Like I wish I could get more or something like that. And then they have these upgrades that you can spend cookies to make more cookies. So it's kind of like a little bit like an economy game.

Like you basically have to make money and then you spend money so that you can make more money. And this is like kind of what an incremental game is overall. And then, of course, like as you play this game, then they have like a bunch of different upgrades that are not just like you click faster, but rather they do something like, oh, you automatically click this thing and then, oh, you automatically click it even faster.

Oh, all the cookies that you get, is like double or something like that. And so they have all these tiny like, you know, upgrade things. And it kind of gives you like this feeling of, oh, I'm making progress.

And then, you know, if you don't really make progress, then like maybe you're not having fun and you're thinking, oh, this game sucks. But, um, these kinds of incremental games are games that I really like. And, I think I can't even really explain why I like it.

I think it's just because I really like doing like, like little calculations in my mind. So for example, like if you have like two different upgrades and you're not sure which one's better, uh, maybe this one is like, oh, there's like a 50% chance of like doubling what you get. And this other one is like, oh, you have a hundred percent chance of getting like, I don't know, 1.5x. And then I do the math in my head and I'm like, oh, okay, the first one's better or something like that.

Um, so anyways, um, I do want to talk about this one particular game that I've been playing. So now that I've explained to you the category of this game, I'm going to tell you about one specific game that I've been playing a bunch. And this game, I have a lot of history with history, meaning like I've played it in the past and I think I've played it for like over two years now.

But, uh, as I said in the beginning, when I say I played it, I don't really know if like it counts as me playing it. But there's this one game and it's an incremental game. So it's, it's called idle slayer, by the way, this isn't an advertisement or anything.

You don't actually have to play it. In fact, I wouldn't recommend that you play this game, but, um, I played this game and it's a very classic incremental game. So like, I guess you start out and then you want to make money or you want to get stronger and then you do things and then you like make progress.

And then as you make progress, then you start to realize, oh wait, like my progress is slowing down. So like I used to make so much progress, but now that I've been doing it for a little, a little while, like now it seems kind of slow. And then, so what you do is like, you have these other mechanics in the game where they're like, oh, well, you know, if you reset and start from zero, we'll give you like this big multiplier or something like that.

So it's all part of the incremental game, like thing. That's, that's how all incremental games kind of work. And then, so for me, for me, I think I've talked about this in a previous podcast before, but when I play games, especially recently in the past couple of years, after I moved to Japan, after I quit my programming job, really, then I started like really cheating a lot in games.

And I don't know, I think that is what's fun for me. So like I cheat in the game and then instead of like clicking stuff, I have the robot click for me. I like make a robot to do it.

And then, so I've been playing this game, this idle slayer game for like a long time. And then, um, I actually did something and I, I like messed up. So I'm not going to talk too much about that in detail, but basically like I had a lot of progress on this one account and, uh, I, well, I, I made like a script.

I made like a program to like play it for me. And then I also looked up some other programs that other people made online. And then I realized, oh, they had a better one.

So then I like, I take that. And then I use like that plus my own and it's like even better, but then I kind of messed up and I accidentally hit like the, the big reset button on the, on the game and then, uh, I was thinking, oh, wait, like, do I have a backup and like, no, I don't have a backup save file. So then like I, I hit this big reset button and it's not that bad.

It just means that like, um, I have to like restart from zero and then I get like some small upgrades, but it's not actually very good, but, uh, I basically like had to work really hard on that game for like, I think two weeks or maybe three weeks. Yeah. It was even before the snowboarding trip.

So like, um, basically I had to like, um, well, of course I'm not doing it myself. I'm not going to play it myself. So I brought, I have like a special computer that's only for cheating in games.

And then I brought that computer with me to snowboarding. And then while I'm snowboarding, then like I have that thing cheat. But the whole time I'm thinking, oh, I messed up.

I shouldn't have, you know, like accidentally hit that reset button. And then like, and then it actually, it took me like about three weeks to get back to where I am, where I was before. So if I didn't hit that reset button, I would, I would have like probably continued to make like, you know, progress.

I say I make the progress, but what I really mean is like the robot, the robot, the script, the cheating robot actually makes progress. So, so that, um, I just, I don't know why, but I'm just like really glad that I'm like back to where I am now. And then all the normal like cheating stuff is like working again, because like when you first start cheating, like sometimes you don't have the upgrades that you need to like cheat really well.

Uh, so anyways, um, that was probably a little bit too much in detail about that particular like game and the cheating thing. So let's take a short little break here and then I'm going to come back and talk to you about a different game.

All right.

So, um, we just talked about like incremental games and, uh, I could tell you about another incremental game because I've played like so many different types. I have like three that I could just talk about right now. And I could talk forever about incremental games, but instead, uh, let me actually change gears a little bit and let me tell you about this recent game that I've been playing.

And so, um, to give a little bit of a background on this game, uh, let me give a couple of different other categories of games. So, um, so we talked about how you have incremental games, which is the type of games that I like, and there's also like FPS, like shooter games, and then there's also, I don't know, like classic fighting games, like imagine like the arcade, uh, where, I don't know, you play like a fighter guy and he's like really strong and the enemy plays some kind of fighter guy and they're both really strong with lots of muscles and then you like punch each other until like one person wins. And that's like a fighting game.

So you can call it a fighting game. I guess maybe the whole category is like action games. And then, uh, now there's another category, which is a pretty big category, which is called an RPG and an RPG, it stands for a role-playing game, but, um, I feel like that's not a really good description. I think a good description of RPG is a game about like getting upgrades and leveling up. So it's, you remember how I mentioned like incremental games, you like kind of, you know, make progress, you make money or something like that.

But then RPG is usually, there's lots of different things to level up. So in like a classic RPG, there's always a bunch of different things. Like maybe you can go fishing or you go mining or something, and then you like collect resources and then you get things and then you use those things to like level up something or like to go like do quests or something.

But like, imagine you're like a hero and you're doing things in like another world, that's probably an RPG. And so there is this one RPG that I've been playing recently. And I, I actually did try recording an episode before about that particular game, but I think that game's a little bit too weird.

It's too weird because it's like kind of not a great game and it's not really popular enough. So like, if you look up like, let's say like top 100 most popular games in the world, this game is definitely not in the top 100. And so I feel like it's, it's too unpopular to talk about it.

But, I do want to talk about how this particular game, I'll just mention the name and I'm not going to really describe like what kind of game it is, but I have some funny stories to tell you. But, so this game is a game that I played, I think when I was actually really young. So I think I was like in like third grade or fourth grade.

So this is like over 20 years ago. It was a really, really, really old game. And not just that, but like, I think me and also a couple other like friends that I've made in college, because we're all around the same age, a lot of us have also played games like from a young age.

I used to play games from a young age. They also played games from a young age and then they played some of the same games like growing up. So then like, you have a little bit of like, oh yeah, no way, dude.

You played that or something. There's like that, like nostalgia, nostalgia, meaning in Japanese it's natsukashii, but it's kind of like, oh dude, like that, that it's a, it's a throwback, it brings me back to, to remind me of those, of those good times or something like that. But, so this particular game that we played, it's called RuneScape.

You don't have to know what it is, but this game, we, we didn't really initially plan on like playing that because the game just like looks really ugly. Like if you compare it to like modern games, I think modern games are actually very, very, very pretty. Like, I remember I was playing like this horror game with my friend and the horror game, like, it's like a scary game and then like you'd make choices and then like things change in the game.

But I remember like actually like some of the scenes of like, you know, people walking and stuff like that. It looks like a movie almost like, it's like really good. Like a lot of games just are looking better and better.

And even now, probably like the newest games probably look even better than any of the games that I've played. But this game that I'm talking about, RuneScape, it's a really ugly game. Like the, the people moving, they don't really look like people.

It's just, and it's just because like this game is so, so old, but, but people still play it and all the people who play it are usually like around my age. I, uh, I'm like coughing because I'm too old, but, um, if you look up stuff about this game online and then a lot of the people commenting on it, like, uh, you can kind of tell that they're all around my age and some of them are like, you know, recently parents, so they had kids and so now they're parents. And then they talk about how, Oh, like I played this game while I like raised my kid or something like that.

But, um, this game in particular, so it's no exception to me. Okay. So I like cheating in basically every single game. Any kind of game that's like a video game, that's like based on the computer, like I, I feel enticed to teach, enticed, meaning like I feel something pulling me. I feel like I should cheat.

And it's just because like, you know, I I've cheated before. I have all these tools to cheat. So maybe I should cheat a little bit more.

But, um, this game, there is a special like seasonal mode and the seasonal mode, it only comes out like once every one or two years. And then, so it actually, the most recent one, um, it came out on April 15th. It was called demonic pacts, which was like a, it's a, it's a gaming thing.

Um, if you play a bunch of games, maybe you've heard that term before, but demonic as in like demons and the pacts,  P A C T S meaning like deals, like trades. And, uh, so in this game mode, um, everyone starts from zero and then at the end of the game mode. So after like basically eight weeks or so, then everything gets deleted.

So you don't even get to keep your progress, but you know, the people who play, because they're all playing for nostalgia, they're all playing for, you know, just because they used to play as a kid and then now recently they want to, they want to play it again or something like, uh, people play it. Like there are still a good number of people that play it, but, but, um, now let me talk about me cheating in this game. So like, if I cheat in this game, like, you know, I, I get more progress, so I'll like make more money or I'll get stronger or something like that.

And then, uh, something that feels bad is like, um, my friends who play it. So the same friends from college, the ones that were like, oh yeah, dude, I played that too. So those people, they also are playing this game mode and then I play this game mode and then online, like, you know, we, we, we chat about the game or something like that, but then something that's weird is like, if I cheat a bunch in this game, then like, I'm getting so much more stuff than like my friends who aren't cheating.

So then like, there's a little bit of guilt to it. So guilt meaning like, oh dude, I feel a little bit bad for them. Like I'm making too much progress.

So then, uh, so then, uh, actually maybe this is a good point for a short little break. Let's take a short little break. And then I'm going to tell you some more about like, it's, I feel like it's a cliffhanger, but I'm going to tell you more about like this, this like race that I had with my friend.

Let's take that music break.

All right, all right, all right. Okay, so I want to tell you about this race thing that I had. So in this game, if you play it, and you play it for, I don't know, like a week or so, maybe you'll probably eventually get all the stuff, all the upgrades that you want.

But in this game mode, because I'm a cheater, then like, I can't really have like a good race with my friend. And then, so I have a friend who's kind of like, hey, we should have a race. So we should see who makes it to beat all the stuff in this game first.

And then the way that I've always played this game is I have always played it like, sometimes I play it like actually, by myself, by my own hands, I'm controlling my character. And then the other times, for example, if I go out to eat, or if I'm sleeping, or I go to hang out with some people, then I always have a robot take care of my character. And that's just, I had, and I think I've done that like every single year that every single time this game mode came out, I've always cheated in it. 

And then so just this one time, my friend was like, hey, dude, we should have a race. So we should see who can make it to the end. And then I was thinking, like, wait a minute, like, I'm like a super cheater. 

So then I told my friend, I was like, wait a minute, I'm a super cheater. So this is like unfair. And so my friend was like, oh, okay, well, you know, like, maybe if you don't cheat, then we can have like a fair race.

So then I was like, okay, okay, I can, I can do that. So then, for the first time, in a long time, like, actually, I say this, and I mean it, but for the first time in a long time, I'm like playing this game without cheating. And it just feels a lot different than what I'm used to, because I'm always cheating. 

And then now, now that I'm not cheating, like even decisions in the game, like sometimes you have to decide, like, do you want this upgrade? Or do you want this upgrade? And then like one of them, I always think about them in terms of like, oh, which one will help my robot more? Because I'm not really playing the game for me, I'm playing for my robot, I'm trying to set it up so that I can have a fantastic robot. But then, you know, playing this game for the first time, without intentionally trying to cheat in everything, it's been a really different experience. And then, so actually, another funny development in this is like, so number one, that friend has basically never really cheated in this game. 

And I've cheated like a lot in this game. And then I played a bunch in the past, and I made a lot of money. Also, kind of not really through cheating, but a little bit through cheating. 

And then like, I had a bunch of money. And then like, I gave all the money to my friend. And like, you know, we're really good friends. 

So it's like a permanent loan. And that person just has like all the all the money that I amassed. And they're like super rich, they're going to be rich forever. 

But then, but then that that friend of mine has never cheated in this game. But then in this race, I guess, I think we both felt a little bit of pressure, like, like, I want to win the race. And I don't know if you guys have ever like raced somebody, like imagine like a foot race. 

So foot race, just like a running race, like someone says, like, hey, like, let's run from here to there and run as fast as you can. And it's like, kind of like, there's this this kid-like fun, there's something deep down that kind of finds that fun. And that part of you is kind of like a kid. 

And that always stays there, I think. But then like, of course, as you become an adult, then like, you don't really find the situations to like run really fast. You don't really do that, because you consider it dangerous or like, I don't know, there's no reason to run really fast.

And also, as adults, like you don't really ask another adult like, hey, let's race over there. But then, but then when we were playing this game, we're both thinking, wow, we've played this game, like, you know, every year. And like, I want to win. 

So then I like we worked out a deal. I was like, okay, so how about just like a tiny bit of cheating? So a tiny bit of cheating, so that like, if it affects my health, so if I have to like click a lot or something like that, or something that's not good for my finger, then I'm allowed to cheat, right? And then my friends like, yeah, of course, like your health is most important. And then I was like, okay, then you you can cheat too. 

And then the funny thing is, I think, a couple days later, like, so that friend is in the US, and I'm in Japan, right? And so if I'm playing during Japan time, like it also overlaps with the time in California, when people are supposed to be sleeping, which is like, you know, 2am, 3am, or something like that, maybe even 4am. And something that I realized is like, my friend who I'm racing was like, always online. Sometimes if I message like in the in the group chat in the game, that's like, hey, what are you leveling up? And then my friend will respond. 

But then like, once I think it was like 3am in the morning in California. And then you know, that friend is definitely sleeping because it was like a work day. And then I was like, hey, what are you leveling up? And then that person like didn't respond. 

And then I just saw this notification that's like, oh, this character has leveled up. Oh, this character has leveled up. And then I was thinking like, okay, somebody is definitely cheating. 

And then after I saw that, I was like, well, why am I not cheating? And then so like, you know, I had this thing that was like, okay, I'm not going to cheat for like, you know, the first at least couple days. And then by like day two or day three, I was like, right back into cheater Chris, I was like super cheating and everything. I went back to cheating, like, like completely in everything possible within like a week. 

So like, I had like this short period of time where I was like, I'm gonna play honest. And by the way, my character's name is Honest Jerry, like I have a separate character. And I created him just for cheating. 

And his name is Honest Jerry. Because I don't know, I think it's kind of funny that he's like always cheating, but his name's like Honest. But anyways, so I have a character named Honest Jerry, and he's always cheating. 

So it's, my character is even cheating right now. So as I'm recording this podcast, I put the botting computer, the computer that's cheating in my bedroom so that you can't hear the worrying because I can't have that noise come into the mic. But like, I'm like cheating basically 24/7, and it feels good to be back to cheating me. 

So I guess that's like the summary of this, this whole thing. So like, I, again, to summarize, I played this game with my friend, and then we had a race. And then to make the race fair, I said, I'm not gonna super cheat. 

And then, but we said a little bit of cheating is okay for like health reasons. And then I guess it's not like a strict race. Like we didn't say like, oh, like, you know, if you're a loser, you got to like pay me 100 bucks or something. 

It's like a race for fun just to see who gets there. But then I don't know, we get like emotionally invested. So then I like, I feel like I want to win. 

And like, normally, I don't really care that much. And like board games, if I win or lose, but this, this one, I kind of wanted to win. And then eventually, like, I noticed that this person was cheating. 

And then I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna cheat too. And then like, I just went back to like super cheating. And actually, I still lost. 

And it's because I made some like poor decisions at the end, like at the very end, I could have won if I was being smart, but I wasn't smart. And my friend played everything very smart at the end. So then they like won. 

And it was a very clean victory. Like I remember thinking, oh, I'm a little bit disappointed that I lost. But I'm like really happy for my friend, who like, had this really cool win. 

So then, you know, they won, and they won the race, the race isn't even like an official thing. But you know, they got all the unlocks all the power ups. And then I got all the power ups like a little bit after that. 

And then we're back to our normal selves. So I don't know how much the friend is cheating, but I'm cheating a lot. And cheating is kind of why I like that game. 

So anyways, I am a super cheater. And with that, let's take one last short little break. And then we'll come back and talk some more about games.

Alright, so let's go ahead and make our way into this last section here. And so you know, I just told you a bunch about cheating. And like, well, I had this short period of time where I didn't really cheat. 

And then like, I went back to full 100% cheating. And that feels pretty good. But as I talked to you about this cheating and stuff, like, I feel like I should also talk about how I don't recommend cheating for everybody. 

And so, you know, cheating, like, I guess, when you say the word cheating, number one, it sounds like you're not talking about cheating in a game, but you're cheating, like in a relationship. And so there's kind of like this negative feeling to the word cheating. Like, if I say I'm a cheater, that people are going to say, oh, okay, so you, like, cheat on your girlfriend or something like that's like the first meaning. 

And then the second meaning is like, oh, like, I'm a cheater. And I mean, in video games, okay. And there's like another one, which is like, oh, if I have a diet, and then I'm like cheating on the diet, that means I'm not actually following the diet, I'm like accidentally, or secretly eating potato chips, or like ice cream or something like that.

And so, you know, like the word cheater is kind of not a very good word. So I also want to just talk a little bit more about what I recommend for people who want to cheat or not cheat in games, I'm only talking about games, I'm not talking about relationships or anything like that. So first of all, if you want to cheat, then you should go ahead and cheat is what I think, when it comes to games, like the whole point of the game is for you to have fun. 

And so if you want to cheat, then well, you know, why don't you go ahead and give it a try. And then, but this also comes from the viewpoint of that, like the game is for you to have fun. And then at the same time, when you cheat in games, if you were to cheat in a way that ruins other people's fun, then it's kind of like that's a little bit unfair. 

So I don't really do that. So when I play games, and I like make a lot of money or something, I always try to make it in a way that doesn't actually affect like individual people. So if there was a way to cheat, and you could steal money from someone, then I wouldn't do that. 

Because that's actually just mean, like someone else, you know, they have all this hard-earned money in this game or something, and then you steal it from them. Like this feels bad, you're like actually hurting an individual person. But then I guess, I don't know, sometimes they have these like dumb things in the game where like everybody has to do this thing, where you have to go and like, do this really boring thing for like five minutes, and nobody likes those five minutes, then I am a big fan of cheating there.

So I guess when I say cheating, I am assuming that it's something that is going to make your life better. So by better, I mean, like, you don't have to do something you don't want to do. And at the same time, it doesn't make other people's lives worse. 

This is like a big part. And I think it'll get into a gray area. If I talk about anything outside of games, if I were to talk about, I don't know, like money or something like in real life.

So I'm not going to talk about that. But I also do think that if you want to cheat, then you know, you should give it a try in a game. And then if you don't really have an interest in cheating, like that's totally fine. 

I think it's one of those things where if you really like playing by the rules, and like that's what is the most enjoyable for you, then yeah, totally, like do that. And I think there's kind of an understandable way of thinking, which is kind of like, well, if you just like don't follow the rules, then like, what are we even doing? Like that is part of the game. Like the rules are part of the game. 

And this definitely makes sense for when you play like board games, like if you're playing with your friends, and you're playing board games, by the way, I would highly recommend playing board games as like a way of like language learning, because a lot of things that come up in board games, those things are like phrases and conversations that you don't really have in everyday life. So like in everyday life, like what do you do a lot, you probably order food a lot, or like you schedule things with people a lot. So you get pretty good at saying like, okay, I want this with like no pickles. 

Or like, oh, I want this soda. Or you say like, Oh, how much is this? Or I'm going to pay with credit card or something like that. Like you, you get a lot of practice saying those kinds of things. 

But like in a board game, like there's a lot of weird phrases and situations that come up. For example, for example, like I have three sheep and you have two goats. So how about I give you two sheep and you give me one goat or something like that. 

But you never say this in real life, but when you say it in a board game, like it's the one time where like, Oh, it actually is useful to say something crazy like that. And then, so by the way, I, yeah, I do recommend like board games and stuff, but at the same time in board games, if you were to cheat in board games, like, I think this actually does kind of take away the fun from like some other people, because let's say like, instead of me saying I have three sheep and you have two goats, let me give you two sheep for one goat. But if I were to cheat and I were like to secretly take like all the sheep cards, when I say I have three sheep, like that's no longer true. 

Like if I cheated, I would say I have like all 40 sheep and you have only like three goats. So let me give you two sheep. Let me give you just two of my sheep, which is something that I can definitely afford. 

And you give me a goat. It's different, right? Because then the feeling, the feeling is kind of like, Oh, well, this person just has everything. So like, why am I even trying? Maybe I should just give up. 

And so, you know, the person with all the sheep, I don't even know if that's like a good example that is easy to understand. But in board games, I don't actually recommend cheating. But so I say this, but there's another thing. 

And I must admit that I have cheated in board games before, but a lot of the times it's because I just don't care. And it's because like, when I go to the board games, I have like a certain mentality that I think that I think is a little bit different than when I went in the US. But uhh, in the US, when I played board games with people, like it was about the board game. 

And it was just different because when I played board games in the US, everyone was like usually a native English speaker. So there were no like language barriers. And so you play a game and then like you try to enjoy the game. 

And that's like kind of how it is. And then after I moved to Japan, like because I wasn't always good at Japanese, like I had to like study a lot. And I had to also make a lot of mistakes to actually learn through my mistakes. 

But when I played board games, like at first, it was just for the purposes of like learning languages and making friends. Like I didn't really actually care about the board game itself. And I just wanted to like understand what people were saying when they were speaking Japanese and have a little bit of practice saying weird things like, I have three sheep, you have two goats, give me one goat, I'll give you two sheep, something like that. 

And then and so like, I guess in those kinds of games, like sometimes if I'm taking too long on my turn, and you know how in board games, you have to like take turns and stuff. Well, if I were to take too long on my turn, then other people are going to suffer. And so I was thinking, okay, in this situation, it's better to just do something that doesn't make sense, even if it means that I'll lose, or maybe it means that I'm cheating, or I'm not following the rules or something. 

But that way, other people can actually like, they don't have to keep waiting for me to finish my turn. And so I didn't want to cause them any like inconvenience. So then, like, I remember early on when I would play board games that like this board game cafe, like, I think I cheated a lot. 

And then like, I didn't even win. But the goal wasn't to win. The goal is just so that I like make it smoother, because I already feel like, oh, I feel like I'm holding people back, because like, my Japanese isn't really good enough. 

But then, you know, I also, I don't want to also hold them back by like taking a long time with my turn. That way, it's a little bit like more enjoyable for everyone. So I had a bunch of different levels of cheating that I talked about. 

Number one was like, you know, the cheating that I talked about in the game. And then like, you know, I had a race with someone and then realized, oh, they're cheating too. Well, I'm going to cheat too. 

And then now I'm mega cheating. I'm like, my laptop's in my bedroom, like, super cheating. So there's like that. 

And then I also talked about how actually cheating in board games with friends and stuff, I wouldn't recommend that. If you're trying to like enjoy the board game, then you have to follow the rules, then like, I believe in that.

But if you are playing the board game, and you really don't understand the rules, maybe because you're doing it as like a language exchange thing, or you just don't really care, then yeah, I think I wouldn't call that cheating. I would call that just doing whatever. Because like, if you don't really understand the rules, like, is it really cheating? I don't know. 

I think it's just, it can't be helped. It's shouganai is what you say in Japanese. It can't be helped.

Um, so sometimes I recommend cheating. If you want to try programming, you should cheat. If you don't understand the rules, and you don't really care, you should cheat.

But if you understand the rules, and you want to have a good time with the board game, then actually maybe you shouldn't cheat. And then you know, if you if you believe that cheating is like not the way that you would enjoy the game, then then don't cheat. And then as always, if you're gonna have a race with friends or something, like you got to be honest about the tools that you're using. 

So if I have a race with someone, I would never have a race and lie to them and say, yeah, I'm playing everything myself. Yeah, I only sleep like, like 10 minutes a day. And I'm always playing my game like 24/7, that would be lying. 

So instead, from the beginning, I say like, oh, actually, I'm a super cheater. I cheat a lot. So like, it's I'm not actually playing it by myself.

I'm like playing it by myself sometimes. And then on top of that, I like make things to cheat. So this is like really unfair. 

If that's okay, then maybe we can do like a race or something like that. 

So anyways, I think maybe that's been enough. To be honest, I wish I wish I could talk about this recent game that I've been playing a lot of. 

But I did try it. I tried about a 30 minute like episode, and it didn't really go that well. So actually, we'll probably not really talk about that. 

And we'll talk about some other things. And then pretty soon, I'm actually going to be traveling. So I'm not really sure if I'll be able to put out another podcast episode on next Tuesday.

But we'll see. Like, I'll try my best. But in this episode, you know, I guess we have this one.

And thanks a lot for listening until the end of this podcast episode. And as always, you know, you can follow or you can subscribe if you want, but you don't have to. And with that, thank you so much. 

And you've been listening to Kuli English Podcast, and I was your host, Chris. So I'm gonna have some ending music and then nothing's gonna happen. So you can kind of end this now if you want to. 

Anyways, thank you so much.