{"id":131615,"date":"2023-02-03T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-144617"},"modified":"2023-02-03T22:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T22:00:00","slug":"soapbox-gaming-superstitions-and-rituals-might-not-work-but-they-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2023\/02\/03\/soapbox-gaming-superstitions-and-rituals-might-not-work-but-they-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Soapbox: Gaming Superstitions And Rituals Might Not Work, But They Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n
\"Fortune<\/a>
Image: Kate Gray<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The God of Random Numbers is real, and he’s in your house right now, sniffing all your dice. If you don’t pray to him, you’ll never see a natural 20 again, and all of your card decks will be stacked against you for the rest of time.<\/p>\n

Or… RNG is exactly what it sounds like. Random<\/em>. Mashing B, or A, or whatever button you fancy when the Pok\u00e9 Ball is tick-tocking to one side and another isn’t going to influence the outcome in any way<\/a>. It’s a placebo, a meaningless ritual that keeps you busy while waiting for the game to arbitrarily decide the result.<\/p>\n

Ooooorrr… it’s somewhere in-between. Perhaps you don’t believe in some kind of deity that oversees random outcomes, but all the same, you carry out those rituals just in case<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Mario<\/a>
This is what the God of Random Numbers probably looks like. I bet he has a comedically-sized die in his hands. \u2014 Image: Nintendo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That’s where I find myself. I’m not a particularly spiritual being, but I have a few nonsense superstitions all the same. I never tell anyone what I wish for on fountain-thrown coins or snuffed-out birthday candles, unless the wish has already come true. I also began wishing whenever the clock struck 11:11 as a teenager, which evolved into having to be sure to see the time change to 11:12, lest the wish not be counted. I don’t care about black cats and ladders, or leaving shoes on the table, but I pick up every penny I see on the floor, germs be damned. One time, when I was a teenager, someone told me it was unlucky to walk over three drain covers in a row (why?) and now I feel weird whenever I do it, so I try not to.<\/p>\n

And so, yes, I have silly little gaming rituals, too. The Pok\u00e9 Ball one was a particular favourite of mine, but Pok\u00e9 Balls have since evolved to not really need the button-mashing technique any more, since they’re much faster and cheaper. When I’m diamond-hunting in Minecraft, I throw all tried-and-tested methods out the window in favour of intuition<\/em>. In Stardew Valley, I dutifully hoe empty patches of land, convinced that any one of them might secretly hide a treasure trove of the exact material I’m looking for, and I make sure to wear the tiara so that any potentially-watching God of Random Numbers will see that I am deserving of fortune.<\/p>\n