A game is a series of transactions ending with predictable, covert payoff. It is different from an operation, where the payoff is not covert, but can masquerade as an operation. In the game of Cops and Robbers, the payoff is getting caught. For a professional criminal, the object is to get away with it. Crime doesn’t pay for the game players, because that is not their objective.
For the professional, it may well pay extremely well. In this contest, Eric Berne mentioned “con games” as being run from an Adult state and having a high payoff.
However, like the Internet scams of today, the object is to make money and although the means of doing so may not be obvious, these qualify as operations rather than games.
When analyzing a game one would need to identify the following:
• The aim of the game. This may differ depending on the role players in a particular game. For one set of players it may be vindication, for another reassurance.
• Roles. Here this describes what parts are played by the various participants. Commonly there a re 3 Roles, Victim, Persecutor and Rescuer. It should be noted that although the Victim seems to be a subordinate role, Victims may initiate the game.
• Dynamics. This refers to the underlying psychological source underlying the game.
• Examples. It is often useful to find examples of similar childhood games. For Cops and Robbers the childhood game is Hide and Seek.
• Transactional paradigm. Here one would identify the various transactions, role players and the ego states from which they operate. It is interesting that a Victim may act from an adult or a Child state and a Persecutor from an Adult or Parent state. The most dramatic is the Parent-Child. But a game cannot be played if both operate from an adult state. A Rescuer operating from an adult state would not be a participant but someone who is genuinely trying to help.
(Continued)
