Gaming and Trading

I have been undertaking further study of people. The analytic mind is constantly amazed at what others will do. Indeed, when time and abstraction from the situation allow, my own actions are utterly confusing for me to understand.

To this end, I got into online gaming. Specifically, online PVP or player versus player gaming. Obviously while exciting to play, playing against a computer has no comparison in dealing with a human opponent. While I did chose a game I enjoyed playing, I also made sure to chose something which required team play. That's right, while the game was PVP, it required playing as a team with 2, 3, or 4 other people you may or may not know. Success came to those who understood how people work, how to be a leader, how to motivate; indeed how to succeed at a common goal when given a random selection of people. Alexander the Great's success can be attributed to his mastery of this skill.

This gaming binge culminated in me running a semi-professional team, entering contests for real money (who knew people would pay to watch this?) and competing with other teams. I must tell you from the start that this ended as one can expect. We had some great early successes, but slowly and surely personalities began to outshine our success. Being human, mistakes are inevitable. As the fearless leader, I ultimately saw the team disband after an especially egregious series of mistakes and loses. It's almost like a bad dream. In just 2 short hours we went from a successful, united team to splintered and disbanded.

So what happened? In short, people. I had lessons yet to be learned on understanding people's actions and taking control. While this spectacular defeat is meaningless in the grand scheme of life, it's lessons are not. I experienced all portions of the emotional spectrum while undertaking play. I have raged, confronted my own disappointment and fears, and accomplished my own goals through what can only be called undying perseverance and study. It must be said I am not a gamer. This PC upon which I type is not a "gaming rig". I didn't have all the best tools, nor the natural skill that would allow me to succeed. But succeed I did. Before I ended the experiment a few weeks ago, I rose to the top 15% of players, the small percentage who can say they have a > 55% winning percentage₁.

So what does this have to do with trading? Well, the untold story above is what it cost me. I said I accomplished my goals, but it was a year long struggle. My devotion and study was immense. I had to learn many lessons the hard way, and not unlike trading, had to pay my dues. Digging myself into a hole only made my eventual rise that much more difficult, but it also allowed it to be more rewarding.

Trading is about people. People make markets. To pit your brain and might against another is the greatest thrill in the world. To walk away successful is to know no greater joy. So many lessons have been learned about people, about leadership, and about anticipating other actions. I hope to apply these thoughts into my future strategies and having learned these lessons in a virtual world I trust I can carry at least some of the answers into the real world.



1. It's interesting to note a vast majority of people never rise above a 50% win ratio, many never even coming close. This corresponds extremely well to what we find in trading. It's the top 5% in trading who are truly successful, perhaps 10% more who manage to scrape by with minor success. The overwhelmingly majority hardly break even, with most losing much more than they win.