Nostr makes all social media platforms redundant.
If you ever find yourself doing something online without stopping ask yourself, 'why the hell am I doing it like this?' then you might be playing the game. If, however, you do possess the strength and mental discernment to stop yourself and question what you are doing, then I think there are a few plausible answers at which you might arrive:
The first is that it is cultural or conventional. For example,
consider the rules of grammar and language. We do not have to reinvent the rules of grammar or the meaning of certain words or phrases with every utterance specifically because of this conventional aspect. If it works, it works. Culture is similar, habits are adopted by groups of people within a certain culture for more complex reasons than mere convenience; nevertheless, one effect is that it can become a matter of convenience. Culture is like a groove on a record that people can fit into if they so wish and vibe with, like the needle. It means people do not have to reinvent ourselves with each new day. A disruption of the cultural or conventional may cause a relatively higher degree of friction. By contrast, there are actions performed as a force of habit, like the way someone pulls on their socks. These are matters of convention on the individual level.
The second plausible reason is that you may think such an action to be expedient in securing a desired effect. For example, you may forgo purchasing a new blazer and instead put the money into savings, in order to relieve some amount of future discomfort or suffering. Otherwise, you may conduct yourself according to the rules of what is just and good, in order to obtain your reward in the hereafter. This second category of reasons for performing actions does not need to be rational in a strictly objective sense. Instead, what is expedient to the individual is defined by the individual performing such an act.
In this second category of action, I would also include any non-action in the same praxiological manner as applied by Mises on the subject in Human Action. For example, when one for 'personal day' where one puts aside their usual responsibilities for the sake of doing 'nothing' is action in the sense that it is performed to achieve the desired effect of procuring rest. This is also a particularly damnable category of acting because as humans, we possess the uniquely clever ability to rationalize certain actions for any innumerable reasons.
When an individual rationalizes an action that is not necessarily pleasant, but also doesn't accord with their own subjective definition of expediency in that it is expedient only according to an authored set of principles that are not one's own, nor can it be arrived at by objective reasoning, then I think this is the quintessential definition of 'playing the game.'
There are innumerable examples that I could illustrate, but for the moment, let's look at the game of the social media influencer. To attain this status, you need a great deal of followers, which requires a great deal of work and attention. These are rules defined by the platform. They may gain you prestige, which is a matter of expediency to future success, but each individual action is defined by the rules of the platform. It is rationalized, sure enough, but only insofar as a matter of slight inconvenience in order to reach even higher levels of fame or notoriety.
All of this is redundant on a protocol like Nostr. Before, you had to work around a predetermined algorithm, pander for followers, likes and views. The value for value system on Nostr makes this pandering irrelevant. This has been beautifully illustrated by Corndalorian here (https://highlighter.com/corndalorian@nostr.report/thoughts-on-v4v). In a sense, you define the rules of the game.
The Nostr protocol is an amazing tool for this reason among many others. It is still in its nascent stages, and therefore, many of the full capabilities have not been fully realized even still. Definitely don't play games defined by social media platforms. Take advantage of V4V, focus on your improving your craft and taking care of yourself and your loved ones.
