The surprisingly beneficial game of Macho.

Macho is a game of theatre.

But so often the humour is lost.

When I lived in South Africa, I found that the culture of the Dutch descendants - Afrikaaners - was competitive macho. I could be doing most anything; making a sandwich, say; and up would spring a Boer would say, ‘Hey boitjie, let me show you how to do that better.’

Everything was a contest, all was competitive, and that was all that mattered. Sometimes joking, but usually not.

This is competitive macho. Its aim is not to better yourself in any way, but to dominate someone else.

But there is a better way.

The theatre of Macho

Macho at its best is parody of masculinity: a mockery of itself and its participants.

The players do this for good reason. Mock Macho pretends to be a serious contest, but at its heart it is the opposite. It presents a space where it is safe to try and fail, and the larger the characters involved, the less stigma is attached to losing the contest.

A friendly rival might mock himself as a caricature who Cannot Be Defeated! The Ace of Alphington! The Bravo of Balwyn!

There is no shame in losing to The Bravo of Balwyn, and no loss of face to the person under that mask. The game becomes a farce like so much Mexican wrestling.

Ace?

Mock Macho builds camaraderie, confidence and skills without any loss at a loss.

With its aversion to tall poppies, Australian culture seems a recipe for mock macho.

On Australian culture

Comedy legends Roy and HG played exactly on this. Rampaging Roy Slaven was, according to his own straight-voiced accounts, unassailable in any sporting endeavour that he turned his hand to.

G’won Roy - Put a gap in ‘em!

It is all fun posturing, a mockery of manliness, and the audience are in on the joke.

This was noticeable when one live guest sought to break the scene.

Roy was relating a story about being a champion skier, when their guest responded with, “And then you woke up.”

The crowd turned against her. Boo on her for bursting the theatre that was Roy’s sporting life. A spoilsport.

The correct play at this point would have been to keep the scene, support his character, accept his offer, and feed back opportunity for more macho, say by asking about his run on the giant slalom being performed with a torn hammy and a schooner of Newcastle Brown in hand.

Ramp UP the theatre! Play the game of macho.

How to play Macho.

Macho is a cooperative game where the victory outcomes are bonding and camaraderie.

Macho is like childhood playfighting. Half the fun is in beating your chest, or leaping in with a ‘Raaaaaaw!!!’

Raise the farce: Make it more ridiculous. Wear a tea cozy on your head if you need to.

Lower the stakes: Whatever prize you are striving for has to not matter at all, and preferably where everyone benefits. If the winner wins something sharable, then share it!

Remove status: Take out all rank from the situation. Probably the CEO of a company should opt out at this point.

Make memorable events: Not the best but the funniest. Leave everyone with stories to tell.

There is a lot going on in this, so let’s take a look at Barnawatha.

Barnawatha NorthCricket Club.

As far as I know, no current member of The Barnies has ever stepped foot in Barnawatha, let alone North of it. So even their team name is mock.

The players each week are drawn from a hat, including the captain; if you drop a catch, you have to wear a jester’s hat until someone else drops one; they field nine slips until the opposition score a run; and they do no heckle the opposition, but themselves.

Barnawatha North's nine-slip cordon in its full glory

With all this going on, The Barnies actually win far more games than they have any right to. Not that winning is the point of them playing. No, they are getting out of it exactly what they want: A highly enjoyable time, camaraderie, and some memorable moments.

One actual entry in their records is: "Martin Vana once took a catch in the traditional Barnie nine-slip opening while still clutching a snitzel sandwich".

Applied macho game theory

Mock macho’s rewards are not monetary, but social.

This, I believe, is where American culture differs from the rest of the West - they can’t help but to ruin a good sport with monetary prizes.

Even in competitive role-playing games, altruism between players is often the players’ reason for playing. The social bond of mock competition.

One video game created bonus ‘bombs’ designed specifically to be altruistic. The one who bought one was the only one who could not pick up the items that exploded from it.

These bombs were wildly popular; people clambered over each other to spend money on them just to set them off for the benefit of others.

While Competitive Macho encourages a fixed mindset which is all about winning rather than improving, Theatrical Macho encourages people to forget about the win and focus on enjoying the engagement, allowing skills development, a growth mindset and the taking on of stronger opponents.

So be a Barnie – create a game you would enjoy playing, not winning.