The... Rock-Paper-Scissors?

[darude11]

What do you think is the psychology behind this game? I know that it is like this:
Rock (is) - hard, barbarian, when person is stressed
Paper - 'modern victory over barbarism', money
Scissors - crafting, confidient or winning person
Do you think there is some kind of 'prefered' sign for some functions/personalities/whatev'?

Next one is, that player usually go subconsciously in the order of 'I should choose the one that would win over my last one'. Is it like that or it is because of name of the game?

Maybe last one is... which one you choose to start?

 

[Dr. Freeman]

Random, from there I try to determine how my opponent will react to my starting choice.

 

[Dormouse]

Rock, because nobody starts with paper.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

Why not paper? Everybody starts with rock.

 

[boondockbabe]

I start with paper because everyone starts with rock.

 

[kantor1003]

I start with paper because everyone starts with rock.

Same here.

 

[Melllvar]

The poll options are simply not complex enough.

There is a three tiered system to out-guessing someone in rock-paper-scissors.

(1) Guess what their first move will be (most commonly rock, although maybe you have some weirdo who's just fond of paper/scissors).
(2) Guess how many layers deep they will try to out-guess you. ("He'll pick rock, so I'm going with paper." "But he knows I'm smart enough to do that, so he'll go with scissors. I'm going back to rock." "Maybe he's assuming I'll do that also, so it's back to scissors for me.")
(3) Guess how they will change up their pattern to remain unpredictable. This can start as early as the first move. ("It's best two out of three, so if he goes with paper first, he'll throw my entire game out of whack. Sacrifice the first round to win the mind battle in the second two. There's no telling what he might pick next." or "Will he go with rock twice in a row, or switch to scissors or paper next? If he has gone with rock twice in a row, surely he won't do it a third time. Although he might think I won't expect him to do it a third time, and do it a third time anyway.")

You can really never put too much thought into paper-rock-scissors.

A bigger problem is the lack of universal rules for whether you go on the three or four count. As in "rock, paper, scissors" and show your hand on scissors, or "rock, paper, scissors, go" and show your hand on go. This can lead to shady tactics too: they can pretend not to understand when to go so they'll see what you'll do first, which gives them some insight into your mindset and how you'll be playing.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Good old rock. Nothing beats rock.

 

[cheese]

Scissors. It feels right. Isn't anyone else like this? I thought scissors would be pretty common. Have I been living in a dreamworld? Is my mind hooked up to a giant supercomputer simulating a false reality? Is this forum the only truth I'll ever know?

 

[Hadoblado]

With my right hand I go rock, and with my left casually held near my belly button I make the scissors sign trying to send subliminal messages to control their choice. So far it has worked about 60% of the time but its a really small sample and I may be exaggerating as I don't write this shit down or anything.

I got the idea from that illusionist Darryl or w/e his name is.

 

[lucky12]

For guys paper, for girls scissors.

My strategy is to stare at my hand and the other persons hand, if its a 3 draw game this helps me develop a decision on the 2 out of 3 throw downs (before you show your hands, fists clenched).

 

[Jesse]

Go with paper always.

Never switch up.

 

[Ayee]

I usually go with rock... It's the easier choice to me (I keep my hand fisted behind my back and then I'm just too apathetic to unclench it) and, from what I've gathered, scissors and rock are overall the most common options.

...What can I say? I'm not really passionate about rock-paper-scissors.

Also, if I get that 'I'M NOT GONNA LOSE, ARGH' vibe from my opponent, then I choose paper because it's likely they will choose rock.

 

[GYX_Kid]

Bulbasaur.

 

[darude11]

Bulbasaur.

and what is that answer supposed to mean?

 

[Melllvar]

I lost a game of rock-paper-scissors this weekend. The stakes were rather high: who got to use a canoe first, me and my dog or another guy and his fishing pole. Took the first round by countering his paper with scissors, then switched to rock for the second and third while he stayed with paper. Final score: me 1, him 2. Sad, sad times.

I feel like I must be out of practice.

 

[Hadoblado]

Best of three RPS is fundamentally retarded. I refuse to partake

 

[Words]

Almost nil, if there is even any inductive pattern to be found here.

I chose rock simply because someone else told me that it had the highest chance of winning. Aside from that, I couldn't care less about rps.

 

[darude11]

I lost a game of rock-paper-scissors this weekend. The stakes were rather high: who got to use a canoe first, me and my dog or another guy and his fishing pole. Took the first round by countering his paper with scissors, then switched to rock for the second and third while he stayed with paper. Final score: me 1, him 2. Sad, sad times.

I feel like I must be out of practice.

well, this is sincerly the reason why do I ask this question almost everywhere, because if there would be me vs. somebody, who is arguing with me, I will just say "Hey, how about RPS? The winner is right!"

 

[Jennywocky]

Scissors. It feels right. Isn't anyone else like this? I thought scissors would be pretty common. Have I been living in a dreamworld? Is my mind hooked up to a giant supercomputer simulating a false reality? Is this forum the only truth I'll ever know?

I would have liked to start with napalm, but that was not one of the choices... so scissors it is. (Preferably with a pair of colorful rubber grips, so that they feel good on my fingers and so that no one can steal them from me without getting caught.)

 

[Linsejko]

I purposely *don't* think about it, and have no idea what my own patterns are. This seems to work remarkably well--I onetime competed in an RPS tournament with about 10 people, and won. It was a dramatic victory, too. Was undefeated for a certain amount of time, then lost 3 straight (each round was best of 5) to a cute little unassuming girl. Went into the loser's bracket, had perfect score again, and then faced cute unassuming girl again.

Ended up 2 v 2, and I won the last one.

Pretty intense.

 

[kantor1003]

Well, if one manage to completely randomize throws, one have reached an equilibrium where one can't be beat by anyone. However, the downside is obv that one will never be able to beat anyone either. Would have been interesting to play a 1000 throw rps game once (assuming the one you play with thinks about what to throw that is). A one throw game seems pointless and you pretty much have to rely on luck, pseudo psychology or that you are aware of statistical probabilities regarding common starting throws.

 

[darude11]

OK, let's change the theme [Well, but if you want to post to the one before, feel free]

How do you detect the opponents throws? I mean - when they throw rock? (I know, when they are angry is the basic one) For example:
Rock - angry, persuading
Scissors - confidient, winning (well, I have read it somewhere)
Paper - :C no idea

Thank you for all your posts!

 

[Linsejko]

Paper would be subversive, sneaky, conniving.

And that all falls under the psuedo-psychology above.

I shouldn't say I reached truly random--I reached truly intuitive. I know there was something going on in my mind to figure out what they would throw and a response mechanism, but I didn't know how it worked, and didn't try to make it a cognitive process.

Some things the subconscious does better. Dealing with human behaviour is one of them.

 

[jameslikespie]

Depends really, I don't really sit around thinking about my rock paper scissors strategy all day

 

[RobdoR]

http://www.worldrps.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=256&Itemid=37

 

[Roran]

Good old rock. Nothing beats rock.

Except, y'know, paper.

 

[kantor1003]

Paper, especially against guys, (there is something masculine and strong about rock and they just can't help themselves it seems) since the general tendency is to start with rock.

/ah, have already posted in this thread. Anyway, I didn't report any starting throw at that time/

 

[Sanctum]

Its all about the previous move. Usually my opponent doesn't think like me so i can easily take advantage of that. I start with rock if i win then i go scissors assuming my opponent will use paper to counter rock. Often i see that people usually put up what would have won the last round very few people catch on to this. Rock paper scissor is very much like chess you have to anticipate your opponents move and understand how the average mind perceives information. It might sound like a lot for a little but its true

 

[conflict]

I usually play rock first, because I can't be bothered to think about what to play first.
But after that I just play whatever will lose to my current move. So the second move will be scissors. The thinking is like this: in the next move, my opponent will play paper 'cos I'm playing rock right now. So in order to beat him/her, I'll have to play scissors. Well, that was how my thinking went when I was 6 anyways. Then I figured the opponent could be thinking the same as me, and the whole thing just fell apart.
Now I just play at random, whatever comes to my mind first. Which still happens to be rock. Damn.

 

[Pizzabeak]

A rock could smash a pair of scissors, you could wrap a piece of paper around a rock (rendering it helpless), and scissors can slice through a piece of paper.

 

[Moocow]

you could wrap a piece of paper around a rock (rendering it helpless),

This doesn't and has never made a damn bit of sense.

 

[Peeps999]

and scissors can slice through a piece of paper.

This also makes no sense. Not only have you failed to destroy the paper, but now there are 2 pieces of paper.

 

[SteelEye]

A rock could smash a pair of scissors

Have you ever TRIED to smash a pair of scissors with just a rock? Cutting rock with scissors, on the other hand, is much easier than you would initially suppose...