Tale of the Family Game Night

There once was a boy who was violently shaken awake one day by his older siblings and told to play a game.  He did not want to play a game, but was told he must.

The boy begrudgingly accepted the offer.  He could not for the life of him understand the rules, and most of the older siblings, instead of helping him, took advantage of his ignorance.  They teased him mercilessly and ran up the score on him.

He did not want to play this game, but was told he must.

When he started to figure out the game, he realized many of the game mechanics were flawed and unfair; elements of the narrative were stale and uninspiring; many of the challenges were too difficult; and the goals and victory conditions were unappealing to even motivate.  

He did not want to play this game, but was told he must.

Further, for his game piece he was told he could only choose either the metal cat or the metal dog.

The cat was strict, harsh, controlling, and manipulative.  But the dog was poor and hated by many, and derided as evil even though it was not.  He didn't really like the pros and cons that came with either game piece, and wished he could mix-and-match or choose another piece entirely, but his siblings said no.  So he did not really like either option.

He did not want to play this game, but was told he must.

The boy chose a game piece.  They told him he was not supposed to pick that one.

He did not want to play this game, but was told he must.

Then the boy figured out that the older siblings were changing the rules of the game on the fly.  He figured that changing the rules was part of the game.  So the boy decided to do the same and change the game so that it was interesting, inspiring, fun, and fair. He changed the rules so that at least one of the options was appealing and fair.

The siblings did not like the way he changed the game, only the way they changed the game.  They used their age and strength to intimidate him.  

He did not want to play this game, but was told he must.

He had enough.  He was startled awake, told to play a game he did not want to play, was teased, bullied, and taken advantage of on a game he found greatly unappealing, and then told he could not benefit from the same rules his siblings did, and did not actually have free choice in the game.

He stopped playing.  He had had enough.

The siblings told him he could not stop playing.

He stopped playing anyway.

He did not like his family.  They were all a bunch of jerks.  And they were definitely no fun to play with.  So he got up and walked back to his room and locked his door behind him, while they yelled and teased him all the way like the jerks they were.  But that was all they could do, and it only cemented in his mind that he should not want to play games with such jerks.  

He could not make them play nicely or fairly, but they also could not make him play.