Games People Play

Antithesis
. Antithesis, if indicated, consists in withholding the benefits. Here the risk is not 
primarily from the player himself, as in most other games, but from this game being culturally 
syntonic and fostered by the complementary ITHY players. The threat comes from professional 
colleagues and the aroused public, government agencies and protective unions. The complaints 
which follow an exhibition of anti-"Indigence" may lead to a loud outcry of "Yes, Yes, How About 
That?" which may be regarded as a healthy, constructive operation or pastime, even if it 
occasionally discourages candidness. In fact, the whole American political system of democratic 
freedoms is based on a license (not available under many other forms of government) to ask that 
question. Without such a license, humanitarian social progress becomes seriously impeded. 
4 PEASANT 
Thesis
. The prototype peasant is the arthritic Bulgarian villager who sells her only cow to raise 
money to go to the university clinic in Sofia. There the professor examines her and finds her case 
so interesting that he presents her in a clinical demonstration to the medical students. He outlines 
not only the pathology, symptoms and diagnosis, but also the treatment. This procedure fills Her 
with awe. Before she leaves, the professor gives her a prescription and explains the treatment in 
more detail. She is overcome with admiration for his learning and says the Bulgarian equivalent of, 
"Gee, you're wonderful, Professor!" However, she never has the prescription filled. First, there is 
no apothecary in her village; second, even if there were, she would never let such a valuable piece 
of paper out of her hands. Nor does she have the facilities for carrying out the rest of the treatment, 
such as diet, hydrotherapy and so on. She lives on, crippled as before, but happy now because she 
can tell everyone about the wonderful treatment prescribed for her by the great professor in Sofia, 
to whom she expresses her gratitude every night in her prayers. 
Years later, the Professor, in an unhappy frame of mind, happens to pass through the village on his 
way to see a wealthy but demanding patient. He remembers the peasant when she rushes out to kiss 
his hand and remind him of the marvelous regimen he put her on so long ago. He accepts her 
homage graciously, and is particularly gratified when she tells him how much good the treatment 
has done. In fact he is so carried away that he fails to notice that she limps as badly as ever. 
Socially "Peasant" is played in an innocent and a dissembled form, both with the motto, "Gee 
you're wonderful, Mr. Murgatroyd!" (GYWM). In the innocent form, Murgatroyd is wonderful. He 
is a celebrated poet, painter, philanthropist or scientist, and naive young women frequently travel a 
long way in the hope of meeting him so that they can sit adoringly at his feet and romanticize his 
imperfections. A more sophisticated woman who sets out deliberately to have an affair or a 
marriage with such a man, whom she sincerely admires and appreciates, may be fully aware of his 
weaknesses. She may even exploit them in order to get what she wants. With these two types of 
women, the game arises from the romanticizing or exploiting of the imperfections, while the 
67

---

innocence lies in their genuine respect for his accomplishments, which they are able to evaluate 
correctly. 
In the dissembled form, Murgatroyd may or may not be wonderful, but he comes up against a 
woman incapable of appreciating him in the best sense, in any case; perhaps she is a high-class 
prostitute. She plays "Little Old Me" and uses GYWM as sheer flattery to attain her own ends. 
Underneath she is either bewildered by him or laughing at him. But she does not care about him; 
what she wants are the perquisites that go with him. 
Clinically "Peasant" is played in two similar forms, with the motto, "Gee you're wonderful, 
Professor!" (GYWP). In the innocent form the patient may stay well as long as she can believe in 
GYWP, which places an obligation on the therapist to be well-behaved both in public and in private 
life. In the dissembled form the patient hopes the therapist will go along with her GYWP and think: 
"You're uncommonly perceptive" (YUP). Once she has him in this position, she can make him look 
foolish and then move on to another therapist; if he cannot be so easily beguiled, he may actually 
be able to help her. 
The simplest way for the patient to win GYWP is not to get better. If she is more malicious, she 
may take more positive steps to make the therapist look foolish. One woman played GYWP with 
her psychiatrist without any alleviation of symptoms; she finally left him with many salaams and 
apologies. She then went to her revered clergyman for help and played GYWP with him. After a 
few weeks she seduced him into a game of second-degree "Rapo." She then told her neighbor 
confidentially over the back fence how disappointed she was that so fine a man as Rev. Black could, 
in a moment of weakness, make a pass at an innocent and unattractive women like herself. 
Knowing his wife, she could forgive him, of course, but nevertheless, etc. This confidence just 
slipped out inadvertently, and it was only afterward that she remembered "to her horror" that the 
neighbor was an elder in the church. With her psychiatrist she won by not getting better; with her 
clergyman she won by seducing him, although she was reluctant to admit it. But a second 
psychiatrist introduced her to a therapy group where she could not maneuver as she had before. 
Then, with no GYWP and YUP to fill in her therapeutic time, she began to examine her behavior 
more closely and with the help of the group was able to give up both her games—GYWP and 
"Rapo."