Fruit: Gentleness

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." - Galatians 5:22-23

"By their fruit you will recognize them." - Matthew 7:16a

This has probably been the most difficult post to write so far in this series.  Gentleness seems like it would be a pretty straightforward topic, right?  I don't think it would take a lot of convincing to get you to agree that gentleness has its place, just like all the other fruit of the Spirit.  We need gentleness in our dealings with other people so that when we recognize their fragility, we don't crush them.  We need it so that we can blunt the hard, sharp edges of our personalities and not live constantly in conflict with those around us.

So what's the difficulty?  Well, how do you apply that concept to gamers?  Certainly we gamers need to express gentleness with the people we interact with, but within a game, the entire point is most often intentional conflict with others.  It's obvious when you're playing the latest shooter, with the goal being to dominate your fellow gamers.  And in racing games, where you're trying to out-perform the guy in the next car.  But even in a game like Tetris, the player is in conflict with the clock, trying to clear as many lines as possible as quickly as possible.  With this in mind, are there any games that don't have conflict on some level as the central activity?

Co-operative games - or modes within games - seem to be the most natural fit for gentleness.  Players united against a dungeon boss in an MMO, or working together to solve a puzzle in Portal 2, or trying to survive in a round of Firefight are not in conflict with one another.  But there is still the conflict against the game.  The boss, the puzzle, the wave after wave of enemies.  Gamers are still in conflict with these elements, even while working together to overcome them.  And I don't know about you, but I can't easily be all sweetness and light with my friends while simultaneously trying to destroy a computer-controlled opponent bent on our destruction.

This is where Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 comes in, I think.  You'll probably be more familiar with the shortened version (which is really just verse 1), "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens".

So maybe I won't be known for the fruit of gentleness in the heat of battle, but there are times - maybe when you're sitting in a game lobby, waiting for things to start, or after things have ended and you're looking at stats - when we can be gentle with our fellow gamers.  We can take it easy on them if they did poorly, rather than berate them.  We can gently encourage each other to greater success, rather than harshly threaten.

How can you express gentleness with other gamers?  Do you think you can do it all the time?  Do you have any stories to share about gentleness?