How to play
Part 1 — Self-knowledge

Locate yourself before you move

The most common strategic error is acting from an inaccurate self-assessment — operating as if you're in influence mode when you're actually in survival, or assuming you have more energy than you do. Accurate self-location is the precondition for everything else.

Theory

Revealed preference theory (Samuelson) holds that an agent's actual behavior — not their stated goals — reveals their real incentive structure and true mode. Self-knowledge starts by observing your own revealed preferences, not your intentions.

Agent types

Agents differ in their primary orientation toward systems. Knowing your type helps predict your default errors.

Builder
Generates new energy and structures within the system. Extends the game for others.
Risk: creates value others capture
Connector
Routes between agents and subsystems. Value is relational, not productive.
Risk: stranded if network dissolves
Extractor
Captures existing value efficiently. Optimizes rather than creates.
Risk: depletes system over time
Stabilizer
Maintains coherence in the system. Reduces volatility for others.
Risk: undervalued until absent

Diagnostic questions

Run these honestly before making any significant move. Answer based on current evidence, not aspiration.

What mode am I actually in?Is my core position secure, or am I defending? If I stopped acting for 60 days, what would break?
What is my real energy level?How much capacity — time, capital, attention, credibility — do I actually have available right now, not in theory?
What are my revealed preferences?Where have I consistently spent time and energy over the last 90 days? That is what I actually want, regardless of what I say.
What type of agent am I?Do I generate, connect, extract, or stabilize? Which of these does the current system reward most?
What is my legibility to the system?How am I read by other agents and by selection pressure? Is that reading accurate?

Example

Illustration

A product manager joins a new company and immediately pitches a major strategy overhaul — operating from influence mode. But their actual position is survival: no trust built, no track record in this system, no coalition. The pitch fails not because the idea is wrong, but because the agent misjudged their mode. The correct move was to secure survival (deliver one visible win), then play (learn how this specific system actually works), before attempting influence.