No-win situation

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A no-win situation, also called a "lose-lose" situation, is one where a person has choices, but no choice leads to a net gain. For example, if an executioner offers the condemned the choice of dying by being hanged, shot, or poisoned, since all choices lead to death, the condemned is in a no-win situation. This bleak situation gives the chooser little room: whatever choice is made, the person making it will lose their life.

Less drastic situations might also be considered no-win situations: if one has a choice for lunch between a ham sandwich and a roast beef sandwich, but is a vegetarian or has a wheat allergy, that might be considered a no-win situation.

In game theory

In game theory, a "no-win" situation is one in which no player benefits from any outcome. This may be because of any or all of the following:

• Unavoidable or unforeseeable circumstances causing the situation to change after decisions have been made. This is common in Text adventures.
• Zugzwang, as in chess, when any move a player chooses makes him worse off than before
• A situation in which the player has to accomplish two mutually dependent tasks each of which must be completed before the other or that are mutually exclusive (a Catch-22)^[1]
• Ignorance of other players' actions, meaning the best decision for all differs from that for any one player (as in the Prisoner's Dilemma).

In history

Carl von Clausewitz's advice (never to launch a war that one has not already won) characterizes war as a no-win situation. A similar example is the Pyrrhic victory, in which a military victory is so costly that the winning side actually ends up worse off than before it started. Looking at the victory as a part of a larger situation, the situation could either be no-win or a win for the other side than the one that won the "victory". For example, the "victorious" side may have accomplished their objective, but the objective may have been worthless, or they may lose a strategic advantage in manpower or positioning.

In Europe before the Reformation those accused of being witches were sometimes bound and then thrown or dunked in water to test their innocence. A witch would float (by calling upon the Devil to save her from drowning), and then be executed; but a woman not a witch would drown (proving her innocence but causing her death).^[2]

In video games

Unwinnable is a state in many text adventures, graphical adventure games and role-playing video games where it is impossible for the player to win the game (not due to a bug but by design), and where the only other options are restarting the game, loading a previously saved game, wandering indefinitely, or a game over (negative game end, such as death). It is also known as a walking dead, dead end or zombie situation. Usually, this is the result of the player's previous choices, and not due to the game itself lacking a path to victory.

Unwinnable should not be confused with "unbeatable," which is used to describe a character, monster, or puzzle that is too powerful or difficult to be overcome by the player or character at a lower standing, and is normally found in role-playing video games.

In other media

In the film WarGames the supercomputer WOPR tries out all possible scenarios of a nuclear war, each of them ends in a nuclear holocaust. The computer then exclaims "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play".

See also

• Catch-22 (logic)
• Cornelian dilemma
• Double bind
• Kobayashi Maru
• Morton's fork
• Pyrrhic victory
• Winner's curse
• Win-win game

References