Relationship lessons from Plants vs. Zombies

I've been playing Plants vs Zombies since its release in 2009. Marco was the one who introduced me to this amazing tower defense game - oddly enough though, I've never seen him actually play it.

Until recently, when PvZ2 came out. 

He's terrible at it. 

I always assumed that there's only one obvious way to play this game. You focus on building your resources first, then go on an offensive, defend, then increase offense. First row, sunflowers (depends on how heavy the offensive needs to be). Second row, shooters - distribute them equally to cover all bases. Third row, more shooters or walnuts if there isn't much space.

Don't panic when the first waves come. Timing is everything - conserve your sun and invest them for a better offense / defense, or for well-timed bombs.

That's how I play my PvZ. It's all about balance, timing, and prudence.

Marco's PvZ games often didn't make sense until I started giving him my advice. He would plant three rows of heavy shooters in one lane, leaving the others weak. He doesn't compute for the amount of sun he would need for the offensive he would have to launch against heavily-defended zombies (bucket heads, pharaohs, etc), so he doesn't plant many sunflowers.  

When the going gets only SLIGHTLY tough, he would use plant food to launch a heavy attack - against a stupid conehead. He's not even past the first big wave yet, and he is already wasting the plant food. 

It boggles the mind.  But it confirmed some things about him while watching him play.

He doesn't think about the future much. He invests in things that are right in front of him, but not in things he doesn't need to deal with yet. He's prone to panicking when things don't go as planned. He settles for knee-jerk reactions instead of cold calculation.

I am the opposite. I don't get as ruffled when the going gets tough. I plan ahead. I calculate what I need to spend (money, time, effort) for what I want to happen.

We're a match.

Liz LanuzoComment