I'm talking about competitive games where there are no rewards except for honor to the winner. This is not about a seduction context, but just playing among friends.

When playing a game, I feel like I can choose to go into one or two modes before plunging into a competitive game. Either I decide to care about the outcome and enjoy the game or I decide to not care about the outcome and enjoy the social situation.

The advantage of caring is that it makes winning more fun and it usually makes the game more fun for my opponents when I lose. The disadvantage is that losing makes me in a bad mood.

Is there any best approach here? Maybe something outside of the box? Is it possible to care about the game, get emotionally involved in it, and not hurt when I lose?

The background to this is today I played a board game with my siblings and from the point where I was losing I just couldn't smile and couldn't do anything in a non-angry manner even though I tried.

By the way, this made me disappointed in myself. Which lowered my mood further.