Player of Games

Player of Games follows the story of a game player from a "culture" who goes off to an empire. He is "tricked" by a drone into cheating at a game. The drone uses that as blackmail to entice him to help him as he goes to the empire. The culture wants him to go to the empire where a game is of prime importance. The emperor and high ranking officials are chosen based on how they play the game. He goes there as an alien and does well at the game. Others in the society try to convince him that he should leave rather than continue playing. However, he continues and eventually sees the downfall of the empire.
The story is an interesting concept. It is also intriguing what they other sees as "good" and "bad". The "good" culture is one in which people live for long times and there is minimal crime and punishment. They also are free to exercise whatever sexual desire they have, including freely going back and forth from gender to gender. The "bad" culture is the one where the game is important. They have many rules which the elite enjoy flaunting. They have three genders and a distinct gender hierarchy. The elite also privately enjoy forced violence and sexual activity. Alas, his utopia would probably crash and burn just as the "dystopia" did.