Drinking To Win

I've never really played many drinking games, mostly because I have the alcoholic tolerance of a small child, and so drinking games usually end up with me fast asleep on the table. I was invited by my friend Tasha over to her boyfriend's house for drinking games with them once, and not long after we started, she decided I should go with the designated drivers and stick with the soft drinks. I've never been able to work out what the aim of drinking games is. Are you supposed to try to lose so that you can drink more, or are you supposed to try and win so that everyone thinks you're awesome?

The first drinking game I was introduced to was shot/beer chess (not that I played, but we were thinking about buying a set for a friend). I'm guessing the game plays exactly like chess, only every time a piece is taken, someone drinks that piece. I never worked out who was meant to drink. Is the person who took the piece meant to drink, as they are now ahead, and need the alcohol to diminish their thinking? Or is the person who lost a piece meant to drink, as they suck and should be punished? If it's the latter, then the more pieces you lose, the more you are bound to lose as not only will you be at a piece disadvantage, you are more likely to be drunk. However, if it is the former, if the person is intent on winning, then it introduces an interesting factor into the game, as they have to be more careful with their piece exchanges, as they might not want to get too tipsy.

What confuses me even more are games like "Never Have I Ever..." where there doesn't seem to be any winning criteria. Is the point of the game just to find out stuff that you never knew about anyone else in the group, or to tell people about stuff that you've never done before so they can pity you? And what's to stop you from lying and saying you've done stuff that you haven't, or you haven't done stuff that you have? Maybe that's where the alcohol comes in, because the more drunk you get, the more likely you are to admit to things that might be embarrassing.

I guess to play drinking games, you really have to pick the right people to play with. I don't know if I could play "Never Have I Ever..." with a bunch of randoms, as I would be uncomfortable admitting to some things. Though at the same time, I'm not sure I'd want to play it with close friends either, as then they might feel awkward finding out things they never wanted to know about me (although you could argue that if they didn't want to know, they never should have asked in the first place).

Never have I ever.... won a drinking game (you must drink if you have!).