Updated on: June 26th, 2022
I played a lot of games. Video games, board games, and card games, played them, loved them. Games, until now, have been my go-to source of entertainment and stress relief. Lately, I’ve been thinking and reflecting on how the games I played affect me and what I have learned. I realized that many game rules apply (and do not apply) to help us navigate life. One of the time-consuming parts of a game is the character creation part. Character creation is where I choose who I want to play, their background story, and their skills. Maybe that’s the appeal of the character creation part, the ability to decide how I am born and experiment with it, which brings me to my first lesson.
Where and what I spawn as is “Gacha” -ed.
Sadly, unlike RPGs (Role-Playing Games), I don’t get to do the “character creation” part. I don’t get to choose how I look, my gender, my background, and my initial talents (emphasis on the initial). Some people get lucky by being “spawned” in the right environment with the right abilities. Some are unlucky and have to grind harder to be where they want. I don’t get to choose the hand I’m dealt with, only how I played it.
Life doesn’t have a linear storyline. It’s a sandbox game.
Life is more similar to Minecraft than to RPGs like Skyrim. There is no necessity or expectation. I can do whatever I want. If I want to work every day, I can. If I want to sleep all day, I can. I can do whatever I want. So, I try to let go of the expectations that life should be like “this” or “that.” That I have to be “there” rather than “here.” Life, just like a sandbox game, is what I make it to be.
There are many random events and probability-based outcomes.
I can plan my best strategy to get the specific characters or weapons I’ve wanted for so long, yet it always evades me. The resources and time I’ve spent seem to be for nothing. I need to accept that life, just like in a Gacha game, is full of random events, and I can strategize the best of plans, but still don’t get my expected outcome. So I’ll try to plant the seed without expectations of the fruit.
I can choose to play PvP or Co-Op.
Life is a multiplayer game. However, unlike the typical game, I can choose the game mode I play: PvP (Player versus Player) or Co-Op (Cooperative). When others need help, I can choose to help or take advantage of it to advance my own agenda. When I need help, I can ask for help or attack others. This made me think of how I’ve been playing so far and whether I want the game to be in PvP or Co-Op mode.
Unlike games, however, there is no respawning.
There is no retry. There are no cheat codes. I only get one shot at life. I cannot redo an event to get a better ending. If I made a mistake, then I made a mistake. The servers are going down by 72 years from when I started playing (on average). Accept what happened. Do what I want and need to do. The clock is ticking.
Content doesn’t expire, and I choose whether I play it or not.
Whether I’m 17, 25, or 40, the amount of time it takes (usually) to get a bachelor’s degree is four years. To be an expert on something takes five years. I could have never learned English at 20 and could be fluent by 22. I could never have experienced what it’s like to be working in a foreign country, and I could start trying tomorrow. The content is there and will never expire. Everyone prioritizes what content they want to experience differently, so I try not to be disheartened because I have not yet tried and finished some content.
To carry others, I have to be “farmed up” myself.
To help others clear dungeons and defeat bosses, I must ensure I am ready and geared up. If I’m going to help my friends sort out their problems, I need to get my stuff in order first. Start with myself and become independent, capable, and confident first before trying to help others.
I need a good guild to clear endgame content.
To tackle the most significant problems and defeat the strongest of bosses, I need to have a good party of individuals with the same goals and different roles. I can’t beat the final boss with all damage dealers and no healers. Acknowledge that the people I interact with and spend time with affect us more than I think. I am the company I keep.
Any build can work.
Since everyone has a unique background and initial talents, there is no objectively correct walkthrough and builds that provide the best outcome compared to other builds. I can even match it. Like in a game, I can be a spellcaster-gladiator or an assassin-necromancer. I can also be a musician-doctor, athlete-engineer, mother-lawyer, etc. Any build is viable. The more I get caught up in what others are doing, the more I’ll be confused about what my builds should be. Start playing my own game.
Understand and exploit the meta.
Like online games, life has a meta that constantly changes. I am in a different meta than I was 100 years ago. Depending on the meta, there are various advantages and disadvantages to some roles or characters. It’s easy to see that information technology is the meta right now: Twitch streamers, NFTs, crypto, autonomous vehicles, etc. The meta changes over time, things get patched out, and some bubbles burst. Understand the meta and ride the waves.
Conclusion: How to win?
Since life is like a sandbox game, I can choose my definition of winning. I can only understand and pave my way toward achieving that win. Life is not a zero-sum game. So, I’ll try to understand myself and help each other win at this one game before the server gets shut down.