When you approach life like a video game, something magical happens.
In fact, I'll give you 14 reasons why you should.
Imagine you are a cave man thousands and thousands of years ago. Dinosaurs and woolly mammoths roam the land. You go out with your buddies to try and slay one of these beasts in order to bring home a feast to feed your tribe.
John gets impaled by a sabertooth tiger in the first few seconds of the hunt and Billy falls down a ravine and breaks his femur. He can no longer walk. You and the rest of the party can't reach him because he's too far down so you leave him to die. A few quick "unga bungas" to acknowledge your fallen comrades and a few hours later, you venture home with some freshly caught food.
Oh but by the time you get back, you realize your toes are black. Great. You have frostbite now. You have no idea what that is so you continue walking on it. In a few more days, those toes fall off and the rest of your leg is eaten by flesh-eating bacteria. You quickly lose the ability to walk but before you succumb to a sepsis-induced-coma, a giant cave bat pities you and saves you from your misery by taking a bite out of your face.
Life was kind of rough back in the day.
What did people do to pass the time and make the constant battle to survive somewhat enjoyable?
Games.
It is the oldest and most ancient form of entertainment. Even giant cave bats enjoy it. Eating your face was a high-score achievement for Barry the Bat.
While we may be past the hardships our ancestors have endured, games are still a huge part of many people’s lives.
They make things fun or at the very least, make the dreary and terrible somewhat okay.
They distract.
They engage.
They entertain.
If you are like bah humbug, I hate games, they are pointless, let me give you a few reasons why you suck and you're wrong.
In fact, you should see your entire life as one giant game.
Here are the top fourteen reasons why.
1. It allows you to dream big.
Save the crumbling human civilization from invading aliens? Build a thriving metropolis in a middle of a desert? Avenge the death of your brother from a horde a thousand ninja assassins?
There's no goal that's too big, no objective that's too farfetched, no adventure that's too impossible. You never stop to think… wait a second, you want me to do what? I don't think I can… I'm a nobody!
No! You rush in all excited ready to get shit done. Skip the damn tutorial and the cut scenes! I don't want to read no damn game instructions. Let's just get started!
Take that excitement to your life and dream big.
2. It makes you focus on the journey
Okay, let’s say you bought this awesome new game. It’s called Super Mario Dungeon Brothers XTREME. You steady your shaking hands as you insert the cartridge into the slot. Mysterious music starts to play as the opening scene begins. Excitedly, you rush to press play.
BUT before we continue with our game, let's do a thought experiment.
What if I told you… you could have everything you ever wanted.
That dream job you've been working towards? Check!
That dream house, car, beach resort vacation? Check!
That lover, family, dog, cat, hamster, pigeon, hippo, white picket fence you've been dreaming about? Check!
(insert your own personal wish-list here). Check!
Literally anything. ANYTHING. You become GOD himself! CHECK MOTHAF*CK@R!
There’s a catch though… to get it, you unfortunately have to give up fifty years of your life without actually having experienced any of them. If you accept, tomorrow, you'd wake up fifty years older with all these dreams accomplished — a life with all your goals achieved. Would you take it?
Tempting… very very tempting indeed…
Okay, keep that thought experiment in mind. Now back to Super Mario Dungeon Brothers XTREME.
It's a game where you have to save the princess. Sounds good. Who am I supposed to defeat? What cool new moves do I have to learn to do this? What adventure am I supposed to go on?
In front of you is a dark dungeon. The rusted gates block your entrance. Instinctively, you know the princess is in there. Some dark wizard has kept her imprisoned inside.
You walk up to the rusted iron doors with your breath held and your butt braced. What terrifying horror is about to manifest? You wait a a few minutes but something to happen… but nothing does. Impatient, you take a few steps forward and that’s when you trip some sort of invisible sensor. Expecting a dramatic opening, you clench your butt cheeks again. This is the part where the rusted doors open and noxious gas leaks out. This is the part where your adventure begins!
Actually nope. No dramatic music. Just a bright cheery ding and the iron easily slides open like the automated doors at your local Walmart. The bright florescent lights inside temporarily blind you. When your eyes adjust, you realize the horror just a few feet inside…
The princess!
She’s sitting there all fine and not in duress! In fact, she’s sipping on a pumpkin spice latte. She notices you finally, comes over, says thank you, gives you a big smooch and…confetti starts coming down. As happy music starts to play, little dudes with different colorful mushrooms on their heads stream out of nowhere and lift you up into the sky. And just like that, the credits begin to roll.
Uh what. the. frack.What happened to the adventure that was supposed to happen? The epic battles and the dark and interesting puzzles you were supposed to solve?
Give me back my 60 bucks! You stiffed me you jerk.
Wait, but I thought you just wanted to save the princess? You achieved your goal in the end. You're supposed to be happy. I gave you the exact goal you wanted!
Oh… you seem a bit disappointed. You wanted something in the middle. You wanted a nice adventure. Hmm there's probably some lesson here about how the journey matters more than the end.
So let's go back to that thought experiment where all your dreams have been accomplished. Do you see some similarity? You've chosen to fast forward your life to the point where you have your metaphorical princess but none of the adventure to go with it. Was missing out on fifty years of your life worth it? I can’t answer that question for you (especially if your present life is a living hell), but it’s something to at least think about.
3. It allows you to look at challenges as a good thing. They make life fun.
Okay, so you want to save the princess but you want to also have a fun and challenging journey to get there.
I gotchoo.
I get it, because in the end, the fun and satisfaction of a game comes from overcoming a challenge that you didn't realize you could do. It's about that process of overcoming. It's about proving to yourself that you can. A worthy player needs an equally worthy adversary.
Have you ever heard about "God's Debris" by Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert? In his short-story, he modernizes the concept of pan-deism, the fact that the universe and God are actually one and the same. The idea is that God, in his omnipotent, omniscient and all-powerful state, would basically find himself bored. Why do anything when you already know everything that could literally happen?
Except there's one last thing he doesn’t know. Spoiler alert below.