if life were a game
a thought experiment in reframing life in the metaphor of a game, each of us our own players.
Today, while feeling overwhelmed by my nonstop, emotional turmoil, I wondered to myself: is there a way to make life itself— including all of its challenging experiences— feel more fun?
I don’t mean to do more fun things. I mean, how can I reframe my perspective so that I can live with a bit of distance, detachment, and amusement? How can I step out of this river of emotions and daily stresses, and allow myself to be an observer of this movie of my own life?
So, a thought experiment:
How would I see my life differently, if I saw it as a game?
If my life were a game, then each round consists of a single day.
To reset the game, all I have to do is to wait for the sun to go down, and for me to get tired and go to sleep. My objective in the game is to continually fulfill my quests — of which there are many, some very minor (go to grocery store), and others more significant (complete and launch a book project). All those quests live inside bigger, more existential quests (fulfill a vision for my life, cultivate love, expand my knowledge, deepen my wisdom).
While I’m pursuing my quests, I’ll have to battle daily monsters (usually mental and emotional ones, of my own making). Life will give me guides (sometimes in the form of people) who will present clues to help me on my quest, and give me tools that will aid in my journey. I’ll have a backpack filled with tools I’ve collected over the years. Life will also give me gifts — often disguised in different forms. It’s up to me to see things as gifts, and up to me to use them.
The game of life is quite sophisticated.
Things are not always what they seem. Once I’ve battled my monsters, they, too, could give me gifts. All of this happens against a backdrop of whichever city I live in, while interacting with other players, and in the weather of my daily emotions (which for me, can be quite erratic). To weather the storms and survive relatively unscathed… that too, is a quest. Sometimes the backdrop of the game changes abruptly into wherever my mind and memories take me.
Questions in the game
If I played life as a game, I would not freak out about every little thing I’m experiencing. I would examine my quests and look at my monsters in the eye. I would calmly log what happened in each day / round. What the little quests of the day were, which monsters I battled, what tools and gifts I collected.
To win at the game of life is uniquely dependent on the frame of reference for each player. What do we value? So we collect coins — of happiness, experiences, emotions, beauty, truth, memories, money, power, status. We decide which coins to value, and which ones not to value. We find out which coins last, and which fade with time.
We each have our own storehouses of resources (wealth, friendships, beauty, talents, skills, knowledge), and we decide how to spend them. Which of these translates to coins? Which of these do we trade or use in our quests? Sometimes, when dealing with other players, we might play a game within a game (the intimacy game, the relationship game, the power game).
More thinking later
Like everything else I write in these idea journals, this is a work in progress. It was partially inspired by this video I started watching by Simon Sinek on his new book, The Infinite Game, and this book he references — Finite and Infinite Games, by James Carse, which is now on my reading list.
If this inspires exciting thoughts in you, I’d love to hear them.