Life Is A Game

In my last article, I talked about what if real life could be speedrun. This naturally leads to today's article: Life Is A Game.

We see reality through our own unique filters. The question is, what's the best filter to use, to get the most out of life? You can think of it as using models to describe reality, like scientists use models to describe the universe. The Life-Is-A-Game model is a useful model to adopt.

That means, stop taking things so seriously. Have fun. Go outside the lines. Put your mind at ease. Revel in the beauty of the "game engine". Experiment, explore, discover.


PLAY COURAGEOUSLY

In the movie "Big Fish", the father, a habitual truth-stretcher, has an entire fabricated version of his whole life story. He claims that as a child he looked into an old witch's glass eye and saw a prophetic vision of how he'd die. Throughout the movie, he uses this as an excuse to take all kinds of ridiculous death-defying gambles and risks: afterall, he knows how he will die, and it ain't here!

You get the same effect with the game model of reality. If life is just a game, then bring the risks on! If you were playing a highly detailed virtual reality game which perfectly captured the real life world, would you squander the in-game time doing menial chores for some guy in a suit? Hell no!!! Then why would anyone do that in real life?

My personal motto (which I happen to have shamelessly stolen from a friend): "Go towards danger". Every time I go toward danger, the danger turns out to be an illusion and as soon as you laugh at it, it collapses. It's made of paper. I've never taken a risk on purpose that I've come to regret.

A similar model to the game model, is the TV model. If your life were a TV show, would it be a very interesting one? Well, you're a GlowingFaceMan reader, so the answer is probably "yes" :) But IF the answer were "no", what could you do to spice things up for your "viewers"?

(The "viewers", by the way, are all the people you interact with in life. The people you pass on the street, they're the channel surfers...)


FIND THE SECRET LEVELS

One of my passions in life is exploring places I'm not supposed to go. Whether that means a construction site, a roof, or just an employee-only area, I'm there. "Finding secret levels" can be taken more symbolically, as well. Any time you go outside the bounds and do something not in the "script", you're finding secret levels.


EXPLOIT THE GLITCHES

Games usually come with glitches. What kind of glitches can you find in real life? Here's an example from the poster "gambol" on the PoE-News Off-topic Forum:

A friend of my mine got a job at Lehman Bros. by walking passed security on a recruitment finalist day and imposing her CV on the hiring partners.

Okay, maybe that doesn't violate the laws of physics, but it's definitely a glitch as far as the dry, lifeless mores of society go. Here's a music video in which we see a pizza delivery guy blatantly exploiting glitches:




PLAY FOR THE PEOPLE

Here's a mental experiment. You're playing a virtual reality game, and so are thousands of other people. You can all interact in the virtual reality environment, talking like you were face to face in real life. Now, a scenario comes up where you can get ahold of lots of virtual reality game money, or you can make lots of friends with the other players. When the game ends, all the virtual reality money will go poof, yet the friendships will remain, since those other players are played by real life people. Phrased like this, obviously it's better to go for the friendships.

People are the spice of life. Nowhere else is the beauty of the universe more evident, than in the antics of the people all around us. There is no faceless person in this world, everyone has a story, with twists and turns and suspense and twist endings and lots of crazy fun shit.

When you view life as a game, as though the physical things of the world are just data in the matrix, but the people are played by real people, it reminds you of the huge value of friendship, love, and helping others.

Of course that doesn't mean you have to give up the bling of the world. The "money or friendships" choice from the thought experiment is just a false choice to make you think about it. In reality, the more friends you have, the easier it is to enjoy all the great things in life. If life is a game, it is a social one.


BE CAREFREE, FORGIVING, AND HAVE NO REGRETS

If you're playing a game, there's no point getting over-frustrated when things don't go your way. You'd be crazy to spend your whole life harboring a grudge against another player, or kicking yourself for making a wrong move somewhere.

The same goes for this life we live. That doesn't mean you can never be angry or sad. Actually, drama is an integral part of the game, and if your life is drama-free, try upping the difficulty level. The thing is, when GlowingFaceMan is angry or sad, he doesn't *become* the anger or sadness. They're passing things.


HAVE FUN AND BE FUN

When you play a game, you play to have fun. Do the same thing in real life.

You don't even need some crazy game-model for this. Even scientists agree. When you have fun, you learn more, and all of life is learning (even when-- ESPECIALLY when-- you're out of school). When you have fun, all your endeavors are much more successful.


Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream

Here are some other articles I wrote. Read them all and you'll win +500 bonus points.
The Mirror Model of Social Interaction
The Three Scariest Things
What is fluency anyway?