“When you feel that others are lacking and failing …. first assess the skill, style, quality, results, mindset,
support, professionalism and spirit with which you yourself play the game.” ― Rasheed Ogunlaru
“If you are playing the game without wounds, you are not playing the game, you are watching the game. If you are playing the game with wounds, you are not playing the game, you are mastering the game” ― Dr.P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
My husband is a video game fanatic. I have never really taken much of an interest in it, although I can appreciate the value of gamified learning. Years ago, when I completed my honour’s degree in Strategic Management, one of our courses was an online game, and it was quite a memorable experience. Sometimes simulated learning is the best way to build experience in a specific area. It provides the opportunity to learn through “failing” at challenging tasks without any drastic real-life consequences.
One of our close friends – who is a helicopter pilot – can also attest to the value of flight simulations to teach pilots how to fly. In simulations they can fly in extreme weather, even crash the helicopter, and learn from those experiences without any real threat to the lives of others.
That said, what I want to share with you here is not so much about the importance of gamification. Rather, it relates to some interesting insights I got from listening to my husband share a story about the latest game he is currently playing called Dead Cells.
The conversation started with him sharing how the company that created Dead Cells – Motion Twin – pride themselves on creating games that are close to impossible to win. And yet, people can’t stop playing, even though the game is really hard to master. I want to share the basic premises of what I understand about the game. And hopefully you will forgive my ignorance on terminology etc. I’m a complete novice in this area. It has never been within my zone of competence, and I also have no intention of doing the work to change my novice status. What I care about, are the life lessons we can all learn from the game Dead Cells; regardless of whether you are a gaming fan or not.
What is most interesting about Dead Cells, is how the game entices players to continue playing, even though the game is nearly impossible to win. You only have one life in the game, and you are required to complete the whole game with this one life. When a player dies in the game, they must start over from the beginning. And yet, every time you restart the game, the game is slightly different. There are so many different directions that the game can go into, that you never really play the same game. Every restart is different and is a different experience.
Something else that is quite interesting, is that although the player only has one life and thus must start over when they die, any upgrades the player gains in one specific round of the game endures. Thus, when you start over, you start from scratch, but skill enhancements and new tools acquired remain available to the player. So, over time, you can get smarter and more powerful as you progress through the game.
So, now for some of the insights about this game. In many ways, Dead Cells is like real life. Not in the sense that when you die, you can begin again. But in the sense that often we find ourselves in situations where we must start over. You might reach a certain level in your career, and then lose your job. Or reach a certain level of fitness, and then get sick, and consequently lose all the fitness you worked so hard on building. Or an important relationship comes to an end. Or you don’t get into the college or university or course of your choice. Or you get into debt and must sell your house and downsize to get yourself out of debt. Or your kids leave home, and suddenly you find yourself with an empty nest. So many times, we find ourselves starting over.
And just like in the game, even though you are starting over, your learning, your wisdom, your experiences remain intact and can support you in making better choices the second time around. No-one can take away your learning and experience. No-one can take away the insights you’ve gained from the experiences you’ve had in your life. So, you may look at the challenging thigs in your life as “bad” things that have happened to you and that you have had to “survive”. Or you might choose to look at them as things that have happened FOR you, and that will support you now in creating your life anew as you start over.
So, even when it seems as if you are starting with nothing, you are never really starting with nothing. You see, you carry your upgrades WITH you. They endure through every life experience, and you will do life differently because of them.
As I’ve mentioned when a player starts over, the game is never exactly the same. That keeps things interesting, and keeps the player engaged. And life is like that too. Nothing ever remains the same. There are always new experiences to be had, or new things to learn, if you remain open to them. Even in situations where you feel like you’ve already heard the story before, or you feel like you’ve done all you can, there might be ONE new insight, ONE new idea, ONE new connection, that you haven’t considered before and that could potentially take you in a completely new direction. That’s the beauty of approaching anything in life with a beginner’s mind. In beginner’s mind, you will always learn something, because you choose to remain open to receiving the learning.
What I found most intriguing about the game, is how players keep playing even though they are more likely to lose than to win with each run of the game. The designers have designed the game in such a way that players remain optimistic, hopeful, and engaged. In life, none of us never really know what we are doing, where we will end up, or even how much time we have. All of that are just illusions we create to maintain a false sense of security. But in reality, no-one actually has the answers. And life is not really about winning. It’s about the experience. It’s about how you learn, and grow, what you discover along the way that makes the experience memorable.
It’s the mystery, the intrigue, the unknown magic of life that keeps us engaged, because you never know what life might bring. If we are simply aiming for the win or the finish line, we might end up chasing our own tails, or simply giving up when winning starts to feel impossible. However, when we are immersed in the discovery – the journey of the game where you could unlock a new power, or discover a level you didn’t know was there – then life remains interesting, because it’s in the now that we discover who we are. It’s in the now that we create, that we fail, and then begin again. And the game stays interesting, because every new level unlocks a whole new world of experiences.
It’s like Ernest Cline says in his novel Ready Player Two, “And sometimes, when you think you’ve finally reached the end of the game, suddenly you find yourself standing at the start of a whole new level. A level that you’ve never seen before. And the only thing you can do is keep right on playing. Because the game that is your life still isn’t over yet. And there’s no telling how far you might be able to get, what you might discover, or who you might meet when you get there.”
References:
- Breytenbach, C. (2022). Starting over… Available online at: https://chantalbreytenbach.com/starting_over/
- Cline, E. (2020). Ready Player Two: A novel. New York: Ballantine Books.