Some say life is game, some say life is not a game. I’m not here to argue for or against either. What we all know though is there are games and we have life. There are games in life and there is life in games. So whether we think life is a game or it’s not, they are both part of this world and like everything that exists, they can interact with each other. Here are some lessons I learnt from online gaming that have applied in the real world as well. By online gaming, I’m referring to any game you can play online whether it be candy crush or league of legends (My personal favourites at the moment)
Expect the unexpected
In the gaming world if it’s one thing we know, it’s that the game isn’t over until the game is over. There have been countless games where teams were so certain that they were about to win and lost and games where teams that seemed just hopeless managed to pull off the comeback of centuries and win. In life, the same can be true and as the older folks say “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”, On the flip side of this could be a lesson on positivity as well “Never give up” because you never know what the future may hold (It just might be a win for you).In the end, whether things turn out for the better or for worse there’s always something you can learn from the experience.
You can win even though you lose the game
John Maxwell, well known author of many great leadership books, once said “Sometimes you win sometimes you learn”. For those of us who have ventured into the world of online gaming, we all know that guy who’s been playing games since he was in diapers deleting entire teams by himself. Yea! Sucks when that guy is on the enemy team doesn’t it? Yes it does. Even then, the opportunity to play against him is one that helps you as a struggling newbie to pick up some tricks of the game and become better at it and maybe, you can have fun while you’re at it. As with life no one wants to lose but the only real way to lose in a game is if you didn’t have fun playing it.
Learning can be fun
Who would’ve thought that an introvert can learn to make friends while having fun….Yea if you are an introvert or know one, you know that one does not simply start a conversation with another human being. Who would’ve thought that dealing with rage can be fun? Yea me either but with online games communicating with other people becomes a part of every game and well there is enough rage in any game that’ll force you to manage your raging and start having fun. While learning can be fun it doesn’t change the fact that learning is a process and as with anything else, it’ll take time to get good at it which brings us to my next point. <<Perseverance is key>>
Perseverance Goes a long way
On the lighter side of online games, there are those Facebook/ puzzle games that seem never-ending (I see you candy crushers). You know how you can see the progress of your friends and there are those friends that never do anything but eat sleep and play and you can’t seem to get to anywhere near their level. Yea I have those friends too; well all you got to do is keep playing at your pace. Before you know it they’ll burn out their interest in the game and like the turtle in the race of the Turtle and the Hare, the victory, in the end, will be yours.
Conclusion
All in all, whether we believe that life is a game or life is no game we can all agree that in life there are lessons we can learn from playing games.