Supporting (and implementing) the idea of life as a game, you can check: http://habitrpg.com
Life is a game, this is your strategy guide
171–179 of 179 posts
Re: Life is a game, this is your strategy guide
#172This is a charming article. But it's somewhat sad to read. Because it operates on the nearly universal assumption that life is a game, or a battle, or a scavenger hunt—and the way to win is to maintain a high 'state' and get lots of 'achievements'. The reason this gaming terminology is so appealing to us is that it overlays nicely on the way we already think about life: you're constantly making some grade or another;…
Re: Life is a game, this is your strategy guide
#173Life is not a game. And that's because, unlike any game, life has no rules. By following this strategy guide, there's absolutely no guarantee you will succeed (btw, what exactly is it to succeed in life?).
People might get a sense of comfort in thinking that life has a recipe, that it has some sort of inherent quest you must conquer. But there's isn't. Religion, technology, culture and art are our way to deal with that.
Life is open for you to make whatever you want of it. And this is the beauty of it all. Do you want to make it a game? Go ahead, lay some rules, build a strategy, get your achievements. But I think there's more to life than following rules and managing your resources. I wouldn't be surprised if the rules changed without warning or if my resources were suddenly depleted without apparent reason. Because life doesn't care about the rationalizations you came up with.
Life is a unique experience that, fortunately, cannot be framed within a metaphor. There are many ways to live (life as a game, life as a movie, life as a story, life as a poem, life as a checklist, life as a tough math problem) and all of them are right. So maybe we shouldn't bother too much about living the right way and instead just enjoy the ride.
Re: Life is a game, this is your strategy guide
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
> you're assuming zero randomness in the universe No, actually not. The current state of research in quantum physics makes it look like there is randomness. But the thing about randomness is: Nobody has any control over it. So again, life (and the universe) may not be fully deterministic, but we have no absolute responsibility for whatever happens (only a relative one, relative to our culture, that is). > Also it ass…
> But the thing about randomness is: Nobody has any control over it. Again, you're stating things as facts that there's no reason to believe are actually true. There are models in which quantum randomness does allow for free will, and no one knows whether they're right.
There are models in which one controls random events?
Re: Life is a game, this is your strategy guide
#175This is a charming article. But it's somewhat sad to read. Because it operates on the nearly universal assumption that life is a game, or a battle, or a scavenger hunt—and the way to win is to maintain a high 'state' and get lots of 'achievements'. The reason this gaming terminology is so appealing to us is that it overlays nicely on the way we already think about life: you're constantly making some grade or another;…
Sorry, I couldn't find the alternative in your approach. Please reformulate for me what approach to life do you actually suggest. I'm really interested to see another point of view. My last years were mainly spent from switching to just living life to the style mentioned in the article and just everything feels so much better since. I am happy to go to work in the morning. I am happy to write my thesis. I am sometime…
I see a big problem in perspectives like this, and most importantly, the culture they develop in.
I see a parallel with what Joel Spolsky said about operating systems. Windows and Linux are very much defined by the cultures surrounding them, which are radically different. And although I can't say that one is ahem "better", a certain one has many pitfalls, tendencies, and so on.
The article is clearly the product of an apex dominance culture, which is widespread in certain countries (ahem, one in particular).
The core problem with living such culture is that detaches people from the context they live in, which, very easily, deviates into moral corruption.
Think about patent trolls. A patent troll is simply a (a group of) person that specialized into a field, puts above all his own success... and makes it. P.T. are very successful people, generally speaking, and they do it within the law. This is very much a product of obsession with success, and detachment from empathizing with the people you're going to predate.
Think about the finance world - making millions from periods of crysis (there was an article recently on HN). It not an illegal act per se, it's just morally repulsive if somebody makes millions out while people loses jobs, houses, and savings. Yet again, obsession with success and detachment from the others.
There is also the (negative) flipside. What's going to happen when one discovers he's not Steve Jobs? Or hmmm, what's going to happen when one could become the next Steve Jobs... at the expense of other people? At the expense of your best friend[s]? What's better - "greatness" or family?
Another side effect of this narrow perspective is detachment from human nature, from the "self". This can be more practical than one thinks.
If one entire life is spent killing oneself to pursue success... what's going to happen after? Is it really a "comfortable pants +10"? What about burning out and regretting living such a narrow life? Again, there was an article on HN, about Carl Barks, which has been certainly successful. End of the game: burned out to the extreme.
Speaking of which, one certainly doesn't want to waste time with time wasters (bouncing ball on the knee), right? Unfortunaly, many experiences which are, practically, a waste of time, are those who make people interesting, and they are part of the creative, intellectual, emotional development.
How do one know that bouncing a ball on the knee doesn't lead to something more interesting? I think the world would be much less interesting if people in the past wouldn't have bounced balls on their knees.
Making music... a skill? Are you serious?
Of course, let's also take holidays off the charts, as they don't develop any skills. It's pretty much consequential losing interest in other countries (once one accept he's has very little chance to explore them), and not being able to point out the countries that one's government is bombing.
I find really hard to stop.
Obviously I'm not saying that any product of such culture is a monster, but culture is part of the development of the people.
Since you have posed a question in a personal way, I'd tell you that there is a difference, and it's subtle.
Let's say that what I have in mind could be summarized by the Good Will Hunting bar scene:
- [...] I will have a degree, and you'll be serving my kids fries at a drive-through on our way to a skiing trip - Maybe, but at least I won't be unoriginal
:-)
Re: Life is a game, this is your strategy guide
#176"death gotta be easy cuz life is hard" - 50 Cent
Re: Life is a game, this is your strategy guide
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But the thing about randomness is: Nobody has any control over it. Again, you're stating things as facts that there's no reason to believe are actually true. There are models in which quantum randomness does allow for free will, and no one knows whether they're right.
There are models in which one controls random events?
The multiverse theory, in case you're unfamiliar, says that each time there are different ways a quantum event could go, the universe splits into multiple universes, one in which it went each way. There is an extension to this in which free will is manifested by your consciousness following a given universe in each split.
This has the strange consequence that only you have free will, as perceived by your own consciousness. I don't think this makes any less sense than anything else related to quantum physics, but it is definitely weird.
Re: Life is a game, this is your strategy guide
#178Every time I see an article like this I just want to grab the readers and shout "Read a philosophy book!" to them[1]. Literally every point in every article on how to live a happy life was being made by the likes of Seneca and Aristotle thousands of years ago, and there are good reasons why those writers are still the foundation for philosophy today - they were right. [1] I would recommend something like "Philosophy…
I immediately thought of just 'Finite and Infinite Games' just from the title of this post.
“There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite; the other infinite.”
Re: Life is a game, this is your strategy guide
#179This is a fantastic article - I wish I had known this guide when I was young. I liked it so much, I sent a link to my teenage son. However, if you would not mind, could this be edited so my teeanage daughter would also enjoy it? Unless, of course, she wants to be a "ladies magnet" - I support her life choices. But if we want more women entrepreneurs, we should encourage them to follow a path like this without the pos…
While I think that you're heart is in the right place, an expectation that personal advice be written in a gender-neutral environment is excessive. Oliver is a man (I presume) writing a guide based on his experience.
*your