Have you ever spent waaaay too many hours doing something only to realize that it probably wasn’t worth it? Any gamer who’s ever gamed can probably share horror stories of a time when they logged hundreds of hours to attain something that most definitely wasn’t worth it, especially once you log off and re-immerse yourself in the real world. Perhaps it’s not even a piece of ephemeral loot or a maxed stats for your digital avatar, but something as empty as the conclusion of the nth round of whatever has captured your attention. In the cold light of day we rub our bleary eyes and wonder what went wrong. Why had we immersed ourselves so dutifully in a world that let us fritter away our precious hours?
This series is a discussion about those moments and my optimistic take on where we end up because of gaming, gamification and immersive grip of those digital worlds. I’ve come to realize that while I’ve definitely logged a good part of my hypothetical “10 thousand hours to mastery” doing digital chores in games, I’ve also taken so, so much from those experiences. I think that with a little reflective introspection, we can all grow a little by accessing some life lessons buried in those gaming sessions. It’s going to take serious work though, and I’m literally going to show you my version of that work through these Learning While Leveling posts.
As a first introspective nugget, I’ve always thought of myself as a terrible gamer. Challenging games, whether they require feats of dexterity, application of problem solving or simple observation to find and exploit the system, usually yank me back to reality. In those moments I wonder “what the hell am I doing this for?” Perhaps that’s my engineering brain being aware of optimal solutions to these problems, but it immediately pulls me out of the immersive experience. I guess I’d rather let my brain play with the idea of space marines and alien organisms rather than contemplate the tactics and frenetic dance required to be a masterful Starcraft player. As a terrible gamer, I shrink when faced with these challenges, and yet I shine when given tasks that require time on task. Of course, I’ll happily deliver this item to a faraway virtual town for a pitiful reward, after all that is just more time I get to spend in this fantastical world.
So what is the benefit of being a terrible gamer? Perhaps my biggest Learning While Leveling win is the result of my first interaction with Guitar Hero. As a rock nerd and someone with a (unexceptional) musical background, I figured my fingers would be dancing across the colorful fretboard and I’d rock this game like it had never been rocked before. Wrong. I was terrible, it was frustrating, and I starting thinking about the required hours of practice to get somewhat decent at this game. It seemed like such a waste of human effort to get good at Guitar Hero when I could pick up a damn guitar and build similar but more rewarding skills. My first day playing Guitar Hero was the day I become a guitar player. It turns out that practicing guitar can be just as fruitless and daunting as getting good at a game, but I’m pretty happy I ended up with this extra dimension in my life. Not a bad life improvement from being a terrible gamer.
Oh yeah, I also played hundreds of hours of Guitar Hero with friends and got pretty good. It turns out that games and life are not mutually exclusive. Has anyone else had any IRL insights from video games? Are there any other “terrible gamers” out there? I’d love to hear from you as I re-examine my life, game by game.