Plug and Play

Life can sometimes be like a game where we have to play in order to achieve a certain goal. In a game, we might define our progress in terms of the number of sub-quests we have accomplished, as with many role-playing games. In other games, we might define it in terms of the distance we have traveled. Surprisingly, we might even define our progress based on our status with respect to other players, as with time survival games.

What's different though, is that we only get to pick one game, uncertain if another game awaits us at our completion (or failure). There are only two ways to know this. We either finish the game (you may choose any one of the majestic endings of Chrono Cross), or we run out of lives (typical Game Over).

Prologue
There is always a thrill when starting a new game, probably because the momentum is still conserved, or because of the reviews of beta players, or maybe because you like to play the game better than other previously saved games. Much like in real life, we get hyped up whenever new opportunities arrive. Our greatest opportunity, life itself, is already a great challenge. To bombard it more with a lot of interesting stuff make it more grand.

Job Selection. Name provision. Attributes. Strengths. Weaknesses. I am the type of person who fascinates myself with exploring the different possibilities of what can exist in a game. I am the type of person who spends time to level up characters as much as possible early on, or exhaust all sub-quests before moving on to the next. Being a person inclined in Combinatorics, manual exhaustion is always an option (if time permits). This surge of excitement usually starts early, and we tend to make an outline of how our strong we plan our character to be, or how we want things to flow in-game. Like games, we have a great degree of control of our own lives.

Party Formation
Life can never be the same for everyone. I believe that the dynamism of life is caused by our needs, needs than only others can fulfill. That is why there is almost always a stratification in games. Not one can finish the game alone. In single-player games, you might need an offensive unit an a support unit. With the advent of MMORPG, things get much more real. You will realize later on that you have a better chance of success if you are not alone.

Not every game is tolerant of cooperation, and even if that is not the case, conflicts within cooperative units may also occur once in a while. As with rare loots that not everyone of us can get, we also get haunted by promotions, favoritism, conspiracies, and getting up the ladder of success. This I believe is due to an image formed in our minds that success is shaped like a pyramid; not all can be on top.

Checkpoint
Just right before that powerful boss, we are given a chance to save our progress, or to use a tent or cottage (like in Final Fantasy games). Checkpoints in different games mean different things. It can signal the start of something important, something that is worth giving multiple tries, or something that will happen rarely.

Checkpoints in our lives raise our consciousness for something that needs our attention. This may translate to making decisions, decisions that range from selecting what to wear for school, or what to buy for lunch, to something bigger like when to marry, or when to buy a new house. These checkpoints give us time to inhale, and weigh our choices.

Choosing which game to play
At the midst of everything, we may wonder where this would lead to eventually. If this is worth the time. If playing translates to something more than re-living our lives in a smaller. Then reality snaps. The game gets unpaused. We continue and get ourselves immersed once again. We only get this much to think of the greater picture, nature forces us to move along.

Tips for Survival
Just play on. Nothing happens if you stop playing, because other will, regardless of you.

Epilogue
Back when I frequently get those in-deep-thought moments, I pictured our lives as a big, advanced game, played by Someone above us. Someone who really is in control, compared the great control that we thought we have. Someone who would "grant" us limited freedom, much like the limited freedom we "grant" AI/NPC units. Someone who is powerful enough to pick the game He wants to play. I thought that was unfair. But as years passed, my perspective changed. Maybe everything is just a game, we just have to play with the best of our abilities. Maybe we are part of the lucky lot of beta testers. And maybe, just maybe, if we play good enough, we can get a glimpse of our next game.