Life is a game.

More precisely, life is huge jumbled mess of multiple games. We are players roaming in and out of the seemingly infinite number of games. We’re good at some games and terrible at others. Some games define our existence. Others are meaningless to us.

If this idea — that life is made up of games — makes you uncomfortable, I’d encourage you to sit with that feeling for a moment. We’ll come back to this feeling (in a future article), but for now just acknowledge that sense of unease and attempt to explore it. Sometimes the game nature of life doesn’t sit well with me either — but I always seem to come back to it since it seems to model the world we live in so well.

Defining games

At it’s simplest, a game consist of players, rules, and outcomes. Generally, players aim to achieve some desired outcome by employing strategies and tactics and by taking certain actions (of which inaction is one option). That’s it. Of course, games can be much more complex, but all games boil down to players competing for one or more desired outcomes according to a set of rules.

Games are important to us

Games are important. They serve as diversions from the difficulties of “real” life. They serve as play time and give us opportunities to create something new. They often give us space to try new things in a lower-risk environment. They definitely give us another opportunity to be a winner. And since life can be a real bitch sometimes and winning feels great — even if we win at something minor — I’m all for more games.
I know that games have had an important role in our species and culture for a long time, but I need to go do some homework on this and plan to write about it another time.

A frame-of-games is useful

At the heart of my CHEAT experiment is a mindshift — a massive change in framing: Everything is a game. I’d encourage you to take up this frame of reference as well. Become a Player. It’s not easy to change the lens through which you see the world, but it’s the essential first step. My first-hand experience so far is that seeing the games in your life gives you new perspective:

Players are more strategic than non-Players
— they know what to take seriously and what to treat lightly
— they forecast more than one move into the future

Players are more creative than non-Players
— they uncover previously-unseen opportunities and outcomes
— they find and act on more opportunities to create their own games…with our own rules and Players

Players have greater perspective than non-Players
— they are forced to clarify, re-examine, and communicate their objectives and desired outcomes frequently
— they are more likely to play on teams, where odds of success often increase
— they are less likely to accidentally attack allies or teammates
— they are much more likely to play the right games and simply walk away from the wrong games

Players live more balanced lives than non-Players
— they feel overwhelmed by life less often
— they see specific situations and goals as mini-games

So far, I’ve discovered that the most interesting games usually have one or more of the following characteristics:

Possible outcomes span a wide range.
The next “lucky” number will determine whether you win the $200,000,000 Mega lottery or a mere $500.

The number of players is unusual.
The most common example of this is when there are an unusually large number of players. Occasionally, the opposite is true too (running unopposed for a public office).

The number and/or complexity of rules is unusual.
Tax laws, for both individuals and corporations, are complex. So if you make enough money, you can pay someone who knows all the rules a little bit of money to help you save a lot of money.

The rules are poorly defined or generally misunderstood.
Working for yourself is a great example. Most people who’ve never worked for themselves think there’s some magic to it or that you have to get permission from someone. You just do it.

The stated rules differ from the actual rules.
Many job openings are filled by friends of employees rather than those who went through the (often long and painful) formal application and interview process.

Players don’t realize they’re playing a game or believe they’re playing a different game.
My classic example is college. Most college students don’t have a clue why they’re there and so they inevitably just do what everyone else is doing. This makes it fairly easy for those who have a plan to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time.

The rules aren’t enforced (or aren’t enforced uniformly)
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” was a policy that created a work-around for some (closeted) gay service members to continue to server in the US military. It was a policy that prevented a law from being enforced.

Breaking the rules is allowed or even encouraged (and sometimes there are even rules about breaking the rules)
It’s often more profitable (and certainly easier) for a company that’s polluting the environment to continue polluting and simply pay the small fine than to actually stop polluting.

Not all games that meet one or more of these criteria are worth playing — but they’re often worth understanding.

As always, I love comments & questions. Play hard,
-bellay