Open and closed world games

Even the most expansive video games are ‘closed world’ environments. There is an illusion of freedom, but there are many actions in the game that are simply impossible. No matter how many times you make your character run into that wall, you’re not going to knock it over.

On the flip side, many people treat their lives and their jobs like ‘closed world’ games. There are of course the laws of physics, which we must obey, and the laws of the land, which are generally a good idea to obey, but beyond that, many of the “rules” people adhere to are self-imposed.

“I can’t email that person.”

“I can’t just decide not to do that task.”

And the perennial favourite…

“That’s the way we’ve always done it.

This isn’t to say that some rules, structures and norms aren’t helpful and quite frankly necessary to function together as groups, organisations and societies. But there are a good number which are simply limiting self-beliefs and unhelpful norms that we’d do well to consider challenging.