Role Play Games

REFLECTIONS OF REALITY

The game of life is a tactical role play game with an element of luck thrown in. And just like reality - it can be played out in a fantasy realm like those found in Dungeons & Dragons adventures.

To play this game, one must work out what their game character is by answering an extensive set of character-defining questions. Then, based on some real psychological foundations, these characters and their skills are analysed to understand their role fitting within the game's fantasy alignments. I never played these games at school - in fact, I picked on the kids that did. I wish I'd never done that but bully or be bullied was how you survived. So, I missed out on something that seems a lot of fun and very creative to play and although I had nobody to play it with, I took the character test.

Chaotic Neutral Human Sorcerer (6th Level)
Very interesting. It's the truthful answers I gave and the resulting character's game characteristics that seem to have spurred me on to look at some inspiring topics that I would not have searched for otherwise. Consequently, the game has weirdly helped to show me a bit more of my likely character traits but also reflected in a real world situation. This fantasy game has helped me embark on a worthy mission, resulting in me signing two political petitions, donating money to a worthy cause, sharing some important videos/messages that need to be heard by EVERYONE and inspired me to embark on a quest of discovery. Hence, I've since been taking important political decisions on topics I feel passionate about. And I had never thought about politics at all before now - or about getting involved myself so enthusiastically before taking this fantasy test.

The creator of Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Cygax, was a real visionary in game role play. I would never have believed doing the Character test would have motivated me in the real world - but playing games IS key to playing life - just as I've realised before now. So, although this test was for a game scenario, these character descriptions have in some strange way, prompted me to consider what my place in society is and encouraged me to look at some of the issues we're facing with our battles in the non-fantasy world.

Strategic moves

LIFE IS A CHESS GAME

There are people who play it and other less smarter people who get played. I mentioned in an earlier post that life is a game. It is - and if we want to have a better chance of succeeding in the game of life, we can create an advantage by thinking more before acting and planning ahead. We need to have a strategy.

Stay Sharp

In order to implement our strategy well, we need to be 'switched-on'. Chances are, if you're prone to day dreaming, wrongly believe that others have your interests covered or you're just used to being reactive rather than proactive, you'll likely have a few stories where things have not gone your way. Some may say they're unlucky but I truly believe you make your own luck in life. 

We are constantly battling against outside forces to ensure the majority of our waking hours are positive & happy. There's so many things that can 'crop up' without warning to affect our day. So it makes sense to be mindful of as many potential hiccups before they happen. Some days, we know there's just going to be tough situations coming up and in order to rise above these daily challenges - we have to be alert and ready for battle. This means having good food, sleep and time to prepare ourselves to be in a focussed state of mind.

A lot of people seem to think I'm carefree, happy-go-lucky or worse, unconcerned and clueless to what's going on around me. Thing is - I'm actually a very thoughtful and 'secretly boring' person. I am very organised and efficient - to the point of obsessiveness. I use this side of my character to structure my life but I don't really want my friends to know I'm an OCD nutcase, so I keep this side hidden away from sight. 

That's why it often appears that I'm relaxed and easy-going - because I've already taken my role play situations - ie. acted out a few future moves in my mind, assessed likely outcomes, looked at the 'what if's' and predicted the end game. In this process, I've reasoned how important certain things really are to me and how they will affect other 'pieces' or people in the move/game. 

Just like a Grand Chess Master, I'll imagine different scenarios/outcomes - to remove any unforeseen surprises and any consequent emotional responses like frustration or anger from surfacing. The major benefits of thinking this way are that you've already placed allowances for damage limitation. If there's time/energy required for managing other's expectations or potential disappointments that could have arisen from those outcomes - you'll be set up because you've been smart enough to factor in some contingency plans. The result being - even if things don't go entirely as planned - there should still be a positive mind set and ultimately success in the end. 

Life Is A Game

LEARNING THE RULES

Here's a post I read a while back on likening life to a video game. It's pretty funny looking at it like that, life....one big game. But it's kinda right. This is a game. There's choices and moves and decisions to unlock new 'worlds' and new levels to get to once you've mastered the current one. If we looked at life more that way, maybe we'd all be better at it.

The thing is, the game of life can be tough. It can be dull and it can be a bit of a downer at times. We haven't got much time on this planet, but we can certainly make some good decisions to make the most of the time we've got. We can improve our bodies, change our routines, remove our bad habits, enhance our minds and make better decisions to improve the game and enjoy playing it for the most part. We just need to understand the rules.

Make Everything A Game
My partner and I make fun times of everything we do - every mundane task has a little game attached to it. Like food shopping for example, where we split off separately and race around the store getting the ingredients; seeing who has the best memory and who's first back to the till. Cooking becomes an efficiency test; playing up against the clock for the best use of time making a new recipe - always with a bit of kitchen tango thrown in. And there's always some treats set aside to reward any cost and time savings.

We also take pleasure in sharing all the chores and mundane tasks. It often pays dividends to volunteer, because extra 'brownie points' are awarded – which can be redeemed at a later date. Where there's 'specialist' jobs like driving (my partner likes to be chauffeured), there's other jobs which can be 'owned' – she's therefore become the master in charge of all journey refreshments and takes pleasure in having the right refreshments on hand. We're both tested on our respective jobs - and we'll pull out all the stops to ensure the journey has been properly planned; the vehicle prepped, maps sorted (with pit-stops) and the right snacks/drinks ready along with all eating/drinking apparatus organised. The trip is optimised to be the best possible journey. This may sound a bit obsessive to the outside observer, but we make everything involved with a trip more enjoyable and collaboratively, it soon becomes second nature ensuring all the bases have been covered. Consequently, we love a traffic jam and there's rarely any arguments on a journey, because contingency plans have been factored-in, plus having reserves on hand, means our blood sugar levels are always primed to keep us happy in any unforeseen travel circumstances.

The principles for making life a game, can be applied to a whole array of live situations – both good and bad. If something really isn't going as planned, when there's options available, the plan B can be just as fun anyway. And if things are really not going well....then, just like a game, it can be packaged away/switched off or rebooted and played again some other time.