When I see life as a game, I can account for the futility imposed on me by the vastness of time and space, and I can adjust my tempo in a fulfilling manner across all ranges of activity and intensity.
When I see life as an idealized quest, I become stuck in a quagmire of melodramatic thoughts, and I have to constantly ignore the evidence around me—those ever-present indications that consistently tell me I’m not that important, and to make the most of the time I have left.
(It’s better as a game.)
Dirty Sci-Fi Buddha 
Omfg it is all a game. The game is hero’s quest. But how many times do we have to care about playing the same game?
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Right. The power in a game is you can stop obsessing over it and enjoy it for the play it is. 🙂
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I love to SPINNY AND TWIRL! The Hiiilllllsss they have eyes, in the sound of muuusssiiiicc. See? I know how to have fun. I’m lots of fun. You better believe I know how to have fun. I’m the best at it. Wanna fight me? I’ll fight you. For the fun crown! CLOWN On!
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“FOR THE FUN CROWN!” Now THAT should be an epic rallying cry in a children’s book!😂
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But, aren’t games idealized quests?
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Games are geared toward enjoyment in the end. Within the game, you can pretend to be entangled in an idealized quest, but you can always remember that you did it for enjoyment, not because it’s existentially crucial.
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So true.
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Why you only consider life as game or qest. Try play sandbox. It’s like material world where you build happy nest (read it out loud ;)). Open your mind on new possibilities (lucky or happy) than be in the prison on quest and virtual game where nothing matters.
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Right. That’s the only way it makes sense to me.
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Ok just see real world and play sandbox when you choose qest. Its easy. Dont choosing a game.
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The game gives you a sense of meaning and accomplishment, which, even though they’re meaningless, hold personal meaning in that they’re psychologically some of the most fulfilling sensations you could ever experience. That’s why seeing it as a game is important.
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I understand what you are saying, especially because of your clarifications in the comments.
But, a game is also played to win! It is not much different from a quest, really.
A better metaphor would probably be that life is like play-time – fun, pointless and still fulfilling.
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Well as the drive to engage in adversity and achieve increasing levels of harmony seems to be one of the most gratifying things (according to my limited understanding of clinical psychology), I’d actually stick with the game model. The idea of levels and challenges doesn’t necessarily conflate with play time. 🙂
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True (about the games and play time distinction) – but levels and challenges – isn’t that what makes a game a quest?
I’m sorry, I don’t mean to challenge your choice, just seeking clarification for myself. The appeal of the game for you, as you describe it, seems to me to be the defining features of a quest.
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True, I guess I made a redundant distinction. I’ll try and rectify it with this one: a game is played for entertainment (I’d go so far as to say it can be played for fulfillment), while a quest would be undertaken for some form of existential importance that applies to the individual or collective, and I would say that’s not the case with a game. With a game, I can tap all the seriousness of a quest, yet set it aside when I’m relaxing with friends, or going to sleep, or just wanting to appreciate a sunny day. 🙂
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I agree life is like a game, where one of the tasks is figuring out the rules.
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Indeed. And even more—which ones apply to you in a given context, and which ones don’t.
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