Challenging Games and Life

“Aaargh! Man, why is this so hard!?” I argued at the TV screen after another death. This particular video game proved extraordinarily difficult, brutally difficult, in fact. It tested every nerd honed skill within me, that I had developed over three decades of dedicated and practiced gaming, to the maximum. But I was just as determined and stubborn as my pixelated foe. I had been born with a controller in my hand, or so one might think – or so I liked to think.

“Why do you play this? You keep dying. It doesn’t sound like you are having fun,” commented the blue-eyed beauty seated next to me. She spectated my obvious frustrations with an amused…concern?

“It is fun. It’s just…hard, sometimes,” I retorted. After another attempt I eventually bellowed out an excited shout of victory. “Yesssss! I did it. I did it. Whooo!” And how satisfying the triumph felt after trying and trying, over and over, and finally overcoming…the first stage.

So the question is – why the challenge?

I love video games. I love to be challenged. I love challenging video games. “Why!?” You ask. I know not everyone feels the same way about games, especially games with a high level of difficulty. And why would anyone submit themselves to difficulty and punishment within a virtual world – real life is hard enough. That is exactly it, well part of it. And I don’t consider it a ‘Machismo’ thing. So what of a challenge? “Who cares, Jose?” You are thinking. “What can anyone learn from a video game?”

For me, confronting challenge in games, regardless of the motive to overcome it, demonstrates an inner will to do subjectively hard things. (Something that is hard for one person, may be relatively easy for another, and visa versa) When one is presented with struggle they learn that they can keep trying and work through the challenges, get stronger, find solutions, fight, and “win”.

My wife and I have been playing a game together where our characters continue to die over and over. It’s hard. But the more we learn and adapt, we grow in the game and get stronger. What once was difficult gets easier.

Perhaps this all sounds trivial or even corny; however, in any realm difficulty provides a means for growth. Overcoming hardship can bring about a certain satisfaction, accomplishment, experience, knowledge, etc… and now I’m referring to more than just video games.

Yes, people play games for different reasons, and there are different elements to games that can offer enjoyable diversion despite difficulty, obviously; but in many cases if a game is too easy it can eventually become unsatisfactory and dull. Yet, how often do people play something and want the easy way?

I had to laugh recently at a viral post online in response to someone who admitted publicly that they had cheated to beat the final boss in a new, very challenging video game. This caused quite a stir and discussion in the gaming community. See the full report here. The author posted in half-jest:

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.

You didn’t grow.
You didn’t improve.
You took a shortcut and gained nothing.

You experienced a hollow victory.
Nothing was risked and nothing was gained.

It’s sad that you don’t know the difference. https://t.co/upkhLSNQNO— Fetusberry 「Irony Man」 Crunch (@Fetusberry) April 6, 2019

This simply provides an illustration of such people who avert challenges, and they really did just cheat themselves. For another example of taking the easy way, one has to look no further than the vast “pay-to-win”, micro-transaction schemes that now plague the gaming industry via greedy, predatory companies – people can pay real money for items and elements in a game to help them progress and win, instead of putting forth the time and effort. People embrace this avoidance of challenge and hardship in games and pay real money to do so.

All this is indicative of a larger problem within our culture – people constantly looking for the easy way. I understand in some cases of finding a better/easier way; however, I refer to the other side of the coin. The concept of taking the easy way is not only prevalent in the gaming scene, it can be found everywhere: exercise, dieting, education, employment, marriage, parenting, spirituality, … work! WHO WANTS TO WORK and do hard things? Who is willing to? Humans will ultimately tend to look for the easy route.

How many want to put forth the dietary discipline and exercise effort to lose weight and be healthy, to get stronger? Who wants to work hard to earn a living? To get an education? Get first place? Beat the end boss? Finish the project? Climb the mountain? Again, who wants to WORK?

There is no growth without challenge. Do you get stronger by always lifting the same weight in the gym that is light and easy? I picked up on a saying from a book I read years ago, “Sometimes we just do hard things.” This phrase inherently embodied my upbringing though it was never said outright; and not that my siblings and I never did things begrudgingly at times. Still I have a difficult time when I hear my children whine. They hear me repeat the phrase with my own parental emphasis, “Stop complaining and just do it! Sometimes you just do hard things.”

What is hard and difficult at first typically becomes easier with consistent, sincere effort. Lift the same weight over and over, and with time and work it eventually gets easier because YOU grow. YOU get stronger, and your ability within that scope of effort improves. Yes, sometimes the journey sucks, but one typically fares better in the outcome.

I believe challenge in any walk of life can be a good thing. For us. For our children. For others. It can furnish growth, if we allow it. Cheating through life only hurts us in the end.

Our children need to learn how to do hard things. No, there is no easy mode in Life. But our capacity to grow and develop can increase through life’s challenges, and adversities. So next time you are faced with a challenge do just that, Face it. Keep going with total 100% commitment, one step at a time. You might even level up in the process.