3 Vital Philosophical Lessons To Learn From Video Games
Video games and the meaning of life
Playing and completing a video game is a crucial experience in the development of any individual.
“Championship Manager? Completed it mate.”
Firstly, completing a video game shows you that hard work, problem-solving, dedication, endurance – all while having fun – can lead to success. And that at the end of any good video game, a celebration awaits you. Maybe some uncovering of some secret information, a fireworks show, saving the princess, awaits you, and the completion of the game brings a feeling of satisfaction. The most intense mystical experience of my life, brought on by the now illegal nitrous oxide gas, which Humphry Davy, William James, Paul Blood, and others wrote about, and which should be handled with care, and certainly should not be taken while driving as some idiots in London I have witnessed do… the careful taking of nitrous oxide gas led to my first and most profound mystical experience, which among other things, felt like I had just completed the game of life, and the result was an incredible fireworks show and the letting in on some fantastic secret knowledge which brought with it bliss and perfect contentment.
The second reason playing video games is important is that you learn that the satisfaction of completing the game quickly fades. After the heights of completion, all too soon creeps in the feeling of… “What now?”.
“I’ve completed the game. I’ve had my moment of bliss. What do I live for now?”
Indeed, at the ripe age of around 16, a philosopher already at heart, I told my friends that it was a terrible thing for Frank Lampard to have won the Champions League, as, since he had now achieved his life goal, what was there to live for now? He had completed his ‘game’, he had felt glory, but then all too quickly that glory will fade, he will question whether the years of struggle were worth that fleeting moment of glory, and he will question what there is to live for now. NFL players have expressed this after winning the Super Bowl too.
The lesson that getting whatever you desire is actually not the answer to life is a crucial lesson for the development of any young person. And it is much easier and more accessible to complete a good video game to learn this lesson, rather than having to struggle all one’s life to win the Champion League in order to learn that same lesson.
This lesson ought not to make one nihilistic though. Rather, we learn what the Buddhists have always pointed to, that desire, and chasing desire, aversion, and avoiding aversion, are not the path to the good life.
The third and final vital lesson learned from video games comes in those games that, after you’ve completed them, you can keep on playing. For example, Pokémon, after you’ve defeated the Elite Four, and then you re-enter the world, with your immensely strong Pokémon at this point, with little to do but keep on beating the Elite Four over and over. But, as anyone who has done this knows, there is no joy to be found in this, for there is no struggle to be found in it.
Once the game is completed and becomes too easy to play and win at, the game becomes boring, and the desire to play it fades. This is vital information and a vital lesson, for it tells us, as Jim Carrey puts it, “I wish everybody could get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.”
The equivalent to getting rich and famous and everything you ever dreamed of, in Pokémon, is being rich in top quality Pokémon, famous for beating the Elite Four among pals like Professor Oak and Gary, and getting everything you ever dreamed of, like the Legendary Birds, for example… once you get all these things, the game becomes boring to play.
Once you get rich, famous, achieve your dreams, life becomes a game boring to play. And I know this, not from getting rich and famous and achieving my dreams, not from listening to Jim Carrey, but by playing Pokémon. (And to be fair, by reading Schopenhauer).
So where do we go from there? Well, we must learn to live in a world in which completing the game is not the thing that matters. Rather, it is how we play the game, and whether we enjoy playing it during the years of struggle, that matters. The recognition that completion of the game will bring only momentary bliss, is vital in learning to appreciate the game as we are playing it, even amongst the struggle. For we will crave the struggle, once the struggle is over. And we will yearn to start again, returning to our humble beginnings. And so, to play beautifully, and with style, and enjoyment, this is how life should be played.