Life's a Game – and You're Player One.

I sprint through the house, and I can’t contain my excitement any longer. There’s a huge smile on my face—and with every centimeter that I get closer to my room, it gets bigger. I turn the corner to my room and catapult myself forward, doing a literal dive roll to the majestic gadget. As I reach the pedestal it stands on, I combine the item that is in my hand so that the magic can begin. It’s the year 1999, I’m five years old, and I’m about to start “The Legend of Zelda - The Ocarina of Time” for the first time—and I don’t know that it will change my life forever.

This is the moment I fell in love with video games. It’s not just the game itself, though. I was always more in love with the animation, the art style, the story, and the music of these digital pieces of art.

Yes, I realize that I’m outing myself as a huge nerd. Game mechanics focus my attention. The stories of video games touch my soul. I listen to video game soundtracks while working.

I actually listen to this banger on a regular basis:

To me, video games are in the upper echelon of human creativity. The sheer complexity that these works of art have is astounding. A video game is a cooperative effort of some of the highest forms of creativity and engineering:

• Game design
• Storytelling
• Music
• Sound Engineering
• Visual art
• Animation
• Software Engineering
• Hardware Engineering

Video games are individual experiences. In that sense, video games mirror life, since no one person has the same experience. There might be some overlapping, but in the end, both are individual experiences. It’s not possible to take another path in most movies, since the scenes are predetermined (no hate against movies). There are interactive movies, but they can’t compare to video games. Also, a video game usually takes much longer to develop. The player then has hours upon hours of play time with one single video game. It gives the consumer much more content per unit of currency spent.

But that’s not the thing I love most about this medium. What I love most is its ability to portray emotions. Everybody can remember a moment in a movie that evokes emotion so visceral that the scene gets engraved in one’s memory.

I have thousands of moments like this with video games.

Epic moments, like...

SPOILER

Link hoists the Master Sword in Tears of the Kingdom

(Source: https://screenrant.com/zelda-tears-kingdom-totk-get-master-sword/)

Happy moments, like...

SPOILER

Ori and his adoptive mother Naru go for a walk

(Source: https://hookshotchargebeamrevive.com/2020/11/02/ori-and-the-double-feature-two-metroidvania-masterpieces/)

But also gut-wrenching tearjerkers, like...

SPOILER

Joel's daughter dies in his arms (That's in the first ten minutes of the game. How dare you, Naughty Dog.)

(Source: https://x.com/NextGenPlayer/status/1030216217171189760)

The medium also loses its stigma. Gamers are not just some nerds who spend all of their free time indoors in front of screens. In 2024, it’s expected that there will be 3.32 billion gamers worldwide.

Just like with any other medium, video games have different genres. If you're looking for thrill, action games are perfect. The old God of War games come to mind. Maybe you’re tired from work and want to relax. Then, something like Stardew Valley may be up your alley. There is something for everybody.

My favorite games were always the ones where I could explore their worlds and let my creativity go wild—like in Subnautica, Breath of the Wild, and Elden Ring.

Even though some of my favorite moments in entertainment come from video games, I can’t remember the last time I touched a controller. Still, I want this feeling that video games give me in my life – and this got me thinking:

What can I learn from video games that I could put into practice to make my life more like a video game?

It turns out that I forgot to mention an integral part of video game development. To some degree, it’s almost as important as the other factors combined: how to make a player want to play a video game; their motivation to do so.

In her book “Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World”, Jane McGonigal describes how game design can improve our day-to-day reality. First of all, it’s important to understand why video games create such a flood of motivation in gamers to keep playing. There is a structure that every game must possess:

1. The Goal of the game must be clear. Players need to know when they succeeded or when they failed.
2. The Rules of a game are integral to how it’s played. Contrary to what you might think, rules don’t hinder creativity and strategic thinking but instead promote them.
3. The Feedback System lets the player know how well they are doing in reaching the goal of the game. Something like points, levels, or progress bars comes to mind. Giving players feedback engages and motivates them to keep playing.
4. Voluntary Participation ensures that every participant accepts the goal, the rules, and the feedback system of the game. Making participation a choice makes the game more fun and engaging for everybody, since nobody is forced to play.

This is a great framework to understand how games are designed. However, such game designs are not just used in the video game industry.

In today’s world, every business under the sun tries to make their business model “fun” for their customers. The main reason is not joy, though—it’s to incentivize more spending. That’s why many companies include gamification elements in their products and services. Let’s look at the point system that big grocery chains are using as an example. When we put our framework to use, the game these companies designed becomes clear:

1. The Goal of the game is to collect as many points as possible by purchasing products. These points are used to save money with consecutive purchases. It’s also possible to redeem points for items such as frying pans or the like.
2. The Rules state that with every purchase, points can be earned. These points have an inherent value to them and can be spent within the limits of the game (e.g., the offers of the supermarket chain).
3. The Feedback System shows how many points a customer has earned overall. Also, it might show which items these points were redeemed for in the past. But most importantly, it shows how much money the customers have saved by participating in the game.
4. Voluntary Participation is assured, since customers must order a loyalty card in order to collect points.

But how can a game be played with only one type of player (in this case, the customers)?

It can’t.

This is the game from the perspective of the customer. There is a second participant that usually gets forgotten: the company itself.

From the company’s perspective, the game looks wildly different:

1. The Goal of the game is to get the customer to spend as much money in their stores as possible. Therefore, the incentive structure of the point system must be designed so that the customers want to spend as much money as possible.
2. The Rules are designed so that the points earned at the store can only be redeemed for products and services from the supermarket chain. This fosters customer loyalty, leading to higher customer lifetime value (CLV).
3. The gathered data on customer behavior lets the company evaluate the Feedback System. The more the customers’ actions align with the company’s objectives due to the design of the Feedback System, the better for the company.
4. Voluntary participation is a given, since the company is the designer as well as a player of the game.

So the next time you go into a store, be it physical or digital, try to find gamification elements.

You can also use this framework to gamify other mundane tasks in your life—or if you want to improve certain parts of your life. I unconsciously used gamification on my weight loss journey. Here is the framework I used to shed a serious amount of kilograms:

1. The Goal of the game is to lose weight in the form of excess body fat. This is the way to achieve my goal of getting a healthier and more toned body.
2. The Rules of the game are a given, since biology decided them for us. You have a number of calories you can consume each day to stay at the same weight. This is known as your calorie balance (here you can calculate your calorie balance for a rough estimate). If you consume more calories than your calorie balance, you gain weight in the form of body fat. If you consume fewer calories than your calorie balance, you lose weight in the form of body fat.
3. The Feedback System is straightforward: I’m going to use a scale for frequent body weight measurements and monthly tests at a trusted fitness facility to check my body fat percentage overall, since weight can also be gained in the form of muscles. (There are also scales out there that can give you an estimate of your body fat percentage, but they’re not very accurate.) In the beginning, just using the scale is sufficient. But if you also work out, I suggest you check your body fat percentage regularly.
   Beginning game: the lower the weight on the scale, the better.
   Mid-term game: the lower the body fat percentage, the better.
   Long-term game: the more consistent the body fat percentage, the better.
4. I want to get healthier, so I participate voluntarily in the weight loss game. No one can lose weight for you. Otherwise, we’d have one of the most profitable business models of all time in our hands.

This system worked like a charm. After about five months, I reached my goal weight and felt better than I’ve ever felt before. But this system came with some pitfalls that video games don’t face: the immediacy of the feedback system.

The most challenging point to get right in real life is the feedback system. In most real-life pursuits, feedback is delayed. If you go to the gym and eat healthy for one day, you won’t see a change to your body the next day. This is especially important in today’s world, since so many services and products are engineered to give the user immediate feedback. When you post on social media, you get likes almost instantly. If you crave a new pair of shoes, you can order it in under 60 seconds from your phone. But these things don’t lead to long-term happiness. The only way to overcome this immediacy trap is to cultivate patience. I know the struggle, since patience isn’t my strong suit. Meditation helped me a lot in this regard.

Using the art of video game design to improve your life is a great way to bring more fun and play into everyday activities. But as it is with everything, it can also be used for sinister purposes. I'm not at all against companies using gamification elements in their products and services – on the contrary: it spices up the experience and they're fun to design if you work for the company. But one should still be aware that these games contain nudges toward the behavior the game designer wants to see.

Use gamification to your advantage, but don’t let yourself be played.