Today's topic is close to my heart: video games (all games, for that matter). I must have been around 3 years old when I received a Nintendo 64 as a Christmas present from my mom (love you mom UuU). I have been mostly playing in a digitized world in one way or another ever since.

Some generations in our societies still don't see video games with good eyes. After all (like any other pleasure in this world), they can become addictive. But I'm not here to point fingers at anyone or blame any one particular thing; I don't think that's useful. I'm here to tell you about a part of my stance with respect to video games. In particular, I want to share an idea that's been forming in the back of my mind for some time now: RPGs as a surprisingly pragmatic mental model for approaching life. I've seen these models and allegories widely used by large portions of internet users. Healthy Gamer GG's channel is a great example of this. But I haven't yet come across media that tries to explain (as simply as possible) why it's important and convenient.

In this article. I'll go over...

• What is a game
• The usefulness of videogames
• What are mental models
• Why are mental models helpful
• The proposition of an extensible Life RPG Mental Model

Let's a go! ;)

What is a Game?

I find Vsauce's choice of definition the most effective, efficient, and intuitive:

One of my favorite ways of defining game comes from computer game designer Chris Crawford. Let's begin with a book. This is a great book, it's really fun, it's entertaining, but it's not a game. TV shows and movies are also not games because, fundamentally, they aren't interactive.

But as soon as something is both fun and interactive, well, now we've got ourselves a play-thing. There are two types of play-things, according to Crawford. If you can play with the object and it's fun but there's no goal or objective associated with it, it's a toy. If, however, there is an objective, something you're supposed to accomplish, well, now you're talking about a challenge.

But there are two different types of challenges. If the challenge involves no other people or other agents, it's just you, for instance, playing alone with a Rubik's Cube, you've got yourself a puzzle. If, however, there are other people involved, well, now we've got ourselves a conflict. In a conflict, like a foot race, you aren't allowed to interfere with the other participants. This is what Crawford calls a "competition."

If, however, you are allowed to interact with and interfere with the other players and they can do the same to you, well, in that case, we are talking about a full-fledged game. So, a game is interactive, goal-oriented, and involves other agents, for instance, other people who can interfere with and influence each other. Which means, technically speaking, that life is a game. I mean, real life. My life, your life, easily fit many definitions of "game."

I've taken the time to put this together in a diagram so it's easier to follow.

This is certainly not a definitive definition of game. Wouldn't you agree that a group of people could solve a puzzle? But I really like this definition of game because it goes through all other related concepts first and builds the definition by adding a key difference every time.

Before moving to the next section, I have to share a top comment in Vsauce's video: "Life is a game? Aren't games supposed to be fun?" How right! Isn't it? Even in my diagram, I had to begin with the presupposition that whatever we were defining was fun. And this got me thinking.

Why Are Videogames Useful?

Most of the games we play, we start playing them voluntarily. We also stop playing them voluntarily if at some point we no longer find it fun. This usually happens when things are either too hard or too boring. The catch with life is that none of us asked to play this game. If you've ever dealt with suicidal thoughts, I'm sure you've come to think this yourself at some point: "I never even asked to be here".

I like deep things (things that deal with life itself). And I don't like being dramatic for the sake of it. But please hear me out:

• If life is a game
• And we only play games as long as they are fun
• Then figuring out what exactly makes any game fun becomes a matter of life or death

And it happens that video games are currently the most popular way of playing a game.

I think we can all agree that suicide is bad. If we are all at the very least striving to move away from that as much as possible, then I hope you can see how any type of game can be an extremely utile thing (video games included). Of course, I still have a long way to go before I can fully understand what exactly made every game I've played fun. This very article is but my grain of sand towards getting to the bottom of things. But nowadays our default judgment when it comes to games is that of something menial and devoid of seriousness. Think again. Hopefully, my argument has convinced you of how important games (any game) really are.

Just what exactly is the nature of life to its full extent? How can we continue to improve the rules of the game so that it is more fun for everyone to play? There are no words that can describe just how important these questions are for all of us. And yet, we are often too busy just playing the game (hopefully having fun) that we forget to take some time to stop acting and just think about the whole thing, myself included.

What Are Mental Models

Merriam-Webster defines model as "an example for imitation or emulation". Wikipedia defines a mental model as "an internal representation (model) of external reality". Whenever a model is involved, there is imitation, representation, and/or emulation. In layman's terms, a mental model is what we picture in our minds when we think of any particular thing. If you read something about a witch... what has just come about in your mind? Was it this?

This?

Or this?

Hopefully, you see all these three mental models of a witch are valid yet quite different in themselves. This takes us to the next section.

Why Are Mental Models Helpful

Mental models help us be more precise. They help us be on the same page when talking about something. If we don't take the time to agree that all witches fly on a broom, for example, then whatever collaboration we may have could lead to confusion for either party. Agreeing on a mental model is handy because a picture is worth a thousand words.

But that's not all. Mental models are also good because they allow us to extrapolate the outcomes of whatever thing may happen. In a way, mental models are like magical glasses that let you see better into the future.

Mental models ideally could model an entity or situation in its entirety and with infinite fidelity. But it's often the case that a mental model only models an entity or situation partly. This is where video games come in. Being that life is a game and video games are also games, this sets up things so that some video games become excellent mental models for life, even if just partly.

Games can help us model things like the Economy very well...

And let us see how things can go very wrong without us actually having to play things out in life...

Whenever new technologies like the recent advent of Gen AI and Machine Learning, it's pretty similar as if a new exploit has been found in the game of life: What used to take a fair amount of time can now be achieved in much less, with fewer resources and benefiting more players.

Finally, I want to share what I think is one of the most useful mental models for life to have come from video games. It is based on one of the most popular and well-established open-world role-playing games (RPG) of all time: Skyrim.

Skyrim: A Practical & Extensible RPG Mental Model for Life

I was actually thinking about writing this week's post about a video I came across talking about how difficult the employment situation has become for new graduates (especially in China). The video went over how college degrees had become essentially worthless by today's standards. But I thought it best to first describe an RPG's Mental Model for Life. I could then use it to better articulate my thoughts and arguments for the unemployment situation.

Skyrim is a very good model for life starting with its genre. Life really is like an open-world game. In most conditions, we are all free to adventure into any part of the map (earth). We have no guarantee that doing so will make the game more fun, but this is very true to life indeed.

Life is also like an RPG. I've rarely seen this be talked about in other places, but our character (i.e. what constitutes our true self) is something that we seem to be able to craft. The decisions that I've taken throughout my life have definitely transformed the base Marco into the Marco that is writing this article right now. In life, we are really playing a character: ourselves. It's just that it's sometimes not clear what exactly makes that character at all times.

Finally, Skyrim does a phenomenal job with its skill system. Life also has a skill system, even if humanity hasn't yet completely figured out all its ins and outs. Think for instance of how it's very difficult for some people to learn a new language while others pick it up like nothing. Or what exactly is the true best way to become a master guitar player? We do know some things, like the more time you spend practicing something, the more probable you are to become better at it. This may seem obvious to you, but at some point in life, this wasn't obvious at all. A just as valid mental model could be that, when you come into life, God imbues you with natural talents/skills that can't be changed whatsoever.

Let's go over Skyrim's skill system's good and bad. How may it help us extrapolate some useful things on navigating our own lives?

There are 18 skills in Skyrim. Each skill has a level, determined by a number. Skills go from level 1 to level 100.

Skills are categorized into 3 different archetypes:

• Combat (Archetype)
  • Archery
  • Block
  • Heavy Armor
  • One-handed
  • Smithing
  • Two-handed
• Magic (Archetype)
  • Alteration
  • Conjuration
  • Destruction
  • Enchanting
  • Illusion
  • Restoration
• Stealth (Archetype)
  • Alchemy
  • Light Armor
  • Lockpicking
  • Pickpocketing
  • Sneak
  • Speech

Each archetype corresponds to a playstyle: that of a warrior (combat), mage (magic), or thief (stealth). A skill's level can be increased by any of the following:

• Using the skill increases the level of a skill slightly depending on the action and the skill. For example, selling items to vendors will slightly increase the Speech skill.
• Reading skill books increases the level of a skill by one. Skill books can be found across the map, encouraging exploration.
• Using trainers, people across the game whom the player can pay to increase a skill by one. The amount of gold (the game's currency) to be paid increases with the skill's current level. Trainers have three tiers: Common, Expert & Master. Master trainers are more expensive than Expert trainers. Expert trainers are more expensive than Common trainers. Not all trainers are available from the start of the game. Some trainers require quests to be completed before they become available. Trainers in Skyrim only allow you to train to level 90.
• Finishing certain quests will reward the player with an increase of a particular skill by one.

The player also has an innate level, independent of skills. When the player levels up, this grants a perk point. Perk points can be used to obtain special abilities for a particular skill. Each skill has a predetermined perk point path in the form of a tree. For example, spending perk points in the Smithing skill tree mostly allows the player to craft weapons and armor made of new materials.

Unlocking some perk points also requires other perk points to be unlocked as a prerequisite. The player must spend a perk point to learn how to craft steel armor before being able to spend a perk point to learn how to craft ebony armor, for example.

Finally, let's note that Skyrim arranges the skills in a circle so that each of the three archetypes has a skill that could be considered part of 2 archetypes: Alchemy can be considered both a mage and thief skill. Alteration is both a mage and warrior skill. And Archery both a warrior and thief skill.

As you can see, this is quite a good approximation for the skills of regular life. Some skills actually exist in life: Speech, Sneak, Pickpocket, Smithing, Archery, Lockpicking, etc. Of course, life has many more skills than these, and Skyrim's list contains skills that are simply non-existent in life, mainly the magic skills. Some other skills seem like they would be better grouped into a single other skill. We could have a skill called Fitness and have something like a sub-skill for one-handed combat and two-handed combat.

Also, a three-dimensional model of skills with a perk path allows us to group skills that are related to each other. We could agree that, if Math and Physics knowledge are both skills in our mental model, then it would intuitively make sense for them to be one next to the other.

I love this mental model because it has made me deeply reflect and realize some pretty interesting things about life:

• Some skill's abilities/feats require that you unlock a previous ability first. Lately, I've been learning how to handstand. This models that skill pretty well: before learning to handstand, you should learn to wall handstand. Before that, you should learn to headstand. And before that, you should learn how to crow pose. Though, of course, this restriction doesn't apply to all players. Some players seem to be able to jump directly into a handstand without having to unlock those other perks first. However I would argue that it's because of the innate abilities they started the game with. It's not that they don't have them unlocked, it's that they began the game with them unlocked.
• Trainers in Skyrim only allow you to train to level 90 (out of 100). In other words, you can't pay anyone to become the best at something. After you've reached a certain point, you're on your own. And only practice, observation, and determination will take you to the highest levels of any particular skill. You may also read a book (skill book) that makes something finally click for you. Or you may finish a quest (like getting your PhD) and that may do the trick too.
• Often things in life need unlocking (like certain trainers behind a quest). Quests are spread across the world and there are hints that a quest may be initiated. But it's up to the player to complete them on their own time. Some quests may expire if too much time passes since the quest began. Some quests (like the main quest) begin without the player having to voluntarily initiate it. Isn't this almost exactly how life works? :D

We haven't yet agreed on a collective, largely accepted mental model for all the skills that exist in life. Think about this: It's 2024 and we are still playing a game, leveling up skills, unlocking perks, but we are not even close to being certain that we have been shown all the skill trees! I don't yet have a skill mental model that I would consider even close to complete. But it's definitely something I'd love to work on in the future. I'm thinking I may do a cool website about it. Or at the very least, make an Obsidian wiki of it.

However that may be, I hope you've enjoyed today's article and found its contents useful. If you ever find something in life that is best described by a game, please remember this post and make sure to share it with your friends!