“Life is a god-tier game.” I know there’s that famous copypasta about it, but if you ask me, it’s a bunch of crap.
Only people who’ve never been in a genuinely shitty situation would think the world is actually balanced to let you clear each level by the skin of your teeth with a little skill and effort. You think every character you’ll meet has a deep backstory? That’s just a stale fantasy you’ll hear from people who have no idea how many shallow mobs are out there.
It’s not necessarily a great thing to live in ∞ × ∞ HD and and ∞ frames per second. After all, some things are interesting only when their pixel count is low. The reason ugly guys like me look so ugly is the resolution around here is too high. I’m sure I’d look more like everyone else if the world was made of pixel art. Oh, I’m not crying over it or anything.
But even before we get into that, it’s wrong to think that complexity and pizzazz necessarily make something good. The best games are always the simple and beautiful ones.
That’s true for shogi, and it’s true for Super Mario. All the latest FPSs have simple rules and concepts. Depth and flavor thrive within those simple rules and concepts.
All the games that go down in history are like that.
So how does real life measure up?
Since ancient times, tons of brilliant scientists have been conducting experiments to search for a Law of Everything that explains the rules of our world. They still haven’t found it.
Since ancient times, tons of brilliant philosophers have been wrapping ideas up in logic trying to figure out the meaning of life—in other words, life’s concept. You can just argue the meaning is different for each person. I’ve never heard a single good comeback for it.
If you forced me to come up with the basic rules and concept for how life really is, I can only think of one, and it’s not exactly simple: Just live. Beyond that, you’re on your own. What’s so great about a game like that?
Not to mention that even if you act like everyone else, you get discriminated against or treated badly because of your face or your build or your age. No matter how hard you try, if you get sick when it’s time to play, you lose everything. All I can see are convincing reasons to call life a shitty game. Bottom-tier characters like me haven’t committed any crimes. We’re just tyrannized because we happen to have been born weak.
It’s absurd and unfair. The world is stacked against the weak.
Ergo, shitty game.
It’s a commonplace cliché, but it fits the real world perfectly.
Sure, some people might argue with me. “You probably think that because you’re not trying hard enough at life,” they’ll say. It’s just the kind of skewed comment you’d expect from someone born into this world as a top-tier character.
They don’t notice life’s ridiculous requirements because they start out at an advantage. They mistakenly assume that maining a top-tier character and dominating on easy mode is fun, and that’s all there is to life.
In other words, it’s nothing more than the opinion of some noob gamer.
If you haven’t mastered the game, you’d better step back.
If you’re a noob who happens to have been born strong and has been taking it easy ever since, you don’t have the right to talk about life.
I know what I’m talking about. I’ve worked hard at every kind of game there is, and I’ve been standing on the mountaintop for quite a while.
The game of life is garbage.
✦ ✦ ✦
—nanashi, the best gamer in Japan