If you’ve played some video games specifically a role-playing game (RPG), then you’ve experienced how being a hero works.
But even if you haven’t played one, it’s still relatively easy to understand a hero’s life — thank you Marvel Studios!
So here’s how it goes:
- You start by picking a character (the hero).
- Then you equip it with items (game items) to make it stronger.
- Then train it by fighting some little monsters.
And as you gain more experience fighting those little monsters, you acquire more skills. More experience could also bring you more game money, which will also help you buy more items.
You do that repeatedly until you reach the final stage.
Although I don’t know a lot of role-playing games nowadays, in my experience, almost all the time there’s this strongest, most ferocious, most powerful enemy you need to defeat in order to accomplish the final stage, eventually winning the game.
That fight was the one gamers have been waiting for. It’s the final battle.
Most gamers call this monster the boss. I’ll just call it, the “Mastermind”. But more on that later.
Video Game vs Real Life
It fascinates me whenever I think about video games being translated into a real-life scenario. To an extent, there are subtle similarities.
Here’s how it goes:
In real life, the character (the hero) is ourselves. Then we try to buy stuff (game items) to make ourselves more competent or more presentable. Then we have to overcome some little challenges (fight little monsters) now and then to develop our character.
And as we gain more experience, we also acquire new skills and also learn how to earn money (game money). Then we use the money to buy more stuff we believe would make us more competent or presentable.
This behavior, obviously, will become our lifestyle until we grow old and die. I think everyone including those who don’t understand anything about video games can relate to it. It’s undeniable. This is what we humans do.
I don’t need to detail everything. You get the idea.
But there’s one difference we need to emphasize.
In a video game, the final stage is where gamers face the mastermind. If they defeat it, they will finally win and earn whatever the reward is.
In real life, however, the mastermind is…
The Mastermind
OK. So where’s the mastermind in real life? Where’s the final battle?
This may sound surprising to you, but I can understand.
Because the mastermind we’re talking about… is with you all the time.
The mastermind is your own mind, yourself.
It’s the one you’ll face in the end. The voice inside your head that whispers, “you can’t” and “you will fail”. The one who will stop you from achieving your dreams.
And as you grow older, it will become much stronger, and more ferocious and powerful. If you don’t learn to tame it or silence it, it will eventually overpower you (without you knowing).
And no matter how many people you rally to help fight your own mastermind, it won’t work. Every person is battling their own masterminds as well.
It’s a little bit scary. But that’s reality.
At the end of the day, it’s only you who will face it.
No one else.