Many of you have probably spent time collecting gold, mining gems, acquiring outfits and accessories, and increasing your character’s stats. Looking back at your character’s humble beginnings, you might feel a sense of accomplishment at how far you’ve come. However, no matter how high your level gets, there are always enemies with higher levels constantly appearing, which can leave you feeling overwhelmed.
That thrilling moment when you finally acquire that coveted item that has completely captivated your heart with the thought, “If I only had that item, my character would be amazing!” But you soon realize that there are always even better items in the world. The moment you see a superior item, the items you possess suddenly feel like old, worn-out socks. Then you face a crossroads: Will you be content with what you have, or will you go all out for the “even better item”?
Giving up makes you feel like a loser. You won’t experience the exhilarating feeling of defeating newly emerging enemies who are slightly higher level than you—the feeling that you’ve become stronger, that you’re constantly growing, that you’re soaring through the sky—and you’ll undoubtedly be subtly looked down upon by other players who are tirelessly acquiring items day and night. But constantly chasing “even better items” seems endless, and you have an unsettling premonition that you’ll miss something important.
In a moment of hesitation, you look around. Everyone around you is focused on leveling up. You hear news that a friend has acquired an amazing item. Oh no, if you stay like this, you’ll become nothing. A loser. You unknowingly click the game’s start button and embark on the path to leveling up once again.
“Character stats + Skill + Luck = Success,” this worldview, combined with the cheat code of “pay-to-win,” is a microcosm of the human world. In the real world, success is determined by innate character traits such as intelligence, physical strength, agility, and resilience, combined with skills gained through effort, and finally, decisive factors like timing and various situational luck. Simply being diligent and working hard doesn’t guarantee success; luck must also be on your side. However, spending real money invalidates everything. Even if you’ve been leveling up for 150 years across three generations, one click from someone spending real money can bring it all crashing down. But the key point is that “knowing this doesn’t eliminate the fun of constantly leveling up and acquiring items.” After all, only a limited number of people can spend real money. The rest dedicate their lives to the vague hope that they will become the best among them and eventually become someone who can spend real money.
In reality, there is no difference between “game addicts” and “progress addicts” in the real world. Both are addicted to the thrill of victory and acquiring items, burning their precious time like cigarettes. While their lives are consumed by the endless cycle of pleasure from “leveling up (progress)” and “acquiring items,” they cannot ask questions like “Why was I born?” or “Where did I come from and where am I going?” It’s simply that they feel pleasure while they’re burning, and they die when they’re completely burned out.
People who live life like a game see everything as an item and must level up everything. Appearance, financial status, physical strength, social status—everything must be leveled up. Even themselves, their families, and their friends are targets for leveling up. No matter how much they earn or how hard they try and achieve, the money and time required for additional leveling up constantly increase, and naturally, the must-have items that must be acquired also increase as the level rises. Like entropy, everything only spreads out and never converges.
Even if they find satisfaction in looking down on players with lower levels, it’s only temporary. Maintaining their current level is no fun. They also know that if they aim to “maintain the status quo,” they will soon be overtaken and become relatively lower. The moment they give up the fun of leveling up—the fun of making money, getting promoted, leveling up their children, expanding their house, accumulating various experience points (travel, gourmet restaurants, leisure, sex, concerts, etc.)—all the fun of life disappears. They may deny it if asked, but for such people, life itself is a game.
To those who don’t live life like a game, players at level 1 and players at level 40 look the same: simply human beings. No one is above or below anyone else. They are all seen as individuals with their own circumstances, fulfilling their own responsibilities in their own places, and searching for meaning in their own lives. They understand that a player who ends their life at level 3 while pursuing meaning has lived a much more successful life than a player who ends their life at level 50 while being obsessed with the fun of leveling up. Understanding this makes them not envy the so-called “max level” in games. They have no obsession with leveling up and are always at peace. If they have their daily bread and are healthy, they have no further material worries. Therefore, they can do “meaningful work” that is not based on the purpose of leveling up or acquiring items.
This is the key point. To find the meaning of life, one must do “meaningful work,” but meaningful work is often neither recognized by anyone nor helpful for so-called “leveling up.” In most cases, one must choose between leveling up and meaningful work. Those who try to level up must use their time and energy on various tasks for leveling up. They must make a good impression on those who don’t need help rather than those who do, and they must always consider careers that can bring the greatest profit per unit of time. How can such people have time to think about the “meaning of life”? Leveling up and the pleasure gained in the process are their only meaning and purpose, just like in a game.
By breaking free from the “level-up worldview” of living life like a game, one can finally do meaningful work. That pure meaning, without any personal gain as a basis, spreads like light and salt to the world, saving many people. Although they may experience various inconveniences as a result of not considering leveling up, they always find rest in an incomprehensible peace and joy. This is in stark contrast to those with high levels who have no rest and no joy in life, resorting to antidepressants, sleeping pills, and various drugs. Interestingly, not only those with high levels but also those with low levels fall into depression, insomnia, and drug addiction simply by having a “level-up worldview.” I want to give a sticker with this phrase to everyone with such a “level-up worldview,” as if it were a contagious disease:
<Warning: Life is not a game.>
Those who live life like a game cannot know the meaning of life, and those who know the meaning of life do not live life like a game.
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