The Goal of Turning One’s Life into Fun Games

Turning life into games can occur in different ways. I was fortunate to discover an approach uniting three others that make such turning effortless and fun. It can be addictive. It is for me. Thankfully, that is one of those addictions that keep us motivated, curious, and enthusiastic. Addiction to — or passion for — life, with all it comprises, ups and downs, gains and losses, joys and upsets, is the best addiction there can be.

This approach is Self-Gamification, and it unites anthropology, kaizen, and gamification.

One of the great things about this approach is the use of the fact that any project or activity has the same main components as games.

And since Self-Gamification is made of activities (at least two: designing and playing the self-motivational games), then it can be a game too. In fact, it should be, otherwise, all that wouldn’t make sense. You can’t learn how to be gameful if you put too much seriousness or drama into it.

The Self-Gamification (SG) game and its components

A quick note: I noticed that pronouncing the phrase “Self-Gamification game” leans toward being a tongue breaker, so from now on, in this article, I will use the acronym “SG” for “Self-Gamification.” Besides, the “SG game” sounds cool. That is what I am after — having fun and making everything I am up to cool and fun. I’ll come to that goal in a minute.

First, it is essential to point out that since the SG game is a game, it has all four core components of a traditional game.

“What defines a game are a goal, the rules, the feedback system, and voluntary participation. Everything else is an effort to reinforce and enhance these four core components.” — Jane McGonigal, Reality Is Broken

The importance of a goal

Have you noticed that the goal in a game is always listed at the beginning of a game description? The same is with any project we take on. A project doesn’t exist without the definition of its goal; it is born with this definition being in place.

It is not coincidental that many of us make New Year Resolutions — sometimes unbeknownst to others or even ourselves. We need goals, and we love quests. We yearn to be on a mission. Oprah Winfrey is famous for advising us on how to find our lives’ missions. The sub-title of one of her many acclaimed books says everything: The Path Made Clear: Discovering Your Life’s Direction and Purpose.

We also want to know what is the win-state of the journey we take on, what we will get out of it — what experience, what benefits.

Now, I have thrown several terms upon you, which you might know or think you know, but which might be surprising, and always valuable, to refresh and reread. I must admit I did the quick research of the terms below also (or even more so) for myself. I discovered that the louder the thought like “I know that already,” the less I am sure about the topic. This awareness is one of the tremendous gifts of anthropology and non-judgmental seeing.

The goal glossary

Here is a little glossary of the terms mentioned above, in alphabetical order, as well as a few quick thoughts popping as I read and quote each of these here.

“The goal is the specific outcome that players will work to achieve. It focuses their attention and continually orients their participation throughout the game. The goal provides players with a sense of purpose.” — Jane McGonigal, Reality Is Broken

This sense of purpose is even more acute in real life.

“A quest, or mission, is a task in video games that a player-controlled character, party, or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward.” — Wikipedia

What is this ultimate reward?

Win-state: “A condition or state within a game or level which designates successful completion of a predetermined task or goal.” — IGI Global

That comes full circle back to the goal (like in a game loop).

Thus, the goal defines a vision. Then the mission tells you what you need to do to make that vision a reality. And finally, the win-state describes the state you’ll supposedly be in (as in, rewarded for your effort) when that vision becomes a reality, and you completed your mission.

The goal, the mission, and the win-state of the SG game

Thus, let’s define the goal of the SG game and find out what is your mission in this game.

The ultimate goal in the SG game is to make your reality engaging, entertaining, and fun.

You choose a target (which can be a challenge, a project, or activity) and take on a mission to turn this target into a fun, self-motivational game, which is enticing for the player (yourself) to engage and enjoy.

You could say, the SG game is mostly a game designer’s game. You play the role of the self-motivational game designer. But also that of your first player testing your games.

The win-state in the SG game is the state of flow.

“There is virtually nothing as engaging as this state of working at the very limits of your ability — or what both game designers and psychologists call ‘flow.’ When you are in a state of flow, you want to stay there: both quitting and winning are equally unsatisfying outcomes.” — Jane McGonigal, Reality is Broken

So, you, as a designer of your self-motivational games, are on a quest to design (or re-design) your challenges, projects, and activities. And do that in such a creative way that it facilitates the player (yourself) to enter the state of flow willingly and effortlessly, whatever the challenge, project, or activity game might be, and whatever the player (yes, yourself) might think of it.

Your adversary in the SG game

Whatever role you take on in this game, at any given time — the self-motivational game designer or the critical first player of these games — you have the best (as in, fiercest) adversary ever — yourself.

At some point in our lives, we become (at least partially) our own “parents.” We need to make all the decisions — what direction to take, what to do, where to be, etc. — ourselves. And what child didn’t resist their parents almost instinctively? It’s, at the very least, a deeply ingrained tradition, in most cultures of the world, to resist and criticize one’s parents, however subtle or overt and spoken out loud that critic might be.

But even parenting has game dynamics in it, including parenting yourself.

Plus, there are many advantages to approaching the relationship we have with ourselves gamefully. The main one goes back to the overall goal of this “turning our lives into fun games” game. It is to make this relationship with ourselves — as part of our reality — engaging, entertaining, and fun.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article, and it helped you see your goal and mission in turning your life into fun games more clearly. If you would like to learn more about Self-Gamification, then I invite you to visit victoriaichizlibartels.com/gameful-life. Do let me know if you wish me to address a specific topic in terms of turning it into fun and engaging games.