Life, Games, and Frames 

by Max Sirak 

You like playing games, right? 

And, if that’s the case, then it also means you enjoy having fun. Isn’t that the reason we play games? To have fun? 

Okay, great! You like to play games. You like to have fun. And you’re reading a TTRPG blog? 

To me, then it also means: – you’re creative, you like to learn, and you’ve probably got a good imagination. Are those all safe assumptions? 

Perfect. Thank you for taking part in my non-consensual-decidedly-one-sided mini-survey. I trust it wasn’t too burdensome. 

Oh – one last question – what kind of glasses do you wear? 

Me? I’m nearsighted. I’ve been in corrective lenses since I was in second grade. But I’m not talking about eyeglasses. I’m talking about Life-Glasses.

What kind of Life-Glasses do you like to wear? 

Oh, you’re unfamiliar with the term? That’s ok. I’ll tell you about them.

Life-Glasses are the metaphoric lens you use to make sense of, talk about, and think about your life. It’s what professors, William Burnett and David J. Evans, would call the “…perspectives that provide the basis for your understanding of life, that create the platform that interprets and organizes how you see and understand the world…” in their Design Your Life Master Class. 

The world is, after all, complicated. It’s big. It’s hard to understand. Usually when you or I come across something big, complicated, and confusing, our go-to move is to try and relate whatever it is to a different thing, one we do understand. 

We’ve come up with all sorts of names for this process of thinking of one thing in terms of another. Comparison. Metaphor. Simile. Analogy. These rhetorical and literary devices are just a few.

The neat thing about rhetoric and literary devices? They, as it turns out, are constructed from the very same material as Life-Glasses – words.

Words are the structure we use to make sense of our experiences. We often think in them. We speak in them, both to ourselves and others. They are the lumber and nails we use to construct our frames. You know – the ones we reference, in our “frames of reference?” Yep. Turns out those are totally made of words. 

Just like your Life-Glasses.

Life-Glasses We Know, Use, and Sometimes Might Even Love

Ok – so, as I write, I’m in Colorado – here in the good ol’ US of A, home of the brave and free, built upon stolen land and geno….uh…you know what? On second thought – let’s not gaze too long through our historical lens at the founding of the nation I was born in.

Here, in the United States, Capitalist Glasses are more common than dual-wielding renegade rangers of Drow descent. We speak of investing our time and energy into projects, people, and relationships almost as easily as we breathe. Decisions come down to the bottom line, after having weighed the costs and benefits. 

Science Glasses abound as well. We experiment and test hypotheses, isolating a single variable as best we can, and taking measure of our results. Words like momentum and inertia describe apparent motion in our lives and careers. 

Technology lenses are like clip-ons, easily attaching to almost any set of Science spectacles. We may not have the bandwidth to take on additional tasks, at least not until we have a chance to recharge our batteries. We might even call art, content. 

Opposite these, some would say, are Nature Glasses. We plant the seeds of our dreams knowing they’ll never bear fruit without proper nourishment. When overextended, we may feel an urge to cut back in hopes of catching our breath until we feel more grounded. 

I’m guessing some of the Life-Glasses I’ve mentioned so far will resonate. Luckily for you, there is no lack of lenses. Hell – there are more Glasses you can use to make sense of life than there are feats in Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5 edition.

They come in all shapes and sizes. Not all Life-Glasses need to come from large abstract, ethereal concepts like “the Economy,” “Science,” or “Nature.” Some come from the things we love.

I doubt I’m the only one raising my hand in response to the question, “Has anyone here used Star Wars to help them think about things?” Light side. Dark side. Jedi. Sith. I regularly tell my friends on the disc golf course, when facing an impossible looking shot through a narrow corridor of trees, that’s most definitely imposing disadvantage on them, to “Use the Force!”

Speaking of disc golf. You can more or less search ‘<whatever-the-hell-sport> and life’ and come away with countless essays, blog posts, and best-sellers comparing the two.  

And it’s here I’d like to pause…

Look – if there’s someone out there writing about how golf, or running, or archery, or badminton is like life – then why can’t there someone out here doing the same thing for a game we love? 

(Side note: they actually call golf – “The game of life.” Which, now that I think about it, is just about as humble as I’d expect golfers to be…)

Good news, gang. There is. He is I and I am him. (Slim with the tilted brim…?) 

Allow Me To Present You With Your Very Own RPG Life-Glasses +1

The intersection between Dungeons and Dragons and life is my passion.

That’s where all of this is leading –  using the concepts and terms of D&D to help make sense of life. Because, if you’re anything like me, there are times when it feels like the Life-Glasses you’re using, whatever they happen to be, might not be the right prescription.

Has it ever seemed like there have been times when you look out at your modern-adult life and feel like everything is foggy and blurred and kind of hard to make out, on account of the meh? And you get a special kind of headache from constantly moving around in a colorless sea of monotonous (mono-tone-us) drudgery?

Does this sometimes sound like you? If so – I’ve got something for you!

<cue jingle and your best sponsor voice…>

“A million times more bespoke than any readers you’ll find at the gas station down the street. Would these beauties be caught dead making death saves on any spinning plastic display? No way. Your RPG Life-Glasses +1 are 100%, organic, free-range, and pesticide-free. Their magic is guaranteed to help you take the edge off life as you make your way through your day.” 

 Look, you, because you’re human, will use some type of Life-Glasses to help you make sense of the world. That’s just what we do. But, now that you know that’s something you will do, you have the ability to choose which pair of lenses you’re goin to use. 

Why not choose to view life through frames built from the very stuff of magic, adventure, play, and the game you love?   

– Think of your successes and failures in terms of skill checks. (“Woo! Rolled a 20! Nailed it.” or “Woof. That was rough. Rolled a 1 that time…”)

– Imagine chance as a D20, just out of sight, influencing the luck of our outcomes. 

– Treat your friends and family as you would party members. (What if that coworker you didn’t like was just an annoying NPC?)

By framing what I need to do as quests, getting better as leveling up, the difficult things I go through as gaining experience, and my thoughts as spells – I’ve been able to add a little more magic, wonder, and fun to my life. 

Hopefully – you can too.

Notes

   1. Wiliam Burnett & David J. Evans, Lifeview Reflection (v2.2), Designing Your Life, creativelive.com 

About the Author: Max is part of PeakD&D. You can find him and his friends on YouTube making stuff to help people have more fun in Dungeons and Dragons and life. And you can expect more stuff like this, here at RPG Counterpoint, in the future.