Nine Years. Nine Lives? Not I.

I want to paint a picture for you all and of course, since this is "The Thoughts and Adventures of Player One" after all, I will use gaming references throughout.

In any gaming achievement where I challenge myself, I push myself to get said achievement (or trophy) or any feat I want to accomplish for that matter. Not all gaming accomplishments are tied to a digital number or percentage. When you want to do something, you simply set out to do it and let nothing stand in your way.

I spent several months trying to accomplish the final achievement I had left in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, "Mile High Club". One day, I decided, I will not stop playing this game until I get this achievement. I spent six hours straight trying to get it. I won't say it wasn't frustrating, it MOST DEFINITELY was. Life is like that sometimes, but in the end, there is the possibility of success. Now if you didn't try at all, there is no chance of success.

Now, trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results, is the definition of insanity. As much as I'd like to think that I do the same thing over and over in games and eventually it works, something changes. One slight thing done different is what makes the difference when you are finally successful. Imagine spending nine years of your life on one simple achievement. Let's assume it's not simple, but you're wasting away nine years of your life, simple or not. Not only that but you are trying the EXACT SAME THING each year that passes by. Why not properly apply yourself? Because it's easier to try and take the quick route. To find a quick answer to your problems. Even if it doesn't work, it's a easy method that you hope to dear god will eventually work, and your troubles will be over. After nine years, it matters not what you try. You've become so used to NOT being successful you start to live by it. At this point, it won't change regardless of what you do.

What happens is you end up doing the same stupid things over and over and expecting things to change. Let's go back to Modern Warfare. No matter how many times I kill someone and expect my character to realize there is a dead body there and maybe he should hop over him when I walk up to the dead body, it will not change. The game's mechanics do not allow the action to be done. You can't even jump over (stupid I know). Now with this knowledge, instead of trying to go around, I keep trying to walk over, but not only that, I become mad, frustrated even. The results don't change but it's what I'm used to. It's all I know, so why not do it? At this point, why bother trying? You see, Yoda (Star Wars) pictured above, said it best...

"Do or do not, there is no try". - Yoda

Now this statement isn't completely fair. In certain scenarios, one's efforts deserve credit. To try is to at least put forth an effort. Trying time and time again at times can lead to success. To not try at all would be classified as an excuse. Make enough excuses and you start to believe those excuses. You end up starting to live this way by human nature. If you make no attempt at something it all, you obviously get no results. Trying at least gets you a result, even if it's not the one you wanted. You think I wanted to die a number of times, which I'm sure is somewhere in the triple digits, to be able to get the final achievement? Hell no. But I did do just that and eventually, I would be successful. Excuses simply get you nowhere.

Why hold back, really? I recently started playing DmC (Devil May Cry) again on the PC. When I got the PC version (and realized how much better it is than the consoles) I changed my mind about something that was mentioned to me on a livestream I did for the game. I was asked if I would try and "trophy whore" the game. Looking at the trophy list, I thought no way. My mind changed when I had a functional game. That's another story in itself. The point is, I set a goal for myself, and I went for it. No excuses.

In ten days, with only a few hours to spare each day, I would surpass my PS3 file on the PC, and get near all of the difficulties completed. Another day or two I think would put me through all of Dante's missions through and through. I had gotten all of the retail DmC achievements. Might have been ten days total. Maybe it was eleven. You guys get the idea...

Now I may have touched on this type of message in previous posts, and I feel like lots of them on this very blog obviously come from some personal experience of mine. As a result of this, the posts tend to end like the end of a South Park episode where they reflect on what they learned today. I don't claim to know it all. Anyone who does is just flat out ignorant. What I do know is this. Sometimes, you just have to stare life in the face and take whatever comes at you. In other words, like I said in a VGHC post, embark on a quest to be legendary. Why not, right?

The alternative is being a downer and when all is said and done, no one likes a downer. Eventually people will gravitate away from you and you've no one to blame but yourself. You did nothing to achieve any sort of possible result which could eventually lead to success. Game over, man. You've chosen to accept failure and I feel bad if you do, because that's just flat out boring. That's no way to live. Get a life if need be and start over.

This time, go out there and make it count. You never know what could happen, because this time, things could be different.