You're Never Too Old to Start

Don’t Let Fear Hold You Back

A lot of times, people say that life is like a path, with many branching pathways and choices, but I don’t like this analogy. This analogy seems to imply that you can’t go back once a decision is made. Someone told me once that instead of a path, life is like a sandbox. What you build from the sand is entirely up to you, and every once in a while you step back, look at your creation, and make a choice: do you knock the castle down and rebuild it, or do you accept what you’ve created and keep moving in that direction? Games are much the same. Often we choose not to play old titles or decide a game is made for people much younger than us. And yet, you are never too old to start something new. Nothing is stopping you from playing a game from many years ago that you’ve wanted to play and nothing is stopping you from changing your life. So often we hear video games have no practical application, that they are flat out a waste of time. But I am here to tell you not only are games a good use of time, but they can also be the source of impactful changes that make each of our chosen paths soulful.

One Small Step for You, One Large Step for Mankind

You just woke up on a beach and see a forest stretching out in front of you as calming music plays in your ears. You decide to move forward to do something, anything. Then you find out you can create nearly everything your mind can imagine and it feels like the world has opened up in front of your very eyes. Minecraft is the perfect analogy for life; an open sandbox where you have the power to create your own objectives and forge your own paths. Sometimes you find yourself waking up alone on a beach where all you see is water and sand for miles and miles. It’s up to you to do something about it. If you want to start something, the most important step is just beginning. By trying new things you open yourself up to learning new skills and starting to craft a path toward a future you want. Notice how it is hard to distinguish if I’m talking about a game or life. Games do a great job of laying out a blueprint for how we can progress through difficult moments in our lives and even overcome obstacles that bar our path.

It is fascinating to see people say games are simply a time sink for those wishing to escape the world. In reality most games have deep themes and are incredibly deep vehicles, able to portray some of our most philosophical questions in a digestible way. Games allow us to challenge ourselves in ways that might scare us in real life. They present us with achievable goals and creative challenges that allow us to improve at our own pace and prove to ourselves we can overcome roadblocks that would normally scare us. Even apart from gameplay, certain stories can impact us deeply, causing us to look at the world’s uniqueness in a brand new way. Video games are the perfect medium to allow us as players to be changed by a piece of media because we are fully engrossed in everything presented to us. So I encourage you to use your games to grow, challenge yourself, and let them provide the impact they are seeking to impart.

Ok, you’ve started, what comes next? You’ve now established yourself and been told you need to do something, anything, but you have no clue where to go. Maybe you go down into the dungeon but find your progress blocked by tough enemies. So you decide to start something more manageable, like clearing a small grove so you can build a house, and find that progress is slow, yet doable. You push through and start to build out a map of the world in your mind. You create this quest in your brain and also lay out your own objectives. The world is your oyster just waiting to be fully cracked open. However, there will also come a point where you feel as though you’ve done everything. Your virtual and real life have reached their pinnacle, but the truth is it isn’t time to quit and leave your world yet. In fact, your real journey has just begun. Now you have the tools to really push the boundaries of what you can do. Maybe now you can build an ancient temple that scrapes the sky or you can start a business that you always dreamed of but felt forever out of reach. Just remember, keep moving forward, the choice of your path is up to you, and there is always something more for you to offer.

“We all make choices in life, but in the end, our choices make us.”

— Andrew Ryan, BioShock

Reach for the Moon and Fall Among the Stars

Starting this magazine with my best friend was truly a leap of faith. I do not write this as someone who is giving advice but would never take their own. I love games deeply and am lucky enough to share them with someone who feels the same. But we felt we had something to offer and wanted to create a space where people who love the deeper part of games had somewhere to talk about them. Challenging yourself to do something that you know will take work is such an exhilarating experience. It mirrors my favorite games in so many ways, each little thing I finish feels like the most amazing accomplishment imaginable. Certainly it can be daunting at times, but I promise the boss battles you beat along the way will make it all worth it.

As you make these changes, odds are, fears will creep in along the way. It’s ok to feel them and recognize they are there. Just like nighttime brings monsters in Minecraft, so too will a journey to change your life bring fear about the future. But we are prepared. We’ve built our shelter, we’ve honed our creative skills, we’ve learned how to set our own goals and move toward them. No matter your age you can always move in a different direction. You can try new things and completely reinvent yourself simply because you want to. The only thing you need to do is start. Build your systems, find people to support you along the way, recognize the pitfalls on your quest, and of course never stop playing the game of life. Go make the changes you dream of.