Monday, February 2, 2015

In six days every single living cell in the world will die...

... you have one chance.

This is how the flash game One Chance greets you. You play as a scientist named John who is faced with a lot of choices and you have to make them for him. This game stands out among the rest because you really only have one chance to make things right as the game stores cookies and will only let you play it once. The choices you make are permanent and there's no do-overs.
Before I go off on a rant about this game I'll let you play it for yourself. Take your time with it and choose wisely.

THIS IS THE BOUNDARY OF SPOILERS


So, my friend, what happened to you? 

Did you save the earth or didn't you? Do you regret what you did? I hope not.

Using a little trick I like to call "clearing cookies" I have played the game multiple times, but nothing quite feels the same as the first time I played it and I wish I hadn't played the game over again. It kinda ruins things.

When I first played the game I went to work without fail on all of the days until my wife died. Until my wife killed herself. It was a wake-up call for my little digital self to put emphasis on what I should value most in the game; family. 

On the second to last day I spent my daughter's few hours with her in the park.

On the last day I died alone in the park.

It was humbling,

and at first I regretted my choices, but in retrospect I don't regret anything other than I wish I had not died alone.



But what is the point of this game? It is to make me feel hecka sad because it totally accomplished that.
Personally, what I got out of the game is that you can't regret your choices in life because no matter what you do things that you aren't happy about are going to happen. 
In the "good" ending where you save yourself and your daughter your wife still dies and the only way to achieve this is to go to work every single day without fail. Doesn't something about that seem kinda wrong? I could have consoled my wife and she wouldn't have died alone, angry, and feeling unloved. 

Would I have felt more fulfilled if I had achieved the good ending?

Maybe life is less about the ending and more about what happens during it. So what if I didn't  make it into varsity show choir my junior year; I had a fantastic past two years anyways.

So what if I didn't achieve the goals I first made; I'm happier now that I've changed them.

You've gotta be flexible and you've gotta be willing to roll with the punches and regret nothing. Just because you don't get the best ending doesn't mean that your life wasn't worthwhile.

No matter what ending you get in the game, the choices you made result in rewarding outcomes in accordance with your values. Those who choose to stay home with their family can hold onto the fact that they spent that time with them. Those who valued work can be rewarded that they found the cure. Those who spent their last moments with their daughter can be proud that, despite the hardships, they made  up for their regretful choices.

There is give and take no matter the outcome.

No comments:

Post a Comment