Right now, perhaps without realizing it, you are playing the largest game in the world.
When new players enter the game they are given a set of cards and a seat at the table. The players have no control over where to sit, when to enter the game or what their cards will be.
Some get a lot of cards, while others only a few. Some are seated in comfortable chairs, while others are thrown directly into the game.
Cards themselves are neither good or bad. Only a combination of cards and how you use them can result in a positive or negative outcome. You can’t trade your cards, but you can acquire new cards as you keep playing.
A move in this game is anything that a player does on a game field. There are no rules that say you need to make any moves but usually your hand forces you to play.
You can make as many moves as you want, as frequently as you want, and at any time you want. It is very difficult to predict how your moves might affect other players because the effect is a combination of their cards and where they sit.
There are billions of moves happening every second.
Each move you see gives you a nudge to play your cards a certain way, to think of something new, and to re-evaluate your strategy.
The game field is very large. Most players have ever been to only a few places on the field, and there are places where no one has been. Although there are no rules enforcing it, players tend to stick near to their seat of the table.
The previous generation of players left the game field as we see it now, the generation before them passed the table to them, and we are the ones shaping the field for future players.
In practice moves are sort of chaotic. Most of the time players don’t even consider or think before playing, they make their moves just because it is easiest thing to do with their cards.
It could be argued that any move is just a result of the previous moves and the cards available at the time.
There is no definitive goal to the game. No one can judge if you win or lose.
Each player drifts towards their own goal based on the cards they have. Only players themselves are the ones that know if they are truly winning.
For some players the goal is finding love, or peace or family. For others it is fame or power, or even money. Whatever the goal, it usually represents the same thing — the need to fill some type of void created by the cards they have.
It is also likely that the goal changes as you keep playing the game. The moves on the table affect us and make us re-evaluate our goals.
No goal is more meaningful than another, it exists only in each players mind. However, a goal that can make an impact on many players does appear to be more valuable from the outside.
From this point of view the most valuable move is to play his cards in a way that makes the other players re-evaluate their strategy and hopefully help start a spiral of positive actions.
Most players don’t have the necessary seat, cards or strategies to make any truly significant moves. The best they can do is to play in the same way that nearby players are playing. Players rarely have the cards to venture outside of what is familiar.
Even if you are dealt a good set of cards, it is difficult to apply them if everyone around you is playing poorly. To make a difference you need the right cards and a glimpse of a good strategy.
At the same time there are areas of the table were everyone seems to have good cards and good strategies. If you are fortunate to sit there, theoretically it should be much simpler to play an enjoyable game.
Regardless of your luck, most players in all areas are doing exactly the same — following their set of cards and example set by the nearby players. Very rarely someone comes along that has the right set of cards AND has seen the right moves to make some type of a difference.
Depending on what cards you have been dealt, you might want to make the game better, to make it more enjoyable for everyone.
If we make the game better for the players around us, then they are likely to do the same.
And hopefully, at one point we could get to a point where everyone is given a chance to enjoy the game. Regardless of where you sit, or what cards you are dealt.
If you are reading this, it means that you have been playing for a while already. And you have likely noticed that the game is far from fair. It is a luck of the draw.
Still, we care only about our own part of the table, and perhaps about the players close to us.
We tend to forget that it was sheer luck that allowed us to enjoy the game. We often ignore the fact that not that far away, on the other side of the table there are players struggling. Rows of chairs where new players are thrown in with mostly bad cards and no opportunities to enjoy the game.
To be fair, not all players have the cards to see the game as a whole, or to care about the whole table. Ignorance is a bliss.
The burden of improving the game is left to a small set of players. Players that have the right chair, with the right cards and have seen the game for what it is.
Each move has the potential to trigger a chain reaction that goes further than you can imagine. Something as simple as helping another player, or speaking up when everyone else is staying silent is enough to trigger a change.
Unfortunately it is also impossible to tell if a move is right or wrong. It may take years before you can see the outcome. The game is very complex, with a long history, with billions of players and the common knowledge might guide you the wrong way.
Most of the players are making the same mistakes without realizing it. If all the players around you are doing something, you are unlikely to realize it is wrong. In fact, you will be quite convinced it is a good strategy, and even blindly promote it to others.
Traditions, culture and history of the game keeps bringing along an array of mislead and wrong patterns that shape the average player. It takes something special to break out of the cycle.
You tend to trust your closest players the most, and that is how a lot of bad traits and strategies get passed from generation to generation.
Regardless of how you play your cards we all are bound to the same end of the game. Theoretically, we can end the game anytime we want. However our cards usually lead us on a different journey before reaching the end.
Where we go is largely up to our luck. Our luck of having the right cards and having the right seat at the right time.
There is a saying — a man makes his own luck. But do you really?
