Are You the King’s Friend or Foe?

Warning: There might be spoilers ahead so consider yourselves warned!

Today we are not talking about games! Hah, gotcha! But, it will be close. I just came back from a movie “King Arthur: Legend for the Sword”. There are two main moments that captured my attention most. I don’t claim to give you the exact phrases from the movie, you’ll rather get my interpretations. That said let’s dive right in.

First one - everyone is turning their eyes away from something which they don’t want to see. Sounds philosophical? You can bet it is! Still, so much true. Each of us is facing his own demons, and constantly turning his head around, because it’s easier not to face them. The moral: the moment you take responsibility for your past, for each action you have taken, no matter what pushed you to this action is the moment you feel freedom. You feel in control! Of course, in movies it’s much easier for the main hero, right? But my friends, be the main heroes of your life!

Second moral, came at the very end of the movie in a simple sentence (paraphrasing here): “Friends are much more valuable than enemies”. And it’s so very true again! Have you ever tried arguing with a colleague? Angrily defending your thesis! Did that ever get the job done? You must be friends with your colleague if you wish to get to the desired outcome! It’s the same with guildmates, family, you fill the rest of this sentence with whoever you wish. I’ve argued with a lot of people in my life, so try to avoid my mistake. It’s much more helpful to become friends, look in the same direction and get things done.

That’s it! Keep making friends, learning and may the Force be with you!

P.S. Sorry for these too many exclamation marks. And a big thank you to all of you for spending the time to read this! I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment below.

One More Game?

Has a friend of yours ever kept you responsible for going to the gym or sticking to another training? If you've experienced this you know it's much easier to find the motivation when you're socially engaged with another human being! That been said, let's see if our favorite game developers use this technique.

In my experience a lot of games have guilds, which is one hell of a social engagement. Not to mention that you might learn a lot more from managing a guild, but more on this topic in another post. So, back to the social element. Except for guilds, you can find also MMORPGs and MOBAs which are solely based on the idea of playing with other people. I'm sure this is not an exhaustive list, but we know it’s much more fun to play with friends.

I have a question for you: Have you ever entered a game for "just" one game with a friend? Only to find out several hours or games later that you just can't stop. If you have, then you know me already! We all fall into this trap of “one more game” and first step to making a conscious choice whether to keep playing or do something else is to be aware of this addiction. There is nothing bad playing with friends, just make sure it’s your choice, not the addiction speaking!

I’m pretty sure you have stories like that, so don’t hesitate to share them below.

Keep learning and may the Force be with you!

Are You in For an Experiment?

Hey my fellow gamers! Today I'd like to share an experience I had during the weekend. I decided to allocate 2 hours of trying out different mobile games (I've already done such experiments with PC games during my teenage years). I tested different games and the whole point of this experiment was to investigate what I do love and what I don't love in a game.

So, here are 3 things I really enjoy in a game:

1. The universe and characters in it, for example: Star Wars (of course it's in number one place), Marvel, Dragon Age, Mass Effect
2. Something to develop, preferably favorite characters!
3. Not too much time consuming, as this is our most precious resource I do want to share it with my family and friends as well!

 I believe I have transferred some of those in my real life. For example, I do love to improve things around, whether at home, at work, or at myself. And love to have some time restrictions in case I got carried away, not that it doesn't happen! And I believe you have transferred some of your favorite points to your life as well.

Let me know what are your favorite common points in all games you play!

Keep learning and may the Force be with you!

Crystals Cash-Flow, Huh?

Currently I’m playing a game where they have in-game currency – Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes. As I’m completely free to play I don’t have unending amount of crystals to buy stuff that I need. So, no big deal you’ll say and I totally agree, but my point here is that you must manage your crystals if you wish to keep up with all other players who pay. There is nothing wrong with paying, but I love the challenge to make it without it.

Here is what happened. Once I realized I don’t have an infinite amount of resources I decided to focus them on several heroes (10 to be precise). Then I made an excel sheet and started calculating what I’m spending and what I’m earning for each day. In other words, I created a cash-flow diagram of some sort. Why is this important? You know exactly how much you can spend and you can easily predict how much time you need to grind for a gear. Also, you can control your spending. For example, I calculated that I can make 2 refreshes of my energy per day to help with our guild activities and I can still keep some crystals at the end of the week. Just for clarity – more energy means I can farm more equipment for my heroes. Then I started farming and I got to a roadblock and I needed a lot of raid gears. Then I reduced the number of refreshes and increased my amount of crystals so that I can buy this raid gear faster. In the end, I managed to quickly bypass this problem by adjusting the cash-flow.

You can definitely use this approach in your daily life and honestly, I strongly vote for it. For reference, you can check Robert Kiyosaki’s books.

Let me know if this tip for managing your crystals, money or whatever the game or life throws at you sounds reasonable in the comments below!

Keep learning and may the Force be with you!