I didn’t expect video games to teach me anything useful. I’m mostly just there to escape, maybe waste some time, definitely avoid responsibility. I’m there because I can team up with my partner in more than one world, and that’s quite a feeling.

And yet, somewhere between wandering vast digital worlds and making choices I immediately regretted, a few lessons remained.

If you recognize the moments below, we’ve probably played the same games.

1. Some journeys end before I'm ready

There are games that let me ride for hours. Wide landscapes and looong paths. A companion beside me who’s always there, no matter how bad my decisions are. Until one day… they’re not.

Jeez Louise, this one’s hard. I tell myself it’s just pixels. I definitely didn’t feel anything. Maybe just a sigh. Maybe just one tear. Just one time. 

Some games taught me that attachment sneaks up on you. And when it’s gone, it’s not to be taken lightly. Well, as someone once said, we’re more ghosts than people, aren’t we?

 2. Sometimes I’m simply carrying too much

Oh, the universal tragedy of having too much to carry. That’s a moment every gamer has faced. You’re doing great. You’re winning. You’re unstoppable. And suddenly you’re informed that you absolutely are NOT moving another step. 

The Overcucumbered Softstyle T-shirt exists because I was there. Many times. Not once have I read that word correctly. Does it remind you of a Bennydirk Cucumberbatch situation as well?

3. Never trust my surroundings

Well… maybe not 100% applicable in everyday life, but being cautious is a good skill to have. If you’ve played games where hunger is constant, crafting is mandatory, and something enormous can appear out of nowhere to ruin your plans, you get it.

I’ve learned through experience - mostly painful experience - that preparation is never enough and overconfidence is usually punished. Keep a modest take on life, a little bit of humility, and try having a dinosaur by your side.

4. The main quest can wait

I was supposed to do something important. Handle a very dramatic problem. But then I saw something interesting off to the side.

Games teach us that exploration isn’t procrastination. Some of the best gear, stories and experiences are found far away from where you were told to go. I guess, life’s no different. Detours aren’t necessarily failures. Sometimes they’re the whole point.

5. Enjoy the silence

Some worlds let you breathe. Ride slowly. Listen to wind, footsteps, nothing at all. They teach you that speed isn’t always strength and loud doesn’t always mean important. In real life, learning to sit with silence is its own kind of progress. Fellow introverts, I expect you to back me up on this one!

6. Failure is part of the process

Yes, I made wrong choices. Yes, I thought I was ready when I was not. Sure, I absolutely regretted opening that door at such a low level. 

At least games normalize failure in a way real life often doesn’t. They encourage experimentation, learning and trying again, ideally with slightly better judgment. That mindset sticks.

7. Adaptation is not optional

Along the virtual way I’ve had my fair share of ridiculous auto-fills.

It's more than once that I have suddenly found myself into a role I didn’t apply for, with a skill set that felt… optimistic at best. That’s probably the most accurate parallel to real life I’ve encountered.

Waiting until I “feel ready” isn’t really an option – and that’s a lesson I’m still learning.

So yeah, video games didn’t teach me how to win at life. But they taught me how to keep playing. How to lose something meaningful and still move forward. How to carry too much and learn to let go. How to adapt when the world doesn’t care about my plans.

And sometimes, they taught me that it’s okay to feel something over code, even if, I swear, it only happened one time.