When you’re really fearless, nothing fazes you. So, you’ve still got the NES you’ve had long enough for it to be an antique. Who cares what everybody else thinks? So, you still work a job that’s embarrassing to mention when people ask what you do. Who cares if you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do? The point to remember is that no one is going to PWN you because yours is the attitude of victory.
Some people think that being victorious is an external thing, and is all about validation. You grind constantly, and then you form a group and do the same mission that a million other people have done before you. While that is one technical way to “win,” that’s not real victory. Real victory is something much deeper than that. In a sense, you have to walk a path that nobody else is either willing or able to go down if you want to really make it as an individual. Champions have to be different enough to not need a group in the traditional sense, and it can get a little lonely.
The Individual Path
Being undefeatable isn’t about doing what other people have done before you. It’s an entirely different mindset than the one a lot of folks take into their games. In a sense, it’s almost hard to describe what a real individual’s path can be like, both because it’s so potentially variable and because it’s so rare to see. You don’t have to think about yourself by anybody else’s rules or put anybody else’s tape measure up to how far you’ve gone. You have to “do you,” as DMX once said.
Naturally, when you strike out on your own individual path, you’re going to have to face a lot of resistance. Initially, you might be concerned about what other people think when you try something completely different. This is reasonable because you’ll probably get some static for it. Whenever you climb to the top of something, even if it’s just an idea of being better than you used to be, you’re going to have people trying to detract from it. Remember that they don’t really care about what you’re doing, other than the fact that it points out how deeply worn the path they’re taking is.
Abandoning the Labels
Who cares about labels? Are you a nerd, a geek, or perhaps the increasingly rare dweeb? Or are you something different? When you strike out on an individual path, you begin to change in a way most people are never going to understand. You become a force of nature that the world rarely sees, and even more rarely knows what to make of at first. Welcome this change, as it heralds a whole new set of exciting challenges. It’s like when you use Droid phones and discover the vast ocean of possibilities that an open source environment creates. It’s a little scary having basically unlimited options, but it gives you an incredible amount of room to grow.
Gaming and Personal Development
When you game, it isn’t just about having a good time and seeing your friends in a place where you can beat them with mythical weaponry. While those are great parts of the process, they’re not the whole thing. Ultimately, the way you game is the way you live, and you can change both at the same time. To be the unpwned gamer, you’ve got to change the whole way you see yourself. Victory and self-improvement have to become the new fundaments of your very nature. If they aren’t in place, you’ve already PWNed yourself.
