Why isn't work (or life) more enjoyable, the way a good game is?
Joseph Campbell said that the most enjoyable games are the most complex -- the ones that are most like real life, in certain ways. Civ 3 and Starcraft are two good examples of games that are fun because of their complexity. Why then is work not as enjoyable as a good game? Why is work work? Reality after all is the most complex -- far more complex than any game. Why then is it less fun? Why isn't reality more fun than a good game? Lets compare work, and by extension reality and life, to a good game.
It's not like games have rules and work doesn't... Work certainly has rules. Perhaps though, since the rules are really just the ethics and norms of human interactions, and as vague and ill-defined as those are, it makes it harder to figure out for certain just what the rules are. And people can change them as they go along. Rules in games are clearly defined, nailed down and can't be broken. The rules in life are fluid and ever changing.
In the beginning, games are often frustrating -- until you figure out how to play. Once you've figured out how to play the game then it's fun -- until you've mastered it then it starts to get boring. With work, the frustrating learning stage is more frustrating, the "fun" stage between learning and mastery is both shorter and considerably less enjoyable than in a good game. Once you master your work, it gets boring almost immediately. After that it can even get frustrating again because of the fluid and ever changing rules.
I think the key difference between work and a good game is the nature of the rules, not the complexity. Once you've learned to play a game, when you understand the rules, you can win with only a minimal strategic effort. Well, unless it's a game of physical skill -- I'm thinking of strategic type games like Civ 3 and Starcraft... But with work and life, with the rules constantly changing in ways both subtle and gross... Well you can easily see how the best laid plans so often go awry.
Another difference between work, life and a good game is the number of changing variables. This is a fixed and finite number in games, but very numerous at work, and infinite in life -- and major changes can come from out of the blue.
I find my job very frustrating these days, but in all modesty I am good at it. However, in asking myself why it's so aggravating, I realized that it's not because I'm afraid of losing it. I thought to myself, what's the worst that can happen? The project will fail, I'll lose my job, and have to go job hunting again. That is not a big deal to me anymore. I mean I'd rather not have to find another job, not least because the one I have is pretty good all things considered, but having to do it certainly wouldn't be the end of the world. In the 10 years of my career since I graduated, I've had seven jobs. Three of those seven have gone out of business on me. Two I left myself, one for a much better opportunity (that later went under) and one because I just was not happy there. Of the two remaining, one was a contract to hire arrangement with another of the three that later went under, and the last is my current position. So I've done a lot of job hunting in the past decade. I don't enjoy it, but I can do it. Because I can find another job if I have to, and because I have no debt, losing my job is just not something I have any fear of anymore.
So I think my job is so frustrating because the fluid of the rules is nearly boiling with change. Another contributing factor is probably that while I've mastered the skills, I have not yet mastered the environment. I haven't completely figured out how to work with this organization yet. Having said that, it occurs to me that this organization seems infinitely complex in itself...
So what if my view point could be changed so as to see the constantly changing rules as the game itself? I wonder if I can make figuring out the ever changing rules into the game. I wonder if that would help. If so, how would I do it? When I figure out how a colleague or part of the organization or the politics of something works, should I think "I win"?? The only thing is that even if I knew all the rules, I suspect I still wouldn't want to play this game... I feel like I'm on the cusp of a new understanding here that could make my life a lot happier, but I can't quite grasp it...
So it would seem that games like Civ 3 and Starcraft are fun because they're fairly complex, but much more easily mastered than life...
All I know is that The Blues (Jimi Hendrix) are sounding really good to me at the moment!
