Making Decisions ~ Part III, in a Virtual World
So, you don’t have enough decision making in your life? Try picking up a good PC strategy game. Recently, I rebuilt an old vintage 98 PC and put some of my old favorite games on it (okay, one caught my eye in particular ~ XCOM: Terror of the Deep).
The story starts simply enough. There are aliens that have been sleeping for millennia at the bottom of the ocean and they’re waking up. But, unlike War of the Worlds, they are waking up gradually and they want to take over. So all of the regions of the world pull together and give me a budget to build my own underwater bases to track these invaders, learn their ways, take their technology and ultimately defeat them before humanity is overrun.
So I need to build bases, purchase base structures and stuff to add to the base (like subs and equipment) and hire personnel (soldiers, scientists and technicians). These decisions are made throughout the game but, what is more exciting, is the tactical element. The soldiers I hire all have unique strengths and weakness in courage, stamina, reaction time, firing accuracy and physical strength.
So the game is played in a series of tactical encounters where I load up soldiers and equipment in a sub and attack the aliens wherever they are stirring up trouble. Each battle is fought in a series of turns where each soldier and each alien (and civilians, when there is a port attack) has a number of time units that each can spend on various actions - mostly moving, ducking and shooting.
In the first battles, my soldiers have wetsuits and harpoon guns and take higher casualties but find troves of technology. Toward the end, my soldiers are floating in magnetic ion armor with sonic blasters and molecular (mind) control devices and it is usually the aliens that are on the defensive.
Are far as the computer is concerned, the fate of these soldiers is in my hands. Who is on point? Do I advance conservatively or aggressively? Do I bunch my soldiers together to protect one another and run the risk of a grenade? Is that an alien in the shadows or a terrified civilian?
This is an example of a great decision making tool. In my earlier articles, I wrote of the need to make more decisions in order to ultimately make better decisions. For me this game makes for a good set of decision, iron pumping, exercises.
~ Waith, August 1988
And, I decide to decide! Best fortune in my decision making!
Berick has been a member of the Community of Terra Lux since 1987 where he serves as one of the Metagers and is continually striving to put Waith’s words into practice. Other interests include working in Information Technology (currently at a VOIP) startup), running (ran in the Marine Corps Marathon in 2001), reading SciFi and Fantasy books, playing computer strategy games and pursuing certifications (the latest was a CPA, obtained in 2005). He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, 2 sons and his in-laws.
Posted in -Berick, Contributing Writers | April 17, 2007
April 17th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Decisions, decisions. It seems that is what is tied up to our free will. Our power to decide. Instant by instant we are bombarded with multiple input. What we see, what we hear (especially what we hear from others), what we feel, etc. At every single moment we are going through a decision making process of what do I do? How do I react? it is in the light base decisions that we either move towards the light and discover more of it or in the negative based decisions that we move away from the light.
It is all about the decisions. I guess that the key is not only to decide but to have the courage to make a decision and stick to it that makes it hard for us to decide. Because even in not deciding we have already made a decision to postpone for lack of courage. It seems that we are decision making machines making decisions to move into the one.
Decisions as trivial as to what to say to another or what to do can have a great impact in our spiritual growth.
Decisions, decisions, decisions…
April 17th, 2007 at 10:41 am
I was trying to decide right now if I wanted to respond to this article ~ and the word ‘trivial’ in your response, Gina, just kept nagging at me! I guess because in ‘my world’, what people have said to me, or what I have said to others, never really seems trivial ~ every word could be a kiss or a sword into the heart of myself or another. Sometimes I have thrown a dagger when I meant to blow a kiss! So at least to me, whatever I say to others is important as opposed to trivial no matter how apparently casual, or seemingly serious….I whole heartedly agree with you however on the GREAT IMPACT it ALL has on our spiritual growth! In Much Love and Light ~ XOXOXO
April 17th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
I agree with you Gina, that we are decision makers ~ if nothing else! How else can we learn lessons, if we don’t make decisions? As you pointed out, even to stay stuck and not decide is really a decision! Opening our eyes and getting out of bed in the morning is a decision ~ for some it is a very, very difficult one at that.
As you both have pointed out, what we say to one another is also part of the decision making process. I know that, on many occasions, I wished I had stopped to think a bit more before I said something! But the forming of a thought also involves a decision ~ and on it goes!
Berick, I haven’t played alot of computer games, but I do like ones that involve more “thinking” rather than just shooting, etc! I may try it out one day! I had to chuckle when you said you had rebuilt a 1998 computer ~ I purchased my first computer in 1998, just before my mother was diagnosed with cancer. It helped me so much to do research concerning her illness. But it wasn’t long before I realized that it had its limitations! And I am only on my second computer ~ thanks to an Angel!
April 20th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Berick, your series about decision making has been very helpful and lighthearted. Thank you for your insight!