zerograv – feb 2019 – there be no shortcuts here

Title of this post should be pronounced in the same fashion as Rage Against The Machine’s distorted metal vocal ‘There be no shelter here – Tha frontline is everywhere’.  Just because.

Background image for this post is an image from Thronebreaker, which is the single-player campaign version of Gwent.  Gwent is a strategic/tactical card game based in the Witcher universe.  The Witcher was originally a bunch of fictional short stories and then novels, with the main characters (witchers) essentially being monster hunters with supernatural abilities.  It then become a videogame, which spawned sequels, and found exponential success.  This in turn led to the books rising in popularity, and now even Netflix is producing a Witcher tv series.  Gwent is the latest and greatest spin-off from the game…  Now that the history lesson is out of the way…

I have played Thronebreaker/Gwent quite a bit the past couple months, and have previously described it as excellent – High-quality characters with depth and vivid back-stories, challenging, rewarding, fun, addictive, checks most of the boxes for a great videogame.  It is set in a dark universe filled with humans, dwarves, elves, dragons, monsters, magic, swords and shields, and lots of fighting, and war.

Within Gwent, there are regular card battles, where opponents take turns playing one card each, until their hand has run out of cards.  At the end of the round whoever has the most points/power accumulated, wins the round (best of 3 match).  Of course there are lots of combinations, tactics, special abilities, leader abilities, etc. which make the game much more complicated than say the traditional card game of war.  Outside of the regular card battles in Thronebreaker, there are puzzle battles, in which specific objectives must be achieved in order to win.  For ex., having one of your cards ‘escape’ a dungeon board, not letting any of your characters be destroyed, capturing all wagons within a specified amount of turns, dealing precisely X amount of damage, etc., as well as other more imaginative and unique puzzles.

(Getting to the point of the article…).  A few of the puzzles were super difficult, and frustrating.  I would try and try and just not have the solution to solving the puzzle.  Reload after reload (FYI there is no penalty for failing, other than your own time… just restart the match), a couple of the puzzles took me something like 25 – 40 reloads.  Had to try numerous times over several days.  Insane!

I could have easily googled or youtube searched the difficult puzzles, and the solution would have been handed to me.  It was tempting.  Very tempting, especially at midnight when I’ve been working this puzzle for an hour and need to wake up early and just need some sleep!  However I did not take this shortcut, it just didn’t feel right.  And I KNEW that I had the capacity to figure out these puzzles, if only I could be patient with myself, and let my mind fully think it through.  Being patient, persevering, not giving up – This made all the difference.  When I solved the difficult puzzles it was a like a light bulb turned on, each accomplishment truly feeling like a moment of growth, understanding, and new perspective.  And I couldn’t help but thinking, if I had taken the google shortcut, I never would have experienced that light bulb, that literal and intimate moment of personal growth and self-confidence.  More so, as I eventually got into a rhythm with solving the puzzles, I found the answers started coming naturally, almost easily.  That is the thing about persevering and learning, it only sets you up for continued future success.

We live in a world that encourages shortcuts.  Individually – google anything, know everything at the touch of a button, find the answer online immediately.  In business – Capitalism favors short-term gains over long-term sustainability.  This is why we see so much churn and turnover and redirection in corporations… When folks in charge want to maximize profits, they make decisions which are aimed squarely at the quarterly fiscal target.  In fitness – Guilty of this myself, doing all kinds of gym and weight activities, but never really just locking in the basic foundational strength – Horse stance (or squats), pushups, core work, jogging, that is all a person needs to be fit, no fancy equipment needed.  In personal finance – Institutional banks want people to take loans and sign up for credit cards, to extend peoples reach beyond what they can actually afford.  Relationships – Social media wants you to connect with everyone and anyone, to be their ‘friend’.  Real friendships are built over years of shared experiences.  Gaming! – Many videogames, even the above Gwent, allows for in-game purchases.  You can spend real dollars to get the good cards.  Food – ‘Fast food’, cheap quick and terrible for your health.  Healthcare – Why invest in preventive measures which take time and effort, when you can get a band-aid/prescription for just about anything?  Shopping – Click a button, get what you want, don’t think about all the effort going on behind the scenes by lower-paid workers who are packaging products sourced from lower-cost labor markets.  Environment – Why invest in energy-efficient solutions when the US has so much oil that it burns off tens of thousands/millions of metric tons every single day/annually (look up ‘flaring’).

Short-term gains with long-term consequences.  Not great in my opinion, and as such I am continuing to try and focus on getting back to basics.  It is very challenging to do so in a world that moves at light speed, and often times feels like going against the grain, however I can tell you the ‘light bulb’ moment is well worth it.  Self-reflection, education, learning, relationships, reading, writing, traveling, cooking, studying, exercising, preserving traditions, expanding perspective, that is the stuff right there.  Look inward, really look, all the answers you seek are there.

That said, I do have one example where a shortcut is perfectly acceptable – In Need For Speed: Most Wanted (throwback to the 2005 version on the original Xbox 360), when your GTI stacked with aftermarket parts is up against a McLaren fresh off the tracks and you want 1st place.  😛

Cheers,

Zer(/)