There is always that moment in a video game were you have to make a critical decision in your adventure. Usually it's turning the power on to your PC or console and then pressing start. Do you really want to play? Is this the game you want to play today? Once you do choose a game, you are often asked to choose or create a character. You may be finding yourself in an open world passing by NPC after NPC until you stop and decide to approach one. They greet you with a whimsical question. Do you answer, do you ignore, do you reply negatively? You find out that this NPC has an interesting back story and invites you to perform a mission for them. You accept, but before you venture off to the land that contains your objective, you glance at you inventory and wonder if you should visit the weapon's merchant first or maybe you should battle low risk enemies in the nearby countryside to build up your HP?
You have just gone through several thresholds. You have made key choices that will affect your game and it's story-line. And once the game is over; surprise, surprise those thresholds exist and await you in the real world. It can be difficult recognizing them, especially as human life doesn't come with a pause button, but when you are at those crossroads and aware of it at the same time, you can consciously make important decisions on how you want to proceed and what tools and supplies will you take with you for this journey into the moment. Perhaps most importantly, how do you want your character to show up on the other side of that threshold?
We cross these thresholds constantly throughout our day? Will we wake up? Will we got to work? To School? How will we handle the situation if challenges arise? Will we talk to Robert or Jennifer? Which city will we journey to on our weekend trip? What will we pack? What kind of club will we choose to hang out at tonight? No more is this threshold more significant than our intimate interactions with other people. It is a IRL RPG unto itself! Do we open that door with compassion and curiosity? Playfulness and mystery? Do we charge in, indifferent to the cares and interest of the other party? Or do we slow down and listen? Do we ask for something we want, do we ask for something else or do we ask for nothing at all? And how do we choose to respond when we are approached, engaged and offered? All of these decisions will affect the story-line. The moment exist wherever you are in the threshold, but there is a threshold and how you choose to cross that threshold is key to having the reality you want for yourself and the reality you want to share with your IRL Player 2: your co-creator. Being mindful of were you are at in the moment, in an interpersonal relationship is a challenge, but it can also be the most rewarding mode of game-play.
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