You know the standard procedure by now. I also expect no one to understand what the title means but this is my essay so I get to name it what I want. 648 words.
Prompt: How much of a daredevil are you?
There is a big difference between me in real life and the “me” in a video game.
When it comes to real life, I take almost no risks. If there's a chance that failure can impact my current status, even if the change is only moderate, I won’t take the risk. If the risk is high enough, I will be paralyzed into inaction, and will usually be like that until I end up missing the opportunity or the risk goes down. I believe that if there's a chance for a large failure, I will almost never take that risk. I don’t exactly like to put myself in bad situations, which is probably why I’ve never broken a bone. I’m also quite cautious around food, since I have a severe tree nut allergy. If something has even “may contain” on the nutrition facts, I treat it as an absolute certainty unless I had eaten it without consequences when my condition wasn’t as bad as it is now.
I am a completely different person when I sit down in front of my computer monitor.
Most of my inhibition flies out the window when I play games. In games that give you checkpoints or respawns, I’ll usually risk a lot. After all, I can always try again. In games that don’t have saves or that punish you for dying, I will still take some risks. Having to replay the same level six times not something that will actually impact my well being outside of the game. The types of games I play are lower risk games, but I have played several high risk games that I did enjoy. Since I feel as though I actually have more ability in the game, I feel as though I can achieve more and therefore afford to take more risks. Sure, I’ll often get annoyed when I have to replay the same section many times over because I risked too much, but I’ll keep risking as much as I can in order to complete that section.
People often say “no risk, no reward”, but in my experience, this does not always work out. There are many instances where I tried to risk something in order to get a reward, and never received anything. I lost my faith in reward from risk in real life, and instead chose to embrace a low risk lifestyle where not much changes from day to day. In games, reward is much more quantifiable. There are percent chances to obtain the items or characters you are risking your effort for, and there are whole lists of “drops” (obtained items) that one can look up in order to confirm what they are doing has a chance for the reward they want. Though I won’t say that it is easy to get what you want in some games (I’m looking at you Fate/Grand Order), it is at least an attainable probability. In real life, when you take a risk, there is rarely a chance to try again. Therefore, I have decided to live my life in the most risk-free way possible in order to ensure the fewest mistakes. Not even the poster on my fifth grade classroom that read “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” could change my outlook on life.
I am content with the way I’ve lived my life. I haven’t had many failures simply because I try not to take risks. I suffer from few injuries, and haven’t competed in many team sports where people would depend on me. I might take some risks when I’m older and graduate, but as of right now I feel that I am doing very well keeping my life stable. I respect people who risk a lot and succeed in life, but as my luck has shown, I have a very high chance of failure when it comes to risk.
Prompt: How much of a daredevil are you?
There is a big difference between me in real life and the “me” in a video game.
When it comes to real life, I take almost no risks. If there's a chance that failure can impact my current status, even if the change is only moderate, I won’t take the risk. If the risk is high enough, I will be paralyzed into inaction, and will usually be like that until I end up missing the opportunity or the risk goes down. I believe that if there's a chance for a large failure, I will almost never take that risk. I don’t exactly like to put myself in bad situations, which is probably why I’ve never broken a bone. I’m also quite cautious around food, since I have a severe tree nut allergy. If something has even “may contain” on the nutrition facts, I treat it as an absolute certainty unless I had eaten it without consequences when my condition wasn’t as bad as it is now.
I am a completely different person when I sit down in front of my computer monitor.
Most of my inhibition flies out the window when I play games. In games that give you checkpoints or respawns, I’ll usually risk a lot. After all, I can always try again. In games that don’t have saves or that punish you for dying, I will still take some risks. Having to replay the same level six times not something that will actually impact my well being outside of the game. The types of games I play are lower risk games, but I have played several high risk games that I did enjoy. Since I feel as though I actually have more ability in the game, I feel as though I can achieve more and therefore afford to take more risks. Sure, I’ll often get annoyed when I have to replay the same section many times over because I risked too much, but I’ll keep risking as much as I can in order to complete that section.
People often say “no risk, no reward”, but in my experience, this does not always work out. There are many instances where I tried to risk something in order to get a reward, and never received anything. I lost my faith in reward from risk in real life, and instead chose to embrace a low risk lifestyle where not much changes from day to day. In games, reward is much more quantifiable. There are percent chances to obtain the items or characters you are risking your effort for, and there are whole lists of “drops” (obtained items) that one can look up in order to confirm what they are doing has a chance for the reward they want. Though I won’t say that it is easy to get what you want in some games (I’m looking at you Fate/Grand Order), it is at least an attainable probability. In real life, when you take a risk, there is rarely a chance to try again. Therefore, I have decided to live my life in the most risk-free way possible in order to ensure the fewest mistakes. Not even the poster on my fifth grade classroom that read “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” could change my outlook on life.
I am content with the way I’ve lived my life. I haven’t had many failures simply because I try not to take risks. I suffer from few injuries, and haven’t competed in many team sports where people would depend on me. I might take some risks when I’m older and graduate, but as of right now I feel that I am doing very well keeping my life stable. I respect people who risk a lot and succeed in life, but as my luck has shown, I have a very high chance of failure when it comes to risk.
Hey Harman! I loved reading this and your comparison between you in the real world and yourself playing video games. Your voice comes through, you make the essay engaging, and I think it's an awesome start. My suggestion would be to show a bit more why you are so risk-averse. Can you give examples and reflect so that we get to know even better? I think a good place for that would be the second to last paragraph. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHaha I love the example that you ended with in the second to last paragraph about the poster that was in your fifth grade classroom. This was a great touch of humor in a paragraph that mainly dealt with stating your perspective on risk. In terms of improving your essay, there are a couple of places where you could include specific examples to support some of your views on risk.
ReplyDeleteI thought the interwoven descriptions of your behavior in the real world and your behavior in video games was very interesting and communicated a lot about who you are. However, I did feel like the essay was a little bit all over the place and a little bit of focus and structure could help it drive your message home even more successfully. That's just a suggestion. Maybe its better to leave it as it is because it makes you stop and think about things. IDK.
ReplyDeleteNice essay, Harmen! One place where you could possibly expand is after you write, “There are many instances where I tried to risk something in order to get a reward, and never received anything. I lost my faith in reward from risk in real life, and instead chose to embrace a low risk lifestyle where not much changes from day to day.” After I read this, I was very curious to read about some examples of the instances you refer to. That could be an opportunity for greater personal detail and to strengthen your reasoning.
ReplyDelete