Lessons from Mario and Luigi

So as I sat there for a few minutes while the kids played Super Mario Brothers Wii, I was thinking. Some people say that video games are just time-wasters, and have other negative things to say about them, such as the fact that they encourage violence and things like that. This post doesn’t diminish that fact at all; I’m sure there is some basis for truth in their arguments. However, I realized that there are lots of good things we can learn from this game in particular, so I thought I’d mention the thoughts that have come to me.

Trying new things
There are many ways that you can learn to try new things. First off, Mario and Luigi were just regular plumbers when they suddenly got stuck in a world where they had to save the princess from reptiles and other threats. If they had been unwilling to try something new (i.e., save the princess), who knows where the princess would be today. The other thing is that when you first start playing the game, you’ve never played those particular screens before, and you have NO IDEA what’s coming your way. The game just makes you keep trying out new skills and things throughout.

In life, if none of us are willing to try new things, we will not get very far. Starting a new career, relationship, or experience takes courage. It’s scary. We often have to walk into the darkness, trusting that the way will light up as we walk, before we can make any progress. We have to try new things, and no matter how scary or different they are, if we don’t, we will not make any progress, and we will ALWAYS do the same thing, day in and day out. That’s not really living.

Also, life has a way of forcing us to try new things. This often comes through major life events, some tragic and some wonderful. Often, we want complete control of our situations, and that’s just not possible. In addition, we often find that once we’ve experienced this new thing, it turns out to be one of the more valuable experiences we’ve had, when we look back.

Being Persistent
The next thing is being persistent. Video games can be frustrating sometimes, and sometimes you have to play a screen over and over (and over and over) before you make any progress. The game kind of makes you keep trying because you can’t make a lot of progress if you don’t finish certain screens. However, what you learn is that you gain more and more skill and eventually, you get to the point where you are capable of doing better and better as time goes on, and pretty soon, you look back and realize how far you’ve come.

In life, I think it is human tendency to just try something a little bit and then give up because it took too much effort, or because you don’t want to “fail” again, or because you didn’t want to look silly. People who achieve greatness rarely have achieved it on their first attempt. I think the greatness comes with persistency. Sometimes it is difficult to keep trying, especially in the face of rejection and disappointment. However, you also get out of things what you put into them. I think if we were super successful at everything we try on the first time, we wouldn’t appreciate it as much. It is the effort and energy that we put into something that makes us truly appreciate it and care for it.

Being a Team Player and Looking Out for Others
For anyone who hasn’t played this game, it is different in that multiple characters play at the same time. This has its pros and cons. Among the pros are that you can work together towards a common goal, you can save yourself from danger or difficult parts by “going into a bubble” (you have to have played to understand), and you can do some things you couldn’t do on your own (like you can bounce off of other players’ heads to reach things way up high). This all comes with a down side as well. You can hurt each other (like knocking someone down a hole, or getting in someone’s way, or kicking a turtle shell at them). You can also prevent them from doing well (getting all the power-ups, coins, etc. for yourself), or you can make them do all the hard stuff while you just hang back. You can even just ride around in the bubble without getting harmed.

This game has made the kids get really upset at each other more than any other game that our kids have played. Yelling and crying are common. However, I’ve had a number of teaching moments through this. The kids and I had a pretty good talk about how it’s a game and they are supposed to have fun with it. One particular evening, two kids were playing together and there was a lot of frustration with each other because they kept “making” each other die. I told them if they couldn’t actually have fun, we wouldn’t be playing that game together any more. Within a few minutes, I hear them laughing hysterically. When I asked what was so funny, they explained that they both died and they found the circumstances to just be funny. What changed? Well, I like to think they actually listened to what I had to say and were just trying to have a good time together.

Life is like that. I’ve often heard people complain about group projects in school. I used to complain about them as well. Every time I hear about them now, I just chuckle to myself, because what I have learned is that in the “real” world, we are too often placed in situations very similar to the group projects we did in school. If we can just learn to work together at an early age (even if it is in Mario), how much better are we going to be at handling those situations when we’re presented with them.

When I’m playing with the kids, I try to spend most of my focus on trying to make the other person be as successful as possible. I bounce them up out of a hole, or get them power-ups, or risk myself to destroy an enemy that’s coming after them. They all have much better experiences with the game. I think life is like that. If we would all focus on trying to make others successful, then we’d have just as many people trying to make us successful. I just think it’s a great philosophy.

You Have to Look to Find Things
Last thing I’ve been thinking about is that there are lots of hidden paths and treasures. I didn’t have to think really hard about this analogy. Can you finish the game without finding all the secret doors, coins, and other things? Sort of. However, as you learn to search and explore new things, you are rewarded.

In life, as we search out the hidden things, we will find treasures that we never imagined. This is especially true of spiritual truths. The knowledge that there is a loving Heavenly Father needs to be acquired through some effort and experience on our part. It isn’t automatic. When we reach out and stretch ourselves to do this, there are things that we learn that could only be learned that way.

DISCLAIMER
No, I’m not operating under the illusion that this is an educational game. Nor do I even think anyone plays it thinking “gee, what life lesson can I learn from this today?” I guess this is just an illustration that when we take a few minutes to try to learn, we can learn from anything. I find that very interesting.

P.S.
Oh, one last thing I’ve learned? It’s fun. And even after all of what I’ve said in this post, that will still be my primary motivation for playing.