Yes! We Time Travel.

Yes, we time-travel. It's one of the most natural processes of our being. We have the technology built in our biological (neural to be more specific) system.

It's child's play.

History never actually happened. Those history books were written only to influence your present thinking. This world is a game. A game in which all things have always been exactly the way they are right now, and yet they appear to be constantly changing. Yes, they are constantly changing while still remaining exactly the same. We would not be too far off the absolute truth to say that the real name of the universe is "change". But interestingly, the changing, yet constant, universe is a slave to our imagination. Let me explain this, fascinating paradox.

The game does not exist if the player does not play.

One of the fundamental aspects of any game is its ability to extend a player's perception of reality. This is often done through rules and boundaries. The more complex the rules and boundaries the more engaging is the game. Our world uses the idea of "change" to define both the rules and the boundaries of the game. Interesting, but that's not the real question.

The real question is how does it create a perception of change, while keeping things still the same. The answer is "events". You must have realized that "time" is the core dimension on which all the games exist in the player's world. Yet, unlike the real world, "time" in a game is subconsciously measured in terms of "events." Minutes have no meaning in the universe that's in our mind. You must have experienced this in your real life too.

There cannot be wasted time in the game world. Players don't spend uneventful time on a game. This rule holds true because the game world is an extension of the mind, which can travel faster than the speed of light. So, you have to eliminate uneventful time in a game design to keep the players engaged. Events rule the game, but who rules the events?

Events are a player's handle over Reality.

You control your world through the events you cause. The game is a slave to your imagination. The imagination that results into action and causes events. These exact events are your past, present and future. This is your reality.

The events that you cause form part of the next puzzle that you face. The parts of the puzzle that you left unsolved go on to complicate the next puzzle if you choose to stay in the same game. You could actually simplify the game by solving your old puzzles.

Yet, the game is not about the puzzles. It's about the players. The players wouldn't be playing it, if it had no fun in it. The players play the game to enjoy their time spent on it, or in it (if the game is the world that you are living in).

The game is about having fun.

Design a game that's fun to play. The moments or events on the game should inspire excitement. The excitement could be the breathtaking backgrounds, the colorful arena, the pretty princess, the ugly dragon,... you name it! The crazy rich world of the game should fill the player with a feeling of achievement.

Henceforth, take time to appreciate the excitements offered by nature. These are your creations. You have achieved them. Those guys on the YouTube talking about global warming are there to remind you, that you, the mankind, is in control of its ecology. Credit yourself for what you experience around you.

Game thinking is essential in marketing.

Technology has expanded the market place. The real world is now almost the entire digital world. Just like this article, the nature of the real world jumps between the game world and the real world.

I have in this article attempted to mix-match philosophy with reality to nudge my readers toward the idea of game thinking. Technologies like Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Internet of Things (IoT) is doing exactly the same thing. A prepared marketer can play the market better if she imbibes event-thinking in her marketing strategy.