Earlier this week, during the speaker event featuring Trevor Noah, he made a striking metaphor that really stuck with me. “Life is like a saved video game,” he said, “You are given an already saved file and you have to decide how you play.” He also stressed the importance of completing “side quests,” stuff that isn’t essential to your life’s journey but that will make you feel fulfilled.
As another avid player of computer games, and someone who wrote an opinion article in the Chronicle last year about the importance of them, I resonate with the second part of this metaphor. Whenever I play a video game, I of course care about beating the main story. However, side quests are often more interesting to me, especially in open world games with many noteworthy characters. They fill out the world and my experience playing through it. Without these side quests, a game would feel very hollow and simple.
Real life, as I have found, works in much the same way. Sometimes, while going through high school, I was too focused on certain “main goals,” like getting good test grades or the big final showcase of one of my extracurricular commitments. Without time to try out other things or take some time to think about things outside of these big goals, I was quickly stressed out and felt like I was trapped in a blank quest log, with only the main quest blaring its instructions on it.
It is always important to work towards your big objectives, the ones that will make your life story progress. However, when you take the time and go out of your comfort zone to do something small and new, like trying a new restaurant or going to a new type of party, your life will open up much more. This year, whenever an opportunity presented itself, I always tried to log a “side quest,” which led to some of the best memories of my high school experience. I explored L.A.. I went out with friends more and found myself learning about maturity and independence. My parents and I did more new activities together, savoring my last year of childhood together.
My favorite side quests in video games, however, don’t just expand on the world. Character quests or companion quests are a subset of side quests that zero in on a specific playable character and their story outside of the main plot. These quests not only add more flavor to the game: they deepen your emotional connection with a fleshed out person and therefore make you appreciate the game as a whole. Likewise, my favorite memories relating to fun “side stories” have to do with the people I completed that story with. The event wouldn’t be the same without friends by my side, and opening myself up more during these “quests” let me meet more of my classmates and see them in new and closer ways. If I didn’t take the chance to create these memories, I wouldn’t feel as strong of a bond to them as I do now.
As I leave high school, I take this attitude about “side quests” in life with me. I hope that, in the future, my in real life quest log becomes filled to the brim with all sorts of little unique experiences. I also hope that the rewards from my already completed quests, whether they be friends or life lessons, stick with me for a long time. With that, I look forward to the next level of life!
