Love To My Nerdy Gamers
I haven’t written anything for the Nerdy Gamers in a while, so here’s one for all of you!
Last week, I was watching Oprah. Michelle Obama and some news reporters said that Americans were losing interest in war. We’re just not thinking about it much. We’re not focusing on the troops. We’re not feeling sorry for the military families. In their mind, that was bad. They wanted people to be more war conscious.
Well that is just ass backwards. It is a good sign when we stop thinking about war. It means we’ve had enough of it. It means we’re focused on other things…like maybe peace.
In my business of supporting people who are cleaning up their minds and fulfilling their dreams, the sign that I always look for is that they have forgotten their problems. Once they can’t remember why they called me, they are home free. So if Americans are finally forgetting about war, we are just on the verge of peace.
The Crazy Collective Mind
These reporters and Michelle Obama represent the collective mind. The collective mind is made up of thoughts shared by large groups, in this case the large group is Americans.
Oprah’s guests were doing their very best to get us all to hold on to the belief that war is a necessary component of life. If you pay attention, a government or charity or even many businesses exist to keep problems alive, not solve them.
Would the American Cancer Society be necessary if we cured cancer completely? Would mortgage companies exist if we all had plenty of money? Would drug companies or insurance companies thrive if we weren’t afraid of sickness? Of course not; and everyone knows that. The world economy thrives on beliefs that people don’t know how to let go. We can’t figure out how to eliminate the problem so we create pretend solutions.
Look back at our history and see how many problems have been completely and totally solved. Usually they were just replaced by another problem. We get distracted with the new problem, and the old one sort of goes away. So the people who run for offices are the ones most likely to keep the problems alive because they represent the collective mind.
War is a Belief
War is a belief, an idea of how to solve disagreements. It is a ridiculous waste of money and time. But it will continue as long as it is a solution in the minds of the people we elect. If they are so smart and wise, they should be able to negotiate and mediate solutions. How many business people have the option of killing their competition? But governments and religions seem to think they are exempt from the basic commandment of “Thou shall not kill.” Since it is highly unlikely that the political machines that run the world will completely forget war, I have come up with a solution–GAME WARS FOUGHT BY NERDY GAMERS!
I worked on a military base as a secretary when I was younger. I worked for a very high ranking man, and I could do his entire job in one hour a day. He did nothing. In fact, no one did any work. They just wrote memos and attended meaningless meetings to look busy and justify their ridiculous salaries. I left after one year, and I have no idea how I lasted that long. Since I worked in the budget department, I could strip that budget to bare bones if I fired the entire military and instead brought in gamer troops. Of course, we would have to get other countries to agree to this–Korea would surely be in and China would certainly not lose any power. Quite honestly, we’d have to work a bit harder in America. We’ve not been so supportive of our gamers.
Military salaries would be minimal, and no one would demand overtime or hazardous duty pay. A little prize money would go a long, long way. I remember the last time an upgrade came out for a major game. Kids were buying rations so they could stay awake for days and play without having to stop to eat or sleep. Now they did this for free; they even bought the food. So if you had gaming wars, you’d be a god if you gave them some decent snacks, a little Red Bull, and microwaveable meals.
Housing could be minimal. A bed, a desk, a microwave, a toilet and sink (they don’t use a shower anyway), a giant flat screen tv, a huge monitor, and a killer laptop with serious headphones so they could stay wired in. Throw in a free music subscription, and they are set.
Forget the expensive uniforms because boxers and t-shirts work just fine. Hoodies are optional. One pair of jeans will do. No more boots or shoes are necessary because flip flops are more than enough. And as we’ve seen with “The Social Network,” today’s nerdy might just be tomorrow’s sexy.
The training budget would fall to zero. I’ve never seen one of them read the manuals or need training. If they need to know something, they google it. These kids are wired for gaming at birth. In fact, playing games would now become advanced military training. People would enjoy starting their kids out young.
Moving expenses would go to zero. No need to transport them; they are already there. And you can’t get them to move out of their chairs even in an earthquake or hurricane unless the wifi goes down. I remember during a big hurricane in Florida one year, my son’s friends were trying to play through the hurricane. They succeeded and happily reported their success to their fellow gamers based on how many levels they beat, as opposed to the fact that they were still alive.
Now the big savings. Guns, tanks, planes, and ships are all gone. An enormous budget drops to zero. All the paper and memos and secret documents would no longer be needed. That alone could save the rain forests. The military properties could be turned into beautiful communities, and many of them are in highly desirable locations like Fort Monroe, Virginia, shown below.
Fatalities and medical expenses would be close to zero. I say close because a few would probably die or get sick from forgetting to eat or sleep. But if they showed signs of withering, you could probably hook them up to a IV. And let me tell you, they will do this job while they are sick. But given that sickness is frequently caused by having to do things you hate, a whole lot of sickness would most likely disappear. So forget those sick days and paid vacation.
Hospitals would close. War torn land would grow back to lush green forests. Cities would rebuild. Children could play safely in the streets again.
In line with Ms. Obama, we would have to provide a few benefits for the gamer wives and mothers. We do have it rough microwaving those snacks, popping open those Red Bulls, and washing their one pair of jeans. Maybe they could have game-ANON for support.
I know you probably think I’m joking. But don’t dismiss it too quickly. Is there really any less value to a victory over the internet than a victory on the battlefield? The value in something is what we make it. Currently, we make killing in battle the only game in town. We make it right. We make it valuable. On the other hand, we make gaming a worthless waste of time. What is wrong with us?
We Treat Gamers Like Convicts
We treat kids who game like convicts. We treat soldiers who kill like heroes. You get out of people what you pay attention to. And we just can’t seem to stop paying attention to killing.
We watch the gamers get bullied by kids with more worthy pursuits that put you in the A-crowd like basketball or football or cheerleading. And yes, those Scull and Bones members we elect, they really have it going on as they haze people with ridiculous requests and stunts and share sex dreams. Let’s get real. We don’t really think about what we consider valuable and worthy of rulership.
But no matter what the government does, gamers are not going to stop gaming and wars unfortunately are probably going to be fought. So why not combine the two for a win-win solution? And I’m not talking about drones here; that isn’t win-win.
You see, how we decide to solve anything is merely a function of our beliefs. If we have people in office who don’t respect gaming technology because it doesn’t result in loss of life that doesn’t say much about the beliefs of those people that we are electing to office. They need to learn to how shift paradigms into the modern world. They need to stop being right and start being sane. They need to stop wanting power for themselves and instead want empowerment for everyone.
Who knows, if it worked, we might be able to get rid of our legal system too. You’ve got a dispute, hire a gamer and fight it out in cyberspace. Technology is wonderful. It can be used to bring peace or war. It can be used to cure or kill. And it is only as good as the humans that use it. It is time we put our humanity in charge of our technology. If war is a game, then put it where it belongs, which is in the hands and mouses of the gamers. The biggest difference will be at the end, the gamers will shake hands, smile, tell each other “good game,” and go share a Red Bull.
