The High Road

Life is full of decisions. Every day we decide on everything; from what to wear to who we will talk to. When you wake up in the morning you have to decide whether you will get out of bed or roll over and go back to sleep. When night falls, you have to decide whether you will go to sleep now or stay up for a few more hours. Every second, it seems, we have another decision to make, another path to take, and we have to decide what the best path for us will be.

In video games, as well, we have many decisions to make. Often, when you're running around, exploring this new world that was created for your character, you will find yourself at a crossroads, and you will have to decide which way to go. Will you go down the path that everyone else is walking down, or will you go down the one that is overgrown with weeds. Will you walk along the path that is broad, or will you take the narrow path. Will you take the high road, or will you take the low road. Often, because we want to win the game, we will take whichever path seems the easiest. It's just instinct.

We are so used to doing this in life, to always trying to take the easiest path, that we don't want to lose time that could being used to win the game. What happens, though, if we do take the untrodden path? Programmers have a finite amount of time and resources that can be spent writing code, and, so, they are unlikely to place something in the game that does not serve a purpose. The truth is that you are meant to take the more difficult path. The way may be more difficult, and there may await an even greater challenge at the end of it, but the reward will be great too. The reward may be bragging rights, or an item that makes the game easier, or even parts of the story that you would not otherwise discover, but there is always some reward.

The same holds true for life. When you  come to a crossroads, or when it comes time for you to chose between the easy path and the difficult path, think carefully before you make your decision. Every one else may have taken the easy path, because, hey, it's easy, but what might lie down the difficult path? There may be more challenges, but what will you learn? Will you gain the right to say that you did something that no one else would dare? Will you learn something about life that only could be learned by going the way untrodden?

There are so many things that we miss in life, because we are to scared to take the difficult path. There are so many treasures that we can gain, and, sometimes, the only reason that we miss them is because we never bothered looking.

Take the other path. You only get to play this game once.