Life lessons from video games
- Vijaymohan Chandrahasan
- Feb 3
- 7 min read
Updated: Feb 12
Most of life’s most important lessons are clichés.
Failure is a stepping stone to success.
Knowledge is power.
Stay calm under pressure.
We hear them so often that they start to lose meaning - just words strung together in motivational speeches, Instagram captions, and well-intentioned advice. But every now and then, a lesson you’ve heard a hundred times before actually reaches you. And when it does, it doesn’t feel like a cliché. It feels like clarity.
And sometimes, that clarity hits when you least expect it. You’re in the middle of something completely unrelated when a lesson from an entirely different part of your life sneaks in.
That happens to me with video games.
I don’t play games for life lessons - I play them because I enjoy them. But every now and then, something clicks. A hesitation I had in Age of Empires reminds me of a missed opportunity in real life. A brutal failure in Souls games makes me think about struggles outside of gaming. A high-pressure decision in Resident Evil feels eerily familiar to moments where I’ve had to think fast with limited resources.
It makes me wonder - maybe video games were never just games. Maybe they were teaching me things all along.
Age of Empires
lesson: strategy requires balance—both confidence and caution
Age of Empires is a real-time strategy game where players start with a small settlement and gradually build a civilization. The game involves gathering resources, developing technologies, constructing armies, and engaging in battles against other players or AI-controlled opponents.
You normally start with just a few villagers, a scout, and a town center. Everything beyond your immediate area is hidden in the fog of war. You have no idea where your enemies are, what they’re doing, or how strong they might be. All you have is what you can see - a couple of trees, a small patch of berries, and maybe some sheep wandering around.
Do you take it slow? Play it safe? Or do you send out scouts, push forward, and take a gamble?
That’s the thing about Age of Empires. If you stay inside your base, gathering resources at a comfortable pace, you feel safe… until you’re suddenly not. One moment you’re mining gold, the next, enemy knights are tearing through your villagers like a knife through butter.
I’ve had games where I thought I was ahead, building a beautiful economy - only to realise, too late, that the enemy had been gathering resources twice as fast. I’ve also had games where I assumed someone was too powerful to fight, only to find out later that they were bluffing the entire time.
Lesson: Assumptions are dangerous, and knowledge is power
Examples
Playing too safe can backfire: I once focused entirely on building my economy, thinking I had time. Meanwhile, my opponent had already explored half the map and built an army. By the time I saw the attack coming, it was too late.
Overestimating the enemy is just as costly: There were games where I assumed my opponent was too powerful and played too defensively - later realised they were struggling just as much as I was. If I had acted sooner, I might have won.
Exploration changes everything: I’ve had moments where scouting just a little further revealed a gold mine, a weakly defended enemy base, or a crucial strategic point. That one piece of information can shift the entire game.
The smartest thing you can do? Explore. Get information. Make decisions based on what’s real, not what you fear.
Real-life parallels
Businesses that refuse to adapt or research competitors can get blindsided by market shifts (Blockbuster ignored Netflix - and look what happened, remember Nokia?).
People who hesitate to explore new opportunities: whether jobs, investments, or relationships—often miss out on hidden advantages
The best decision-makers don’t guess. They gather intel, analyze, and act accordingly
Souls games
The beauty of practice, persistence, and patience
The Souls series (Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Elden Ring) is known for its extreme difficulty and unforgiving gameplay. In these games, players control a warrior navigating hostile environments filled with deadly enemies, giant bosses, and hidden dangers.
What sets Souls games apart is their lack of hand-holding - there are no difficulty settings, and enemies can easily kill you in just a few hits. You don’t get a glowing indicator telling you what to do. You’re thrown into the world, and the game expects you to figure things out on your own.
I still remember my first real fight in Elden Ring. I had just stepped into Limgrave, sword in hand, feeling ready for anything. Then I saw the Tree Sentinel. A massive knight on horseback, patrolling the landscape like he owned the place.
“I can take him,” I thought. Charged in, swung my sword... dead in two hits.
“Alright, I just need to be faster.” Tried again. Dodged one attack, but his follow-up slammed me into the dirt.
Third attempt? I didn’t even make it past his first swing.
At some point, frustration gave way to something else: understanding. The game wasn’t unfair. I was just approaching it the wrong way. Charging in mindlessly wasn’t the answer. It was about watching, learning, and adapting. I started noticing the way he moved, when he hesitated, when he left an opening. The more I paid attention, the more control I had.
That’s the thing about Elden Ring. It never tells you how to win... it just forces you to learn. The same is true outside of games. Some things feel impossible until you stop rushing, start observing, and break them down piece by piece.
Lesson: Failure is not the end, it’s a necessary step toward mastery
Examples
Embracing failure as part of growth: A new player may fail against a boss a dozen times, but each attempt teaches something new - when to dodge, which attacks to block, and when to strike. In real life, failure is often the best teacher, whether in entrepreneurship, job interviews, or skill development.
Learning without explicit instructions: The game doesn’t tell you that fire weapons work better against ice enemies, or that rolling toward an enemy is safer than away from them... you must figure these things out. Similarly, in life, not everything is explained - successful people learn by trial and error, observation, and reverse engineering solutions.
Strategic problem-solving under pressure: Every boss fight is a puzzle - you need to recognize attack patterns, time dodges correctly, and adjust tactics mid-fight. This applies directly to real-life high-stakes problem-solving, whether in handling crises at work, negotiating deals, or performing under pressure.
Real-life parallels
Entrepreneurs often experience multiple failures before building a successful business (think Jeff Bezos before Amazon became profitable).
Professionals in high-pressure careers (surgeons, firefighters, pilots) must make split-second decisions based on observation and experience.
Athletes and musicians don’t master their craft overnight - they endure years of practice, failure, and adjustment before achieving excellence.
Resident Evil
Resource management, risk assessment, and keeping your cool under pressure
Resident Evil is a survival horror game where players must navigate a world overrun by zombies and terrifying creatures. Unlike action games where unlimited ammo and brute force win the day, Resident Evil emphasizes resource management, problem-solving, and survival instincts.
Players often find themselves low on bullets, health, and supplies, forcing them to make tough choices: fight or flee? Use the last healing herb now or save it for later? Open a locked door now, or search for a way around?
If you’ve ever played Resident Evil, you know real fear isn’t a jump scare - it’s running out of bullets in the middle of a zombie-infested hallway.
You’re low on ammo, your health is critical, and there’s a massive, unkillable monster somewhere nearby. Do you use your last shotgun shell on the zombie blocking your way, or do you try to dodge past it and hope you don’t get grabbed?
Every decision in Resident Evil feels like a gamble. You never have enough ammo, enough health, or enough time. The game forces you to plan ahead, make smart choices, and stay calm even when everything is falling apart.
Lesson: Resourcefulness and adaptability are survival skills
Examples
Wasting resources early means suffering later: The first time I played Resident Evil 2, I used all my shotgun shells on regular zombies. Later, when I faced a Licker (a much deadlier enemy), I had nothing left.
Choosing when to fight and when to run: Resident Evil 3 introduces Nemesis, an enemy that can’t be killed, only avoided. I had to unlearn my instinct to fight everything and recognize that survival sometimes means knowing when to run.
Planning ahead is the key to survival: The best Resident Evil players don’t just react - they conserve ammo, plan their routes, and always have a backup plan.
Real-life parallels
Financial planning: Just like in Resident Evil, those who budget wisely and prepare for the future are the ones who survive financial crises.
Work & career choices: Not every opportunity needs to be pursued immediately. Sometimes, waiting and preparing leads to better results.
Emergency situations: The ability to stay calm, assess risks, and use limited resources wisely is critical in both gaming and real life (firefighters, ER doctors, crisis managers).
At some point, I realized these weren’t just lessons I learned in video games. They were lessons I had been using in real life all along.
Age of Empires taught me that knowledge beats assumptions.
Souls games taught me that failure isn’t the end - it’s just data I haven’t processed yet.
Resident Evil reinforced that in high-pressure situations, smart decisions matter more than brute force.
Maybe all of life is just one big game. No end-to-end tutorials, no guarantees - just choices, risks, and lessons waiting to be learned.
...What matters is how we play it.
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