4 Life Lessons I Learned Playing MMORPGs

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When I was 17 years old, I was one of the highest-ranked World of Warcraft players in North America.

To say gaming was part of my adolescence would be an understatement. I got my first N64 when I was ten. My first Gameboy when I was twelve. I was obsessed with adventure games, puzzles, even collectable card games like Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon that required cutting-edge strategies to defeat opponents (snotty nosed teenagers at the local Books-A-Million on Saturday afternoons).

But playing World of Warcraft, my first MMORPG, taught me more about life than all of my other hobbies combined.

It also fundamentally changed the way I treated my personal development from high school onward.

These are the 4 big lessons that have stuck with me the most.

1. Everyone starts at Level 1.

Everyone is a beginner when they start something new. That’s not what matters. What matters is how quickly you’re able to accept that you are a beginner and start climbing your way up the ranks.

2. Experience is what allows you to “level up.”