Level Up!

Imagine you just received a raise at work. Before you can even begin to express your gratitude, a chime sounds and you hear the words “Level Up”. I believe we would all be much happier homo sapiens if our daily actions and accomplishments garnered experience points for such happenings.

With that said, I propose the instatement of a real life level system. You know how addictive it can be in a video game, so would it not be most satisfying if your daily exploits added to your level in your particular classification (Level 8 Grocery Stockman, etc.)? You have to admit it would spice things up, and everyone could do with a little more spice; people could specialize in a few classes or maintain an extensive variety across all the facets of their life. You might see a Level 16 Useless Trivia Wizard, a Level 32 Stamp Collector or a Level 4 Little League Athlete but, then again, perhaps kids could all be considered “Noobs” until they reach a certain age. That way they would have something to anticipate, much like getting their driver’s license or being able to vote.

To delve a little deeper, some games have a morality system in which your choices and/or behavior determines your alignment. In the Fable games, evil actions gradually affect your appearance (eg: skin discoloration, horns, etc.) and, while this could be handy in the dating circuit, I wager this would not be a popular addition to my proposed level up system. Most undesirable characters like to reserve their true colors for some time further down the road, such as stalkers. That camp would undoubtedly offer no support. Besides that, some might argue that it would be physically impossible to incorporate bodily consequences of someone’s choices but, instead of chalking it up to wishful thinking, I’m sure a method could be devised to track someone’s alignment.

With the morality aspect in mind, now would be a good time to explore possible examples of specific experience points. You could receive +5 Evil Points for cutting someone off in traffic, or you might be awarded Evil Points for purposely urinating all over the toilet seat in a public restroom – not that I’ve ever done that, I’m just providing examples. On the other end of the moral compass, you could let someone in front of you at a checkout line for +5 Good Points; you might even ignore someone’s blatant misuse of a turn signal. Like I said, the physical ramifications of Good or Evil moral progress would probably not go over well with the general populous, but we could still get XP for such actions, right?

In addition to this leveling up business, everyone could have milestones to accomplish along the way. The best examples of this possible inclusion are the Xbox 360 Achievements and the Playstation 3 Trophies; real world achievements would undoubtedly be more interesting if they were tailored to the individual, so people could assign their own. For instance, I would unlock an achievement for arriving on time at work five days in a row. See? That would not be an accomplishment for everyone, but it would be for me. Don’t worry though, my bosses like that I keep them guessing.

Now, you might be wondering how this would ever be possible. Well, I have no earthly idea; I am simply planting the seed but, perhaps with the ongoing advancements in technology, we could one day have small data-pads implanted into our forearms that would track our progress and sound off at the appropriate times. I’m not sure, but I think it would be a worthwhile area of research. Why couldn’t we drop some money into something like this rather than developing useless technologies to simply make us lazier? Does anyone really need an automatic toothpaste dispenser? Imagine the spikes in self esteem, perseverance and dedication to our day to day activities if we had the option of leveling up in the process. Call me crazy, but I see only positives and endless possibilities and, if this system ever comes to pass, I should level up just for writing this article.

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