The Two Games of Life

It’s interesting. In recent years there has been an increased gamification throughout the broad spectrum of human existence.

We see it with vloggers, mainly attractive women documenting their day to day experiences as if they are reality TV stars. We saw it in finance as people piled into GameStop and AMC stocks. We see it in the so-called metaverse, as some certain companies that shall remain nameless seek to actively turn life into a simulation.

And in this increasingly gamified world, it is becoming increasingly clear that there are two main games you can play. The Wealth Game and the Status Game.

And while there is nothing inherently wrong with either game, if your goal is long term happiness, the wealth game is immeasurably better than the status game.

Yuval Noah Harari has an amazing quote that I heard on the Tim Ferris Podcast, Episode #477, which can also found in his book, Sapiens. “We humans are very good at getting more power. But I don’t think we are particularly good at acquiring more happiness.”

Harari essentially posits in an early chapter of the above mentioned book, Sapiens, that we all learn about the agricultural revolution and the rise of cities in school. Undoubtedly, in the story of humanity, this was an important milestone that heralded in an upgrade of human society. We became more powerful as we could congregate together and cooperate more effectively.

But Harari also posits that this did not necessarily make us happier. While I deeply enjoy my life today and the comforts allowed by modernity, his words still ring true. Many of us, even those of us so incredibly fortunate through any metric of objectivity, are still deeply dissatisfied with how we spend our day to day lives.

Which is where we come back to the Wealth Game vs the Status Game. See the chart below:

It’s quite simply a difference of values. The former embraces the values of freedom, peace and happiness, while the latter embraces the values of power, ego and desire.

The Wealth Game see’s money as a necessary component to living a happy and fulfilling life. Money is a tool that leads to freedom. The freedom to live where you want, date who you want, work when you want, how you want and on what you want.

That’s all money is. It’s an abstraction. It’s a way to exchange mutual cooperation without having to personally trust the person you are dealing with. And the way most money is acquired is by selling your time to someone who is willing to buy it.

By creating things that make money for you, you can scale up to the point where you are no longer selling your time for money. This is, in essence, what people who engage in real estate are doing. They invest heavily up front for a property and are paid a monthly rent for those who wish to occupy those dwellings. It’s not without risk, but it is a good wealth creation vehicle.

And the reason it is, is because your inputs do not equal your outputs. Some of the most prestigious careers in the world, such as doctor, surgeon, lawyer, fighter pilot, even professional athlete, are each beholden to the status game. Their input of time is directly correlated to their output of money.

Until or unless, of course, they diversify into the wealth creation game. Gordon Ramsey created a successful media empire and manages I don’t know how many restaurants around the world that all make him money while he sleeps. He makes money from his investment vehicles, not from being a chef. He cooks when he wants to, how he wants to, and what he wants to. And he didn't start out saying "I will be a media personality and make millions of dollars." He started out by saying "I will be a chef because that's what I want to do with my life."

Most professional athletes have endorsement deals that allow them to make money as they sleep. Every time their commercial plays, they make money, despite only spending the time to record the commercial once.

The key to the Wealth Game is creating something that scales. Whether that be a book, a movie, a youtube channel, a real estate empire, a Twitch stream, hell, even an OnlyFans if you can invest the money correctly and don’t mind the stigma.

The point of the Wealth Game is opportunity, freedom, and peace. The goal is not contingent on your ego. In fact, the point of the Wealth Game is to disappear. The people who truly run the world are not people who have Wikipedia pages about them, they do not hold press conferences, and they do not interact socially with anyone they do not want to.

The Status Game holds as its central truths almost the complete opposite values. They must interact with others playing the status game, regardless of whether those interactions are pleasurable or horrific. They must be big, loud and brazen if people are to know they have power, prestige and status.

The Status Game values prestige and power above all else as its end goal. Those who play the status game value freedom, just not to the extent those playing the wealth game do.

Those playing the Status Game would gladly sacrifice their freedom if it means the end goal of attaining power and prestige is achieved.

Years of school. Hundreds of thousands in debt taken on. Life milestones pushed off or abandoned altogether. Family life sacrificed. Morals compromised. Values discarded. Men and women alike trampled upon. Whatever it takes to be successful is what you must do to achieve that power and prestige.

Do you see the difference? The Wealth Game says “there is plenty of wealth, you just have to find a way to generate it.” The Status Game says “There is only room at the top for one, and I will lie, cheat, steal, kill and maim anyone, including my own soul, to get there.”

By all accounts, Michael Jordan is the greatest of all time to play the game of basketball, (sorry Lebron fans). Yet also by all accounts, he was a miserable bastard. His hall of fame speech was an angry tirade. He was the best there ever was, but was he happy?

Tom Brady, one of my personal heroes and role models, is also undoubtedly the best of all time in his chosen profession. Undoubtedly loves what he does. I personally think undoubtedly happier than Michael Jordan. But he is not interested in freedom. He is interested in being the best at his chosen profession. He is just wired that way.

And that’s okay. Like I said, there is nothing inherently wrong with playing either the Wealth or the Status Game. Some are wired to be more inclined to one or the other.

But know this: you can’t play both and succeed. The same things that require you to be successful at one, require you to sacrifice the values that would allow you to be successful at the other.

The Wealth Game would have you take on debt to finance real estate, or have you spend your Saturdays creating intellectual property before spending time with your family.

The Status Game requires you to take on debt to continue your education or hob knob with cardigan wearing big wigs at the golf course you must pay to be a member at.

And while money is a vehicle to freedom, wealth doesn’t necessarily mean money. It means nourishing your soul. Developing yourself and your relationships. You can be a bartender and be extremely wealthy

Example: the movie Midnight in Paris. Don’t cancel me, but a wonderful Woody Allen movie with Owen Wilson. The premise is of a successful Hollywood screenwriter who writes blockbuster movies visits Paris for the week with his fiance who is your typical gold digging, ladder climbing LA-ite.

Owen’s character wants to move to Paris to be a novelist, live in a loft apartment, and walk the streets in the rain.

His fiance wants to shop for expensive Parisian furniture that they can import to their Malibu dream house so they can impress those who they have over for dinner.

I think these two characters dot the I’s on the Wealth Game vs the Status Game.

Owen’s character has wealth but cares nothing for status. He wants meaning and freedom and happiness.

His fiance wants wealth and the status wealth can confer to her. She cares nothing for him, as is evidenced when she cheats on him later in the movie.

She doesn’t understand that the status game is a zero sum game where no one wins and you lose. You lose yourself to the things you hate doing and you become the slave of everyone else playing that game.

Some of the richest people in the world play this game. But they are not wealthy.