Game Skill Trees in Real Life
Many roleplaying games give players the ability to personalize their character’s development through skill trees. The different combinations allow for a great variety in gameplay and greater engagement by deciding which skills their character will level and advance in. What about a real-life skill tree where we manage our advancement through levels of experience and skills? There are several benefits to thinking about our development like advancing through an RPG skill tree.
Skill Trees in Video Games
Some video games have a simple skill tree format, where it is linear progress from the basic skills to the more advancer. As characters level up, players unlock the next step and eventually maximize their skills. Other games have a much more elaborate skill tree that consists of winding pathways. It may appear like a labyrinth with branches into multiple directions, some tracks circling back to unlock the same skill, and others with convergence with multiple pathways required simultaneously to unlock an advanced skill.
The main goal of skill trees and allowing players to choose their character development is to personalize characters and provide an individualized playing experience. Take the example of archery skills. Once selected, all players would begin with a basic archery skill. But as they advance and choose different branches, one may develop into a sniper with high accuracy and long-range attacks, another that does more significant damage with multiple targets and unique arrow types like fire or poison, and a third that uses their ranger skill for speed and agility to be able to shoot from horseback with short-range and rapid-fire.
Skill tree from RPG - Path of Exile
Types of Gamers and Skill Trees
Some games allow players to unlock all the skills by the end of the game. While it allows for variability during lower levels, max-level players will have the same abilities.
However, most larger RPGs have a limited number of skill points available to unlock new abilities. Knowing that not all options are available to end-level players, choices must be made and will have consequences for end-level players. There is a lot of variety in characters and gameplay, and it makes for a much more unique experience.
How do different players approach skill tree unlocks and selection?
The Strategist:
These players research everything in advance to determine the “best” build. These min/max gamers choose each step based on their pre-planned approach. They are typically very competitive players. However, since they rely on others to decide on their gaming experience, the game may feel less personal and feel more like grinding at lower levels. But they will feel very accomplished for having the “best” character for the endgame.
The Rule of Cool:
Every time a new skill point is available, these players look for the next exciting or unique ability to unlock. Less competitive, they want to enjoy the gaming experience and journey. They are likely always looking for new ways to make it more fun for themselves and others. As they choose immediate skills and lack a bigger picture strategy, they may not be able to unlock maximum level skills. Therefore, the endgame may be more and potentially frustrating. However, they will likely have more skills available than some other players. Due to their personalized selection, these gamers are likely to feel the most connected to their characters.
The End Gamer:
The players are similar to the strategist but without external research. They will select a single maximum level skill or advanced one they want to achieve. The choice in unlocking abilities is a matter of working backward from their final destination and selecting the next step on their pathway. Due to their singular focus, these gamers may quickly unlock a max-level skill making them powerful players. However, this focus can also create a one-trick pony skill set until further advancing other abilities.
The Casual Player:
These gamers are a combination of the above. They may select a few mid-level skills to work towards, like the End Gamer. But also apply the Rule of Cool for abilities that sound interesting or would be immediately beneficial to their gameplay. They typically will have sufficient points to unlock or get close to a maximum skill but will not have the same powerful endgame characters as the Strategist. As players, they have a range of experiences that can include the best and worst of the other types of gamers.
“If life just got a little harder, that probably means you just leveled up.”
- Anonymous
RPG Skill Tree Categories
Some games have the same skill tree for all players, and others have class-specific options. The types of skills under each category also vary greatly between games. Some have different types of combat with buffs, stealth, and other skills mixed through combat styles, while others have these listed separately.
Here are some of the category types from different RPG skill trees:
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Health, Stamina, Magicka
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla: Melee, Stealth, Ranged
The Witcher 3: Combat Skills, Signs, Alchemy, Mutagens, and General Skills
Far Cry 5: Survivalist, Renegade, Assassin, Prepper, and Leader
Shadow of Mordor: Ranger and Wraith
Though the placement and categorization will vary, all RPG skill trees will generally include combat skills, health-related skills, and generalized skills such as horseback riding or running speed.
“When you step your game up, your life will level up.”
- Jeanette Coron
Why Real-Life Skill Trees?
Real-life is like those games with limited unlocks available. Even if we lived to 100 years old, it’s impossible to become an expert at everything human beings are capable of. We have to pick and choose what skills are the most important to us.
Seeing our skills as a progression towards our future character build, we can choose what strategy we want to advance by. Are we looking for the next cool thing to learn, or do we have a singular focus that we want to work towards and achieve in our lifetime?
Here are some of the best ways that using an RPG skill tree can help us in real life:
Prioritization
Knowing we have limited time available and cannot unlock all skills that could be available to us, seeing life as a skill tree can help us prioritize our time and efforts. Knowing that we are working towards unlocking our next ability can help us use our experience points selectively and better manage our time and priorities.
Strategize
Real-life skill trees can also help us map our journey. If we have a maximum level that we wish to achieve, whether a dream job, expertise or accomplishment, we must level our skills along the way to get there. Starting with the end goal, we can work backward like an End-Gamer to find the next step that we need to take. And research how others have achieved similar results like the Strategist.
Find New Opportunities
When we feel bored with life, we can look for new opportunities based on our current skill set. What cool or exciting abilities can we unlock with little effort right now? Are there new opportunities that would make our life journey more exciting or benefit us immediately?
Motivation
Lastly, looking at life as an RPG skill tree helps us see how far we’ve come. Mapping our pathway to date shows all of the progress and achievements that we have already completed. We are far from the newbie players that we once were. When we feel stuck or frustrated in our journey, celebrating all that we have already accomplished can be a great motivator.
For more ways that RPGs can help us with personal development check out Is Life an RPG? Why We Should Treat Life Like a Roleplaying Game and the Life as an RPG category
“There’s always another level up. There’s always another ascension. More grace, more light, more generosity, more compassion, more to shed, more to grow.”
- Elizabeth Gilbert
How Would a Real-Life Skill Tree Look?
The options available to us in real life far surpass anything available in a video game. Learning a new skill typically involves a lot more steps and a combination of other abilities to advance. Take, for example, learning to ride a bike. There is a physical ability to be able to pedal and the dexterity skill of balance to be able to keep from falling off while pedaling. But we also need to have an understanding of how terrain affects objects on wheels, going downhill means picking up speed, rough terrain needs a greater sense of balance to stay on the bike, etc. It is only with all of these that we can unlock the skill of riding a bike.
Additionally, we typically don’t have a single moment of unlocking a skill like a video game. Our progress bar and leveling are typically much more fluid. However, that first time you finally made it down the street on your bicycle, the wind blowing in your face while you pedaled furiously, may have definitely felt like unlocking an achievement.
Even though real life is much more complex than video games, some commonalities can be used as a starting point. RPG skill trees usually include combat skills, health-related skills, and more generalized skills. We aren’t fighting dragons in real life, and combat skills are usually not our primary focus. However, much like our gaming characters use their fighting skills to earn coin, we use skills to earn an income. Here is one way to break down life skills into categories, though feel free to create your own variation.
Job Skills
These skills would include those activities that we engage in to earn a living, hobbies, and other activity-based skills.
Some low-level skills might include basics like counting, language, writing, and reading. But with time, these would branch off into a multitude of variations and advancements. From these basics arise, doctors, artists, teachers, and every other profession. We may earn experience points to level up through schooling, apprenticeships, on-the-job training, self-development, or any number of training opportunities.
This skill category would also include hobbies like gaming, being a DM for a tabletop RPG, writing, athletics, etc., and be highly individualized.
Health Skills
In video games, health skills are about increasing our stats. It may be a permanent increase to HP or stamina, or it could be earning the ability to use temporary buffs. Maybe a gaming health skill is learning to craft potions or earning boosts to speed or agility.
Real-life health-related skills may be similar in learning how to prepare nutritious meals or working out to add to our strength or agility scores—or gaining knowledge about taking care of our physical bodies to increase our HP and longevity.
But health skills are also about learning ways to care for our mental health - finding our purpose, identifying our values, learning about ourselves to boost our XP. These could include skills in self-confidence, motivation, and goal-setting. (Check out The Importance of Why in Gaming and Life for more details on leveling up these skills.)
Many of these skill trees would have weaving and looping appearances, and there are often many different pathways to the same outcome. For example, earning the ability to keep a sense of calm under pressure could come from mediation, centering techniques, empathy, insight, and many others. (Check out 12 Centering Techniques for Geeks and Gamers.)
General Skills
In video games, this tends to be a catch-all. But we could probably place most of what we do as either health skills or job skills. Though consider this a placeholder for any skills that don’t easily fit into one of the other.
“Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important, from himself.”
― Edward Gibbon
Creating Your Own Skill Tree
We do millions of actions every day, and by the time we’re adults, we have learned hundreds of skills. If we were to create a skill tree for our entire character, it would be very time-consuming and so complex that its usefulness would be limited. Instead, look to create a focused view to help with your current goals or struggles.
Start with your current state and what you are looking to achieve. How do you want to play? Are you a Casual Player looking to add some fun skills to make life more exciting, or do you have a firm goal in mind that you want to work towards?
If you’re an End-Gamer or Strategist, the best way to design your skill tree is to work backward. Start with your max-level skills in mind. Starting from the ending, decide what skills are needed to achieve it. With each skill, continue to break it down further into what is required to advance. Continue on each until you have worked back to your current skill set. This will give you a clear pathway of what is necessary to learn and achieve to meet your big goal. (Check out Create A New Character, Create a New Career for more ideas on researching your dream job.)
If you don’t have a firm end goal or are looking for new skills to help you enjoy the game of life on a more immediate basis, then you might create a skill tree as a Rule of Cool type of gamer. Instead of working backward, start where you are now. Take a skill that you currently enjoy and list out possible advanced skills that it could lead to. From that list, create the next layer of advancements and so on.
This cluster strategy can be done with any skill set and is a great way to brainstorm new ideas and opportunities. Take the following example, starting with the basic writing skill. Other skills that can be learned from writing or used to enhance writing may include research skills, storytelling, marketing, and journalism. Within a few levels, a great variety of advanced writing skills can be seen, from writing for scientific articles to news reporting to poetry and scriptwriting. Try the cluster skill tree anytime that you’re feeling stuck and looking for possible future options.
Most of us use a combination of playing styles in real life. There may be a dream job that we want to strive towards, a hobby that we enjoy that we’re looking to get more involved in, or looking for ways to live our life better. Whether you have a very linear skill tree that you follow to get you strictly from here to there or your path is much more winding as you pick up many enhancements along the way, seeing life as RPG can make it more like a fun game.
What does your personal skill tree look like? Please share in the comments.
Author:
Laurie Trueblood is a writer and life coach that enjoys fantasy, science, psychology, and everything nerdy. As the founder of Adventures to Authenticity, her mission is to help others level up and become the best versions of themselves.
