Purpose of Life Defined by Genre

The philosophical question of "What's the purpose?" has been asked for thousands of years. But maybe we can answer this question by looking at genres of media created by us which matches real life the best. Any media that is created by us is categorized by genre. From books to videos, to games.

So What Genres Are There?

For books there is:

Satire, Drama, Action And Adventure, Romance, Mystery, Horror, Self help, Health, Guide, Travel, Children's, Religion, Spirituality, New Age, Science, History, Math, Anthology, Poetry, Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Comics, Art, Cookbooks, Diaries, Journals, Prayer books, Series, Trilogy, Biographies, Autobiographies, Fantasy...

For movies there is:

 Film, Horror, Action, Drama, Thriller, Adventure, Romantic comedy, Animation, Western, Fiction, War film, Film noir, Science fiction, Family, Romance, Documentary, Music, Historical period drama, Biographical, Disaster, Crime, Slasher, Melodrama, Fantasy, Art, Chick flick, Black comedy, Heist, Mockumentary, Anime, Superhero, Spy, Comedy horror, B movie, Coming-of-Age Fiction, Screwball comedy, Peplum, Silent, Parody, Mystery, Spaghetti Western, Neo-noir, Experimental, Indie, Comedy, Musical, Action/Adventure, Bollywood, Satire...

And for games it is:

Action: Platform, Shooter, Fighting, Beat-'Em-Ups, Stealth, Survival, Rythm; Action-Adventure: Survival Horror, Metroidvania; Adventure: Text adventure, Graphic adventure, Visual novels, Interactive movie, Real-time 3D adventure; Role-playing: Action RPG, MMORPG, Roguelikes, Tactical RPG, Sandbox RPG, First-person party-based RPG, JRPG, Choice oriented, Fantasy; Simulation; Strategy, Sports; Idle Games...

 And that's just a bunch, there are probably more.

Which One Matches Life?

So, which of all these matches life? Coming to think about it. Doesn't life include all or like a lot of those? We all have been scared by our child's fantasy back when we were young. We all enjoyed laughing together about a joke. We all have seen or learned about the history and much more. So we're not making progress here. Let's take a different approach to this.

What's the purpose?

Each genre follows a certain purpose. They might want to tell a story in a certain staging, criticize humanity and morality, get your adrenaline rolling or getting you to think about things. One genre that's particularly interesting here is a sandbox. Why? Sandbox games have no purpose! Wait. A game with no goal? How does that even work? Oh, it works, and it works well. If you have ever heard about Minecraft it's a sandbox game aside from having achievements and bosses that guide you. Additionally, if you've played it, you probably already know that at some point the only way to go on is to create your own goals and additional rules, creating challenges, getting creative and life is similar to this. Of course, you're guided by the school system, application system followed by working at a company. However, you're not forced to go this way or do this, you can do what you want. But it may not go the way you want and you might have a bad time. In the end, you can create your own goals and challenges in real life and Minecraft alike and you might have consequences respective to your behavior in both as well.

So Life Is a Sandbox Game?

Alright, life's a sandbox game, guys! Hold it! Not too fast! You can't say for sure it is. Philosophy lets us think about how or why things in life are as they are as well as allowing you to live by it. (like "Hakuna Matata" for example)

From the definition of the word philosophy:

"the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline."

"a theory or attitude that acts as a guiding principle for behavior."

So What Can I Take From This?

If you're seeking the purpose of life. Instead of falling into despair seeking to make your purpose, make your own goals. In the end, it's your life and you should be able to do whatever you want. However, keep in mind the rules still apply just like in sandbox video games and you're not the only player. The result is to play with everyone together supporting each other's goals and finding compromises when not getting along too well.

Or maybe this all doesn't matter because we all unconsciously fabricate life together as we experience it. But that's a different topic entirely. :P