Who are we, or what makes me, me? In a collaborative society we are ultimately what we are perceived as by others. We can be the hardest working person there is, but if others do not think of us that way, what is the point of having that trait. Someone has to hire us or buy from us so throughout our life we create a social character that we present to others. Hobbies, jobs, grades are all character traits. There is also a pay to win feature. The more money your family has the more traits you can improve on and the easier it is to do so. We also shape our character through small stories of adventures whether it is on parties, holidays or gardening. These stories add context since they provide more depth to our character by showing how we behave in large variety of situations.

Just like in any game you benefit from certain traits in different circumstances. Some of them are provided for us because they are almost universal, like basic education. A base stat in intelligence is what is generally needed in society and so everyone receives it. Sport is another good example. Playing a certain sport from a young age improves health and acrobatic stats which could become important especially later in life but could also provide enough points to unlock the feature of sport as a means to earn money. We also influence our social stats. By adapting to expected behaviour we improve our status in society which can unlock many opportunities. We are nice to the person working in the minimarket and because of that we get something free every now and then. Moreover, through odd experiences and habits we add a certain degree of imperfection to us. Nobody likes overachiever: But I was never really good in maths; I’m super inflexible; This one time I had this accident; The other night I got way too drunk. These are the kind of imperfections we add to make us look good but also real and approachable.

Much of this social character development is done through family and friends as well as primary and secondary education. It can however also become an active process where we shape our own social character, create different ones for different circumstances and chose to only pursue those activities that yield the highest total utility for our social character.

I think it’s interesting that this line of thought offers both a way to strategically develop our social character to achieve certain goals but at the same time also offers a satiric narrative to critically approach issues minorities, low income groups, unemployed (and their families) and so on face and how unequal their opportunities are.