From Flappy Bird to Life: Five Lessons in Life

Ever heard of Flappy Bird? If not, check out the infographic from Startapp.com about the so-called rise and fall of the viral mobile application that topped the iOS’s Apple Store and Android’s Play Store in more than 100 countries in a span of months.

Flappy Bird is a mobile game application released in 2013 by Vietnamese Dong Nguyen. The main objective of the game is to get a flapping bird across either high-mid-or-low-opened pipes that are very much akin to those seen in the Mario Bros series. The bird moves upward when the player taps on the screen and scores are based on the number of pipes passed through successfully.

Despite the game’s popularity (read, top free app on Apple iOS App Store and Android's Google Play Store) and revenue (read, $50,000 per day for in-game ads) a tweet from the developer Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) on 8 Feb 2014 shocked fans as he announced that he would shut the game down. Those who were able to download the game will be able to continue playing the game though.

I was fortunate (Am I really?) to get into the craze and download the game even before it was removed from the Play Store. However, as I was playing the game, it not only made me angry for not being able to get through the pipes but it also made me realize 5 valuable lessons in life.

5 Life Lessons (I got) from “Flappy Bird”

1. You must struggle in order to survive.

• In the start of the game, you will see a bird flapping its wings despairingly. As you tap on the screen of your smartphones, and depending on how fast, slow, soft or hard you tap, you will see how desperate the bird is in flapping its wings for its life. Just like in real life, though we don’t have wings to flap, we must keep moving forward in our everyday lives. There would be times we need to go fast to meet deadlines, or go slow to just enjoy the moment.

2. Life will put you through ups and downs. 

• Nobody said it would be easy. Just like the pipes that the flappy bird needs to pass through in the game, there will be obstacles in our lives along the way. We’ll never know when life would be too sweet or too hard on us. However, despite these hindrances, we must go with the flow and never let these problems bring us down or else, the game would be over.

3. You are competing with no one but yourself.

• Although you can check the leader board as to where you are standing in terms of ranking among your friends, which you cannot do without an internet connection, others still continue to play the game. Why? It’s because they want to beat their own best score. In life, our greatest competition would always be ourselves. People may say a lot of things about and against us, but at the end of the day, it would still be a battle between you and yourself. We must work on making our today better as compared to our yesterday.

4. At the end of the day (or the game), there will be rewards waiting for you.

• In the game, if you’re patient and/or obsessed enough, you’ll get a medal if you surpass a number of pipes – bronze for 10 pipes, silver for 20 pipes, gold for 30 pipes and platinum for 40 pipes. In life, though we don’t get medals as often as it is in the game nor do we get medals based on the number of obstacles we’ve been through, think of the rewards being the simple things in life that we look forward to. Say, the hard-earned salary every payday. Or the hugs and kisses we get from our kids when we get home to a darn day at the office. Yeah, cheesy as it is, but we must learn to appreciate the simple stuff life has to offer.

5. Always remember to have fun!

• Yes! I know the game is addicting. Once you start playing, you’ll find yourself pressing on the play button after every game overs. You might even blame someone for not overcoming a pipe, even without s/he doing anything to you or you might even be cussing (Oops! Sorry!) just because you’re about to outdo your best score but you tapped too hard that the bird went up until it bumped that very low-opened pipe, remember that the Flappy Bird is a game. It is meant to be played with fun! Similar to life, as the saying YOLO goes, you only live once, so enjoy living the life you have. As what others would often say, “Live the life you love and love the life you live”.

I am not sure if we share the same sentiments but I just find it worthy of a blog post. Please hit on the comment button if you have any other thoughts of what Flappy Bird has taught you or not taught you!

Enjoy tapping!