Yes. I am a frequent player of the mobile game PUBG. Player Unknown Battle Ground.
It’s a great concept game.
100 guys on a plane need to jump and parachute land upon an island.
After landing, the players then need to scavenge for weapons and fight to survive.
To make things interesting, the map shrinks in an unpredictable fashion. Game ends when there is one player (or team) left.
In the first couple jumps, you learn the ropes. Get used to the playing field.
Coordination builds as you get used to the user interface.
You also get to learn how to use the weapons. What works. What doesn’t.
Now, real life survival doesn’t offer you these opportunities. You don’t get to practice how to survive. There is no room for mistakes.
You don’t learn how to kill others. You shouldn’t ever need too.
What I do find interesting though is my strategy I use. Its loosely based on a book I read.
South Africas special forces (called Recces).
The book I read demonstrated that they adopted an approach that uses the least direct contact with the enemy.
It’s a numbers game. Reducing the risk of exposure from unknown attackers.
Firing your weapon is known to give away your position. Just like PUBG.
The trick is to surprise your victims. Catch them off guard. Silent and efficient.
If you cant do silent, you need to know you are alone.
If you are not alone and not able to do so silently, you don’t attempt the kill. Within reason of course.
That applies to cases where you sneak up to the enemy.
Sometimes the enemy gets the surprise on you. Improvised strategies then apply.
Adopting this approach has worked for me. In season 5 of the mobile game, I have managed to secure top 10 win 90% of the time.
Meaning that I survive up to the last 10 players of each round. Nice accomplishment.
Team play though.
You get to choose solo play, dual play or quad play. Quad being that you are randomly selected 3 other players to join you on a team.
Team play has shown me that just because you are fighting to survive on the same team doesn’t mean that you have to fight to make sure all your team members live to the end.
If you get selected to fight with rookies, there is only so much you can do to try help them survive.
Rookies still need to go through the journey of needing to learn the user interface best. To learn how weapons work and how to kill best.
Family is where I draw a similar survival line.
You don’t choose family, they are randomly selected to join you. You fight the same survival game and you both try last to the end of the challenge.
Sometimes you up skill quicker than they do. Meaning that you develop your user interface skills quicker or stronger than they do.
To me, the most interesting aspect is the survival strategy applied. Either you can stand by their side and help them survive longer or you can leave them to fend for themselves as you gather resources.
There is limited time in this game and trying to defend and rescue your team members takes away your ability to secure the best resources.
Also, if you fight to keep a rookie alive, chances are you are going to expose yourself to more ene8than you need to and you position yourself in more risk than you need too.
If you fight your own battle, even though you have team members selected to join you, and you gather the strongest resources, I find that uniting later (stronger) gives you a higher chance of lasting to the end.
Nothing better than meeting up with your team members half way through the game and each player knows they have strong resources to finish easily.
It’s a strategy that has been working for me in my game. Now I find myself asking if applying this route with my broader family might be necessity in order to survive longer.
Who knows..