The other week I bought this video game for PS4 called Detroit Become Human. This game includes an interactive storyline set in the year 2038, where androids are sold to be used as servants, or in their point of view as "slaves," for all humans across the nation. The plot of the game is that there's a malfunction in the androids' software that allows them to "feel" human emotions. If an android breaks the software and begins to experience human emotions and disobeying human command, then it is called a deviant. Now in the game, you play as three different androids in each so-called "chapter," and as you move along in the game the characters cross paths with one another. Here's the catch: the choices you make define how the game ends.

Detroit Become Human contains over 40 different endings based on the multiple choices it offers to you, the player, to make in the story. The way you play decides all of the characters' fates. Now before you start the game you have two options: the easy mode or the hard mode. The difference being that the choices you make will not necessarily impact your story as much in easy mode as it will in the hard mode. I decided to play the more advanced mode because to me that is what makes a video game more exhilarating, and let me tell you... it messed me up.

When I say "it messed me up" I do not mean it in a way that I'm frightened to play video games now or I'm terrified of going out to the real world. What I mean is that I now look at life a lot differently now than before I played the game. Some of you might be saying, "there is no way a video game could be THIS mind-blowing." Well, it is. I can't stop talking about it to my friends that have played it as well because it is just that amazing of a game. Don't get me wrong I still love a good game of Fortnite, but if you have a PS4 I highly recommend this game. Enough about that though. Let me explain what I learned from this game.

First of all, I learned a lot about how the Civil Rights Movement can be seen in today's world and how racism plays a huge role in today's society. Yes, the game does take place 20 years from now, but it relates to the past and present very well. As I went through the game, I realized how important each choice I made was to the plotline of the story. If I made one wrong move or said the wrong thing, a character could have gotten killed or caught by the police. It took one little choice to make a huge difference in the end. In the end, I lost about five of the characters from the story, one of them being one of the three that you control throughout the game, the androids became equal to humans, and I didn't stay friends with the cop I worked with. All my friends said that was a terrible way to end, so I came to this conclusion: I SUCK at interactive games because I do not do well under pressure. Maybe that is what made the game more difficult for me because I thought too much into my choices as I would if I were in a similar situation in real life. Which led me to think about the ACTUAL choices I make in the real world.

Could I have met new people if I chose to do another activity in high school? Should I have said hi to her in the hallway? Do I get the grilled cheese or the BLT? Maybe I should have stayed home today. Did I really need to do that? What if I did this instead of that? What if. What if. What if. Life is full of "what ifs' and that is my number one enemy in life. I constantly rethink every choice I make just as I'm sure a lot of you do, and it causes me to dwell on my past rather than focus on what I can do for my future. I always think about how one choice I make or how one word I say can take me to a whole new path in my life. THAT is what this game made me realize. Life is FULL of different choices for everyone to make, with some being easy and others being the most difficult ones you will ever face. Detroit Become Human taught me that you really have to think about the choices you make in your life because one wrong decision could take you somewhere you do not want to go to.

Is this silly? Maybe, but think about the time you saw that one movie that changed your perspective on something or a book you read that blew your mind about some huge topic in life. Sometimes these recreational activities do have life lessons intertwined in them, but we just don't know it.

Think about the choices you make in your life. Whether it is deciding what you want for dinner or whether or not the android race should be free from slavery, it could cause a huge change to your life.