Why Climb the Mountain?

By Zach Fifer

When the LRG Documentary Table arrived at the post-production stage of this project, the feeling was unreal. For those who have ever played or helped produce a Live Reality Game (LRG) before, we felt that feeling you get driving home after the Final Tribal Council after an incredible game. Like Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All At Once, our brains were firing in a million different directions, seeing all the endless possibilities that stood before us. For so long, the filming stage of this project felt like this mountain on the horizon, massive in scale and only growing the closer we got. And now looking back at what we just climbed, we exhale. We smile, we digest, and we look toward our new horizon to take our next steps onward.

Welcome to The Fire We Carry, a blog created to crack open the minds of the Table, invigorate conversation, and connect this documentary and the LRG world to the lives we live every day. Throughout the post-production phase, we will publish blogs here covering a wide array of topics, some about this documentary and others about significant insights members of this community hold in regard to LRGs and life. 

We want to crack open the gems inside the LRG community, and we know the best way to discover them is to investigate our “whys”. Why do we do what we do? Why do we put ourselves through turmoil and chaos, with a very real chance of experiencing loss and pain? And why do we keep coming back for more?

Well, let’s start with our “why”. Why a blog? For us, it’s simple - passion. Passion began this project, passion fuels this project, and passion will complete this project. Everyone on the Table loves the LRG community, plain and simple. The blog is an extension of that. By publishing this blog, we can create a space for exploration and discovery, for experiences of extreme triumph and gut-wrenching defeat, for reflection and growth, and, maybe most importantly, for the opportunity to take a look back at the shadow we cast as we carry our flames so high. 

When you ask someone why they play LRGs, you will discover a mesmerizing array of responses, all colored with their personal histories and experiences. Throughout this blog, we will create time and space to ask these questions. We will start with why and see where this journey takes us. And down the road, after we climb the mountain that is now staring us down on the horizon, we can look back and exhale and smile and digest and look toward our new horizon to see where our next journey will take us.