On Virtual Worlds and Defining “Reality”

[goldkin]

Originally published at AesTerra. You can comment here or there.

Lately, I’ve been putting a great deal of research into game design and virtual worlds. As you might expect, this would be why I’ve been more than a little silent after starting what is my fourth (!) attempt at a personal blog.

This has been a difficult journey for me, in part because I’m switching careers over it. But then, it’s also been a rewarding experience that I simply would not have, working as a tech.*

You see: the more I play with virtual reality, the more I become convinced that it’s not really “virtual” at all, in the sense of our perceptions and definitions of who we are.

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A recent study states that when we read works of fiction, we mentally simulate the experience. This presumption has been held for years among fiction writers and creators of interactive fiction, such that it has its own word: mimesis.

In brief, when we take part in a work of fiction, there is a point where certain elements are “real” to us, such that we play them out in our mind using the exact same areas of the brain that we use in the “real” world.

Similar studies have been made into what can be loosely coined “avatar theory.” Two studies have, for instance, established that people project concepts of personal space onto their avatars. Additionally, concepts of “beauty” have also made the leap to digital, which may go well to explaining the blonde-to-brunette ratio in any given MMOG.

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The question then, is at what point does this become “real”?

That is to say, as we project more and more of ourselves onto the virtual stage, at what point does it cease to be a digital representation of ourselves and well and truly become, us?

It is already assumed (given the readership of this blog ) that the internet is a wonderful medium for expressing ourselves in ways previously unheard of. Now I’m asking: is that digital representation becoming who we are? Is it already who we are?

Or is it just another mask, another filter, and another medium for expression — and that’s it?

Because: if it turns out all of this is “real”, that says fun things about my career of choice. And what the lawyers will be saying in ten years’ time.

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*From cushy software engineering job to startup game developer.

About two years ago, I had a change of heart. I realized that world building, in the sense of fiction and virtual worlds (think: Second Life, World of Warcraft, etc.) was far more compelling to me than watching spam clog the tubes. So here I am.

Comments

[baphnedia.livejournal.com]

It's alive!

Also: Agreed. It's why I write what I write. Though right now I save it for the form of books, instead of worlds. It's so much less expensive that way.

[baphnedia.livejournal.com]

To answer your question, it doesn't matter if it's who we are, or just another filter. That is a question for the players themselves, whose answers will be as numerous as the number of players who play.