Second Life: a better life?

The documentary “Second Skin” brings to light some unknown aspects of the online gaming world. It presents both the negative and positive parts. Nevertheless, as much as I enjoyed learning more about gaming, watching this movie has not made me take a clear stand regarding online games. On the one hand, gamers are depicted as people who do not care about jobs, families, and life in general. On the other hand, we are presented with a disabled person whose only portal to the world is the game because that is the only way he can express himself. Personally, all these made it very challenging to draw a line and claim whether games are good or evil.



World of Warcraft screen caption - Flickr



What I found more surprising is why so many people have designed their own avatars and decided to “move” in the virtual world, to play there or to simply live there? It is obvious that the answer lies in the real world but we might all have ignored it. Dr. Castronova claims that in order to escape from the meanness of the world, some choose to play, and even live, in these virtual communities. I agree that reality is often harsh and not exactly user-friendly. While there exist persons who simply do not make any effort to accomplish anything worthy, there are more of those who are not allowed to. Whether in college or at work, we are all taught to be competitive, but some are more determined than others. In this fight to become number one, one might literally step on somebody else’s dreams and ambitions. I do understand that there is not enough room at top for everyone; some have to win and others have to lose. However, when one succeeds by cheating or destroying others, it is when the real world becomes somehow darker and less appealing.

This situation is not necessarily prevalent at the workplace. There are various other ways to hurt someone that can have a very grave impact. For example, many teenagers refuse to become friends with someone who does not look good enough, or has a different social status, or is just not a cool guy. Who can then blame that person from wanting to find friends that treat him or her as an equal? And this is definitely one of the lures of the multiplayer online games. The documentary shows how four men have been brought together by WOW and made lasting friendships.

Flickr

In the worst case, the addicted gamers believe that there is no hope for the real world, that there really is no one who can make a change in the world. So, by embracing their second skin they are given unthinkable powers and they can actually change the virtual land for the better. They can kill all the monsters, and, thus, they make that place a safer one. Who does not dream to become a famous hero?

Have we reached this stage? Is it really nothing else to be done in the real world to change the current status quo? I do not believe it but this time it is not only up to me. After all, cliché or not, you have to be the change you want to see in the world.