Video games and reality

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This post is pretty much a copy and paste of what I wrote in another thread but I wanted to see in what kind of light people here see games.

Video games have always been my prime interest and obsession. I can't really recall a time when I didn't spend most of my time awake playing a game. Ever since my brother and I got a SNES for Christmas when I was 5 nothing else has really been as interesting or fun. I've dialed it down a little now that I'm older simply because I have other interests now, like going for long walks, but as early as two years ago I was spending at least 6-7 hours of the day on weekdays and probably 12-14 hours a day during the weekend. This has caused me to miss out on a lot of things in life but I don't regret it. Everything I know I learned from games.

Many frown on this behavior seeing games like nothing but a pointless time spender. But how do you define reality? My thoughts on reality is simply that there isn't a single reality, but as many realities as there are people. Each of their realities are formed by whatever way they choose to perceive the world around them. For this I'll draw upon an example which demonstrates my thoughts.

In the game Persona 3 for the PS2 you play as a standard mute protagonist. He's designed this way so you might shape him as you see fit, according to the games options. Said game makes use of a relationship simulator which ties in with the rest of the game in various ways. When you spend time with these people you get points depending on you answer to their questions, how you act etc and when enough points have accumulated your relationship goes up a level. Five of these said relationships are with women which with whom you can form a romantic relationship. Problem is you can't choose whatever you want to pursue these women for romance or friendship. So if you want to gain the tie-ins these relationships offer you have to become romantically involved with all of them which means that you have to cheat on them.

Each of the relationship are written very well, which gives a sense of reality to them. As such I personally developed a kind of a crush with one of the girls. I perceive the feelings I have for her to be real and as such she herself becomes real to me. This lead me to seriously wonder if I could betray her in the fashion that was needed in order to gain all the tie-ins, which I wanted because it was a game I enjoyed immensely. It felt wrong, and I felt a disdain for having to be forced into that situation. In the end, I decided to pursue the other romances, but I kept the files where she was the only one to remind me of my feelings for her and what I learned.

That's real to me. What's real to you?

Sometimes I like to play videogames too (especially in old retro software of 80s-90s) and was obsessed with them several years ago. But I have never felt that they are reality, may be it because of my ability to write simplistic video game like Tetris and understanding the true nature of computer programs. I like to play strategic game such as Civilization and Master of Orion I. Supaplex, Tetris, CD-MAN, Digger, Sonic 2 etc. are also very funny and attractive.

May be it will be interesting to try to build some relationships in real world after such training in "emulator"? I understand that it is more complicated, difficult and "hackish", but the result is much more interesting and colourful too.

I'm obsessed with video games.

Quoting House MD: "Well, it was certainly a real experience."

Quoting .hack//infection: "Don't you get it? This is the real world!"

Besides, results are secondary. Spending time matters as much as anything else. Unless you're in to all that "heaven"-stuff, of course.

Quoting Disney's Snövit och de sju Dvärgarna (in swedish): "Ho hum, vår sång är dum, den säger ingenting - men vad gör det om hundra år, när allting kommer kring?"

Obviously video games and reality are very different. You don't get people dressed in Space suits with arm cannons shooting, or people using magic in real life.

I play videogames since I was 4, and I'm obsessed with them now.

I remember when I was 15, I was obsessed with Final Fantasy VIII, and I imagined my school was Balamb Garden

Yes, my wife always said I should spend more time in "the real world", but I always had to argue what the difference between the "real world" and a MMORPG is? It's not that I don't see or appreciate the diffence, but she placed no value in the games (despite playing as much or more than me ).

ever think that your whole life is God's video game?
The Simpsons Game addressed that fear in a really hilarious fashion!

Half-Life 2 and Knights of the Old Republic both made me very attached to the characters. Any of you ever played Half Life 2 and both of its episodes? Man, that thing that happened at the end of episode 2 (I won't say what, it's major spoilers) really crushed me. I'm still in shock. I had a lump in my throat as I watched in horror.

Yes, you seem to be getting it.

say you read about a character in a book, and he dies in the last page. And then you learn that an old acquaintance that you barely knew died. Which death would we truly be sadder over? which of those persons were more defined in our minds?

If we define ourselves without others, we take more control over our own personalities to a greater extent than at the whims of a human. We can choose through what we choose to expose ourselves to.

I'd always thought of what it would be like to live in the world of FFVII, Zelda, and others, with the main characters being my friend and going about saving the world and what we'd do after we we're done. Right, now I'd say the Warcraft world seems to be the one that is invoking me the most. I love fantasizing over this stuff, and it's even motivated me to create my own Final Fantasy game, with the characters representing my personality traits and what not.

Reality, for the most part, is little else but a rather bland game with even blander, albeit high quality graphics. There are some things in it that simulations do not approach, of course, but that will eventually change.

I'm an adult and I love playing videogames. I'm not sure if it's an aspie thing but I've been playing them since I was young. Videogames these are especially more interesting and involving then they were in the 80's and 90's. Will I ever stop playing them I don't know. Am I obsessed? Maybe. I do have other interests however but videogames are a big part of my life.

I was really into EQ for a couple of years, before that my main obssesion are reading books (mostly historial in nature even if fictional) and now i play Last Chaos and Twelve sky, very good, free mmorpgs. And like you i spend a great ammount of hours doing this, and I do not regret it at all, makes me rather upset actually when I cannpot pursue either passion. Only thing is I tend to "solo" in the games, i cant stand must people in the sense that the social demands are usually too tirering.

I luv that Dracula game with its series. I had know idea it was years older. The graphics and sounds are great. Then again, I'm a big fan of Dracula.

When I was younger, I used to name places in my city after places in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. (ex: The woods by my house became the Lost Woods, etc.). Even now, the line between real and virtual is rather hazy.