riot over "playstation 3" (Page 2 of 2)

I started to play World of Warcraft, and it is a fun game.

And to show the extreme effects this video game can have, along with a little bit of laughter see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8YpHtFS-GI

I agree with what's being said, although, like most things it is all about balence and discipline, and for me I have actually learned something from that game.  I think that games can teach us more about this game that we are playing, in other words the game on Earth.  For example, I've been into hockey ever since I was growing up and I've been noticing that the younger generations have been playing the games on their respected systems, and when they go to the rinks in the winter they are able to preform the tricks that were emulated in the game.  I think games are pushing our imaginations to greater hights - in some cases.  But alas, it has been taken to the extreme, but then again, it is a personal choice, so I am grateful that I have not fallen into the extreme, but am glad that we do have video games, because without them I could see more people turning over to alcohol and drugs and other forms of escapism.

What's interesting about World of Warcraft is its shear popularity.  It currently has something like 7.5 million subscribers, that is massive for any medium - let only a niche online game.  With subscription fees in the range of $10+ per month that is a annual turnover of $900 million.

By the middle of next year, Warcraft will become the largest grossing entertainment medium of any format in history.  That means it will have taken more money than any movie franchise, any product such as the iPod, and out grossing any multi-million selling album (including the likes of Elvis Presley).

Now when you consider that the game and genre is still more or less a niche, and that the majority of people will have barely heard about it - then it is fantastic sums of money.  But what is generating such interest?  Are people really that desperate to escape this world and enter another?  I think it maybe difficult for people to understand the allure of this sort of thing if they haven't experienced it for themselves.  What appears as an average "game" literally take on a whole new level once the imagination is applied.

Experiences within these worlds can leave one feeling that those experiences were real.  People will scoff at that (in fact I can hear them doing so as they read), and people will say "But it isn't real, it's just escapism / un-important / control"

But the thing is, whilst it most certainly isn't real - the mind will remember it as being real.  The closest association I could make for people to relate to would be - think of a very vivid dream; it is like the recollection of such a dream, minus memory of any sensations.

It is totally an other worldly experience.  But then added into that are addiction trends, fashion concepts and all the control manipulations available within the real world.

People talk about gadget geeks with their iPods; there is a joke about it in the Pod People thread - i, Pod.  It is very apt.  Now extend that sort of product marketing; the manufactured belief that such an item is an important necessity (just like the whole craze around cell phones) and import that into a virtual world.  The levels that this can be taken to far exceed what is occurring in the real world; and this is one of the most vital things that keeps people hooked and coming back for more.

Lyra talks about her friend escaping this reality, into the game.  But what will he be doing in that game?  He will be on an endless treadmill to "improve" himself, repeating the same tasks over and over endlessly, to gather money, improve his possessions, increase in rank (being promoted), looking cool in front of his online friends by means of gathering (virtual) material wealth and so on.  It is in every way a copy of the manufactured system we live in.  Only it has been taken to such extremes that it is way, way beyond what we see on a day to day basis.

Before Warcraft there was a game called Everquest, instead of millions of subscribers this game had a few hundred thousand.  It was built on the same principle of material accumulation whist running on a daily treadmill.  The turnover within the games virtual economy - when based on an exchange rate with real world currency (US Dollars; based on the value of virtual wealth brought with real world currency) - showed that the games economy matched that of a third world nations yearly GNP.  As far as I know this sort of comparison hasn't yet been done with Warcraft and its millions of players.

Add into this, business models that are being set up that operate with one arm in these virtual worlds and the other in the physical world - then what is developing is totally fascinating.  (As well as worrying; think of the implications!!!)  As I mentioned before what is occurring with these games hasn't yet been fully recognised, not on a physical level, nor an economic level.  That aside, it's impact hasn't even been widely considered in metaphysical and spiritual circles.

As the technology grows though, it will become apparent to more and more people what is actually happening here.  For now though, most people are pretty blind to it because of the veil that these games get to hide behind.  i.e. one of un-important distraction etc.  Maybe it's similar to how TV and the Internet started of.  A few knew what was developing and what those things would become, most though really weren't paying attention.

That's yet another area of where these things are running.  People spend a lot of time looking where military technology is secretly applied.  Yet there is this tech out there right in front of everyone’s eyes.  It is behavioural altering - potentially far more so than TV - due to the ability of interaction and feedback.  Yet it is seemingly ignored.  It has great applications as you mention when applied in the right ways.  Though it seems to be that in order to be posititive, it requires a good level of personal discernment and judgement.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the next-generation of games like Warcraft come along boasting far more realism and end up attracting 70+ million customers.  Maybe when a single one of these virtual worlds ends up with a larger population than a real world country, more people will finally wake up to what is actually occurring here...

Some video games can expand your mind.

Pre-Sentient Algorithms
Begin with a function of arbitrary complexity. Feed it values,
"sense data". Then, take your result, square it, and feed it back
into your original function, adding a new set of sense data.
Continue to feed your results back into the original function ad
infinitum. What do you have? The fundamental principle of human
consciousness.

        -- Academician Prokhor Zakharov,
           "The Feedback Principle"

The Academician appears to be saying that consciousness is a chaos function. What he has not considered is that it may also be indeterminate and thus non-local.