Pretending that life is a video game

[UberScout]

Life is a difficult thing to live in. Its painful, annoying, aggravating and there are things that are constantly out of our control.

But then there are video games, playable worlds that create their own rules and space, that we can explore and see. These worlds aren't our reality and that's okay. We need a break from life sometimes.

But now video gaming had evolved from mashing buttons and twirling analog sticks to actually using our hands to fire guns, pull levers and push buttons, cook tasty food for hungry customers etc.

What if our lives were like that? Just for a moment can we imagine what life would be like as a VR game where all our calendars, calculators and Facebook status were in holographic monitors that came from our phones or maybe wrists? Where getting home or to a doctor's appointment or the store was as simple as pulling up a floating map and fast traveling to and from those places?

I know it sounds funny to imagine life this way. But ever since I discovered video games I always chose virtual reality as a "visualizer" for life, and it's allowed me to understand everything better. I'm still aware of the realism of real life but this is how I choose to see the world because its comfortable and safe for me.

 

[Aspychata]

Sometimes l feel like Mario overcoming obstacles and l get rewards at the end of my idiot day for not reacting, or being proactive, l give myself rewards for being proactive. Saying no, or get loss, or can l speak to the manager. Not going to put up with bad service at a bank.

 

[Crossbreed]

Pretending life is a VR game to cope with life in general.

Just watch out for those glitches...!

 

[Judge]

I know it sounds funny to imagine life this way.

Not when you've seen the movie.

 

[Crossbreed]

Not when you've seen the movie.

(Vincent D'Onofrio looks so different.)

Here is a little theme music for this thread,...

Matrix Midi

 

[Sabrina]

Life is like a video game, if you are still alive, you're winning.

 

[Wolfsage]

Life is a difficult thing to live in. Its painful, annoying, aggravating and there are things that are constantly out of our control.

But then there are video games, playable worlds that create their own rules and space, that we can explore and see. These worlds aren't our reality and that's okay. We need a break from life sometimes.

But now video gaming had evolved from mashing buttons and twirling analog sticks to actually using our hands to fire guns, pull levers and push buttons, cook tasty food for hungry customers etc.

What if our lives were like that? Just for a moment can we imagine what life would be like as a VR game where all our calendars, calculators and Facebook status were in holographic monitors that came from our phones or maybe wrists? Where getting home or to a doctor's appointment or the store was as simple as pulling up a floating map and fast traveling to and from those places?

I know it sounds funny to imagine life this way. But ever since I discovered video games I always chose virtual reality as a "visualizer" for life, and it's allowed me to understand everything better. I'm still aware of the realism of real life but this is how I choose to see the world because its comfortable and safe for me.

Be careful with blending the two. Reality hurts when it hits you.

For me going into hyperspace at will would be awesome.

 

[Misery]

Just watch out for those glitches...!

I tell ya though, when it comes to actual VR glitches, there's nothing quite like finding yourself inside of a wall or half buried in the floor.

Be careful with blending the two. Reality hurts when it hits you.

A lot of people discover this very fact the hard way when using actual VR equipment for the first time. They're only gonna try sprinting through that "open door" to avoid the demons exactly once. I mean hopefully they dont do it at all, but many do.

This is why I stand near someone who is trying it out (so I can catch them if they fall or start flailing) and I dont let them do anything "exciting". VR is only virtual until you faceplant into that totally real table, or punch your "not actually a zombie" grandma.

 

[UberScout]

One way to cope:

You sit at your desk, tentatively tapping the end of a pen on your blank journal pages. Your mind races to find an entertaining activity; Vectorman stays paused in mid-air on your television, but with only built-in games and no extra ones via cartridge, the 78-or-so games on your favorite childhood console appear to have worn their variety out, so that option is eliminated for now. Your journal waits for some creative juices to flow, but no matter what you think of, you realize you've used it all before and as such that too, is worn out. Your phone now has that MS-DOS emulator with Thomas M. Disch's success story of Amnesia, in text adventure form, and yet that damned locker room puzzle still rides against the grain to you...

You ponder and ponder; what is a poor young Aspie to do in such a conundrum where a laptop containing your most ambitious game project is alas, locked away behind the capture of a pawn shop's hard drive repair software, lead to battle against low disk space and "ghost lag" as they called it, by a USB cable, as though the poor thing were a helpless, bedridden patient under the spell of an untimely coma.

With no way to add to your endless world made of text from a Z-Machine Interpreter, and therefore no way to ensure that your adventure in a lucid dream is yet set to come to life, you begin to clamor internally, for a way to occupy yourself while the sands of time continue to ride the wind...

It's a mystery not even Sherlock Holmes, Phoenix Wright, Agent Gibbs or any detective could solve...

 

[Skittlebisquit]

One way to cope:

You sit at your desk, tentatively tapping the end of a pen on your blank journal pages. Your mind races to find an entertaining activity; Vectorman stays paused in mid-air on your television, but with only built-in games and no extra ones via cartridge, the 78-or-so games on your favorite childhood console appear to have worn their variety out, so that option is eliminated for now. Your journal waits for some creative juices to flow, but no matter what you think of, you realize you've used it all before and as such that too, is worn out. Your phone now has that MS-DOS emulator with Thomas M. Disch's success story of Amnesia, in text adventure form, and yet that damned locker room puzzle still rides against the grain to you...

You ponder and ponder; what is a poor young Aspie to do in such a conundrum where a laptop containing your most ambitious game project is alas, locked away behind the capture of a pawn shop's hard drive repair software, lead to battle against low disk space and "ghost lag" as they called it, by a USB cable, as though the poor thing were a helpless, bedridden patient under the spell of an untimely coma.

With no way to add to your endless world made of text from a Z-Machine Interpreter, and therefore no way to ensure that your adventure in a lucid dream is yet set to come to life, you begin to clamor internally, for a way to occupy yourself while the sands of time continue to ride the wind...

It's a mystery not even Sherlock Holmes, Phoenix Wright, Agent Gibbs or any detective could solve...

Wouldst thou alleviate thine boredom with folly and frolic then?
Know this welle young man and hold it dear, for it is the earnest truth, i believe.

Portal 2 is the greatest video game of all time.

 

[Varzar]

Portal 2 is the greatest video game of all time.

But.. the unexpectedness of Portal 1...

Still can't believe there was no cake...

 

[UberScout]

Wouldst thou alleviate thine boredom with folly and frolic then?
Know this welle young man and hold it dear, for it is the earnest truth, i believe.

Verily, tis truth in all ways, but alas, folly and frolic fly out of my reach, for thine village I dwell upon feeds the walking feet of urchin and cutpurse alike, and forthwith thy family has warneth me to not embark from ye cobbled home, lest I be ran through with some unruly blade.

Nevertheless, I thank ye for such an idea.

 

[Skittlebisquit]

Portal I say young whippersnapper!
Inquire of thine associates and say it thusly;

Humbly I beseech Thee, mine efforts are confined to these humble quarters, weary of the world of men am I. Have a heart, send me the disk for my console in a padded mailer, forthwith!

When fortune again favors the bold I will tap you back with my my venmo, or paypal but for this day, I must play Portal, on this fair measure and your decent charity doth mine own sanity even rely. Have a heart and front me the disk, that I may duel in earnest with the great Glados in the darke and spooky layers of Aperature Science!

 

[UberScout]

Portal I say young whippersnapper!
Inquire of thine associates and say it thusly;

Humbly I beseech Thee, mine efforts are confined to these humble quarters, weary of the world of men am I. Have a heart, send me the disk for my console in a padded mailer, forthwith!

When fortune again favors the bold I will tap you back with my my venmo, or paypal but for this day, I must play Portal, on this fair measure and your decent charity doth mine own sanity even rely. Have a heart and front me the disk, that I may duel in earnest with the great Glados in the darke and spooky layers of Aperature Science!

Eh? Ye sayest thou wouldst aide me in mine quest to repel the inky mist of boredom? Mine throughest apologies but I cannot seem to deduct if ye speak in serious tongue or nay. But fear thee nay, I do not expect thy hand to feed penny and coin to my starving purse; such wouldst be trespassing upon thy offers of friendship, and thus by asking such I may risk offense of thee. Nevertheless, thou art most verily generous and of golden kindness, friend! Just that ye simply speaketh of such offering is suffice to seal my trust of ye.

Fie, doth mine ears hear the call of yon microwave, prepared off my morning fast breaking? Pardon me.

 

[tkcartoonist]

A popular theory that's been floating around for some time is that reality is a simulation, akin to a video game or the Matrix. It's some out there stuff, but it can make sense if you compare reality to how an open-world/MMO game is designed and structured.

 

[Varzar]

@Skittlebisquit, @UberScout - I'm not sure I'm following all the Shakespearean speak so well, and I'm not going to try to write that way, cause it will take me forever to form a sentence like that.. lol However, if either of you are interested in playing some games online sometimes, I'd be down for that.
Send me a PM if you're interested, we can see what games we all might like.

Presently, I've been downloading Sea of Thieves again to try out some of the new content they recently added. Yarr!

 

[UberScout]

@Skittlebisquit, @UberScout - I'm not sure I'm following all the Shakespearean speak so well, and I'm not going to try to write that way, cause it will take me forever to form a sentence like that.. lol However, if either of you are interested in playing some games online sometimes, I'd be down for that.
Send me a PM if you're interested, we can see what games we all might like.

Presently, I've been downloading Sea of Thieves again to try out some of the new content they recently added. Yarr!

Have you played Port Royale 3? Maddog let me play it on PlayStation Now (read: free PS4 games library for a whole month) and i liked it. It's not mindblowing gameplay, but you'll get hooked if you play long enough.

 

[Varzar]

Have you played Port Royale 3? Maddog let me play it on PlayStation Now (read: free PS4 games library for a whole month) and i liked it. It's not mindblowing gameplay, but you'll get hooked if you play long enough.

I haven't. But I added it to my Steam wishlist now. Maybe I'll pick it up at the Halloween or Winter Sales.
I looked at Port Royale 4 as well, but it looks like that one doesn't have such good reviews.