Meet me half-way

After watching the video shown in class, and reading the excerpts from Culture jam, I was exposed to a different world I had never really even knew existed.  This world was far different from my life here on earth. This world took place in different worlds, different times, with Dragons, villages, and renaissance themed clothing. People became wizards, goblins, and faeries. This, was the world of MMO Gamers. People sat idly at computer screens, absorbed into a different dimension, not even moving sometimes to use the restroom. Now, as someone who is incredibly social, and active, this type of behavior is mind-boggling to me. I could never sit in front of a computer screen for 6-7 hours a day. But, I also am not shy, and fit in easily at school. These people, these “gamers” come from the other side of the playing field. They use this different world, as an escape from whatever holds them down in reality. In these games, they recreate themselves without all the traits that before, had disabled them from fitting into our society. Many of the people interviewed in the video mentioned this. They appreciated the choice to make their own identity, the choice they don’t have in real life. Now, as much as I disagree with the idea of a “New virtual frontier”, I have to keep these people in mind. To them it’s real, fun, enjoyable; something they choose, and like to do. While we don’t value these identities, other people do and will continue to.  

 In the documentary, they introduce a man named Dan. Unlike these other people we hear about, that are freed by gaming, Dan’s story takes an unfortunate turn for the worse. He became obsessed, and addicted to World of Warcraft. This leads to depression, the loss of his job, distance from his friends, a foreclosure on his house, weight gain, and suicidal thoughts. He made his gaming experience his first priority, and tried to become the character he was playing on his game.  This is the type of thing that worries me, when people talk about the “new virtual frontier”. Although, most people don’t develop such an excessive addiction, it still happens and will linger into the future. I think that instead of, in Lasn’s words, “meeting machine halfway’; we need to meet each other half way. Our society needs to be more acceptable and less judgmental. This would greatly reduce the need for these people to escape the harassing and constant judgment of being different from what’s “acceptable”. The truth is, every single person on this earth is different, and should be entitled to live any way they want.