Video games – The Matrix, version 1?

Gaming no longer takes place just in some dank, musty basement. Gaming is huge. Gaming is mainstream. Gaming in America is bigger than Hollywood, and the game section of Comicon is usually the biggest, loudest and most trafficked. Fighter games. Fun games. Kids games. And especially role playing games, are becoming more and more acceptable in America every year.

But the epidemic of gaming addiction in Korea stands as a stark warning to us. We still do not know how excessive gaming and social media interaction affect young, developing minds. We like to think we multitask better, but studies are showing that we are really just doing more things poorly. We laugh when we are forced to go to google to spell something, and we joke aloud: “Is the internet making me dumber?” The science is still mixed, but given the profound influence this technology has on the world, it’s reasonable to be cautious.

Role playing games, in particular, offer a tantalizing alternative to the ‘real world.’ In the virtual world, you can be who you want to be, do what you want to do and behave how you like. Some players get so caught up in that world that they become addicted. The emotions they feel in the ‘world of bits’ are more powerful than anything they experience in the ‘world of atoms.’ Jobs, relationships, even food become secondary to the lives they lead on ‘the other side.’ These things still occur rarely, but as gaming grows more popular in America, will the addiction grow with it?

In the Matrix, there is a scene where Cypher decided to betray Neo and the rest of the freedom fighters. The real world offers no pleasure to Cypher, only days of fighting, running and dull existence. Even though he knows the Matrix is not ‘real’, he demands to be put back in it. He even tells one of The Agents to make him famous. To some, the ‘fake’ pleasures offered by the virtual world matter more than anything. Video games offer a similar ‘unreal’ experience.

When we play Wi Fit or 2nd Life, are we actually stepping into the first version of the Matrix, without even knowing it?