Disclaimer: I started writing this about 2 weeks ago, and you can very easily where I stopped and didn’t pick it back up for a while. I had a point, but grew bored. =\
I’ve come to the conclusion that one of two things is going on in the world: either video games are mimicking life, or … more worrisome, life is mimicking video games. Let me explain.
It was a long time ago that I was cohered into playing Ultima Online. I have always been a gamer, casual at best for the most part, never very into it, but this game immersed me somehow like no other game could. This was a virtual world, with other players across the globe, all playing the same game at the same time in the same universe. Every person working to shape the way the world worked, beyond simple hack and slash mechanics of games I had played.
Real people had replaced AI as I strolled down Trinsic’s Cobblestone road, carrying on varied conversations that weren’t scripted, movements that could vary. People rode by me on horses in fine garments that showed of riches that could be mine if I put in the time and the effort. I could be anything I wanted to be as I could train in any amount of skills, but I could only excel if I practiced. A quick jog through town introduced me to shops that sold everything I could need regardless of whatever I chose to do. No one told me where to go, no one told me what to do. There was no objective, no goal. The idea of the game was simply to …exist.
The town was cool, but there had to be more to the game, to the world I had been thrust into, and as such, I made my way out the gates with no practical knowledge of what I was going to run into. Of course, I ran into your critters and your monsters, and was able to dispatch them, but then other things caught me off guard.. Houses! Owned by players! And then I happened upon someone else, and as I followed him around for a short time, when we came across 2 other players, one was red. To my horror, the 2 new players quickly dispatched the one player I was following around! Murder! By other players! I was allowed to run away as the other players looted the corpse. Amazing!
Throughout my 3 year “career” in Ultima Online, I learned the knacks, trained myself, earned gold, set up a vendor where I was successful in selling rare in game items, owned the 2nd largest housing structure in a coveted space, along with other various high profile properties. I made powerful contacts, amassed a high amount of wealth, and became a player in the game people recognized.
In a game that had no objective, no goal, no beginning and no end, I learned a lot of skills I can apply in life. I became an entrapaneur, and a go to guy for items. This is a pretty good example of games reflecting life. Housing, economics, working, etc was all a big part of the way I chose to play. I feel I’ve gotten a big dose of understanding the world through my experience.
However, now the tables have slightly turned, and I noticed an odd kind of twist in reality. Let me explain. I was sitting at work, checking my bank accounts, setting up new high interest checking/savings accounts, and filling out direct deposit forms. It struck me as ironic that now, so far removed from Ultima Online, I was still essentially playing with numbers. In virtually any online multiplayer game, you perform tasks to get gold to buy things. Now, granted this is how things have worked for, well, virtually ever, but the thing that struck me as odd is that I haven’t really handled cash in a very long time. I mean, I have $10 in my wallet, and have for a while, but rarely do I see the green paper. In the game world, you need to earn gold, which, really, is nothing more than making a specific number higher by doing things. When that number is high enough, you can trade it for stuff. Again, I know, nothing new, but as I sit here pondering… I come in, do my 9-5, and at the end of 2 weeks, the number in my bank account goes up. When I buy things, that number goes down. My goal then, is to make that number go up faster than it goes down, and as I’ve proven unequivocally in UO, I have the necessary skill to succeed. Can that translate into the real world?
