I used to play video games a lot in my former life. I didn't play many RPGs because they take so long to finish. But I did play a few, as well as adventure style games with RPG elements and interactive game modes.
Some games ask you -- or force you -- to make choices in order to progress in the storyline. There are often multiple endings to the game that can result from various decisions made throughout gameplay. Some decisions are relatively benign for some games, while others revolve around two main paths: good or evil.
When I used to play games, I mostly chose to do positive or neutral actions, and rarely did negative choices that would tip my character towards the evil spectrum. I understand how some people like to simulate choosing evil choices in a fictional unreal virtual reality, even though it's not really them doing anything wrong to anyone else, but why choose that path anyways? Is it only to play through the whole game in another storyline to get another ending?
I ask this because, how really do things need to get before the actions and choices we make are a reflection of who we truly are? What if, instead of a virtual avatar character we act through, there was a game that we ourselves were the character?
I was watching Westworld with my girlfriend and this question arises when one guy's brother-in-law brings him to the park to experience the game. His brother-in-law tells him that the game will bring out who he really is, to show him who he really is. I found this quite telling of how all games can potentially bring out who we really are.
Later we the brother-in-law act in bad ways, stabbing a drunk in the hand, being rude to to host robots AIs, and engaging in debauchery with robot whores. While the main guy is excusing himself for bumping into AI robots; he helps a drunk out of the mud who fell off a wagon; refuses to have sex with a robot AI because he loves someone for real in the real world; and is deplored and shocked at his brother-in-law stabs the drunk at the bar for bothering him.
The park in Westworld is within the real world, but the host AIs are programmed not to harm the guest humans that go there to do what they want. It's like having the "god" code in a video game, where you can't be killed but get to do as you please, for good as a hero for example, or for evil as a villain. The choices and actions that people make in this real-world park game of Westworld show who they really are.
When you are in a virtual reality where you can't have negative consequences applied to your real world life, or when you do thing in the real world where negative consequences can't be applied to you in your real life, the choices, actions and behavior you engage in will demonstrate who you really are.
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Do you choose good or evil?
Is it ok to screw people over just because it's a game? If it would be, then why is it not ok to do so in sports games? Why would it be ok to do in a virtual reality? Aren't our choices a reflection of who we are?
What do you think? Do games where you have a choice to do good or evil truly reflect upon who you are? Or is it all insignificant just because it's a game? What if you played a game like Westworld, where it was literally you making choices and actions through your own body and behavior, rather than a virtual avatar character that you act through? Would that make things different? If so, why? Why do your choices change if you are acting through someone or something else (like in a video game) vs. your real life body in a game like Westworld?
I would like to hear what people think of this aspect of who we are as being reflected in our game actions. Please share your thoughts :)
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
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