What happens if the world becomes absorbed in the unreal?

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hydralisk86

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#1 hydralisk86
Member since 2006 • 8845 Posts

I just saw a trailer for the upcoming MMO Star Wars TOR, and I particularly saw the part where characters online can form romantic relationships. The reason I made this thread is because, what happens in the future, people become absorbed in, and obsessed with, the unreal? Like, instead of going outside and interacting with others, you instead stay at home, and form "relationships" with others who aren't even real? What do you guys think? Is it possible that we could become like that in the near future? I think it would be very sad if that were the case. I like my video games, but I don't think I would ever want to go that deep in the unreal.

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xLFTMx

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#2 xLFTMx
Member since 2010 • 987 Posts

No.

Pretty sure the people that are obsessed with such things arent exactly "social" to begin with.

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Wilfred_Owen

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#3 Wilfred_Owen
Member since 2005 • 20964 Posts
Hasn't WOW already covered this?
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hydralisk86

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#4 hydralisk86
Member since 2006 • 8845 Posts

No.

Pretty sure the people that are obsessed with such things arent exactly "social" to begin with.

xLFTMx
I'm saying that it's possible that the unreal will be more appealing to other people, as it becomes more complex. They might prefer to create "relationships" with "people" who aren't even real. I think it's possible.
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hydralisk86

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#5 hydralisk86
Member since 2006 • 8845 Posts
Hasn't WOW already covered this?Wilfred_Owen
Do you form relationships with fake people in WoW? I understand that's a game where you play with real people, amiright?
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thriteenthmonke

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#6 thriteenthmonke
Member since 2005 • 49823 Posts
Some guy "married" a character in a DS game a while ago, so what you've described is already happening.
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hydralisk86

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#7 hydralisk86
Member since 2006 • 8845 Posts
Some guy "married" a character in a DS game a while ago, so what you've described is already happening. thriteenthmonke
Yes, but is it happening at a large scale? We have the occasional oddball who does that...But if things like what I talked about become more widespread, and appealing, I think it's possible you will see more and more of it. TBH a game is a game, but depending on how popular it is, we could see more of it.
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Allicrombie

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#8 Allicrombie
Member since 2005 • 26223 Posts
Some guy "married" a character in a DS game a while ago, so what you've described is already happening. thriteenthmonke
people got virtually married in EverQuest, if I recall correctly.
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hydralisk86

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#9 hydralisk86
Member since 2006 • 8845 Posts
[QUOTE="thriteenthmonke"]Some guy "married" a character in a DS game a while ago, so what you've described is already happening. Allicrombie
people got virtually married in EverQuest, if I recall correctly.

I'm talking about fake people.
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hydralisk86

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#10 hydralisk86
Member since 2006 • 8845 Posts
Like I said, the MMO I talked about could encourage this. I don't know, kind of creeps me out, that something like this could suck you in.
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Wilfred_Owen

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#11 Wilfred_Owen
Member since 2005 • 20964 Posts
[QUOTE="Allicrombie"][QUOTE="thriteenthmonke"]Some guy "married" a character in a DS game a while ago, so what you've described is already happening. hydralisk86
people got virtually married in EverQuest, if I recall correctly.

I'm talking about fake people.

Are you suggesting my gnome was real?
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Allicrombie

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#12 Allicrombie
Member since 2005 • 26223 Posts
Like I said, the MMO I talked about could encourage this. I don't know, kind of creeps me out, that something like this could suck you in.hydralisk86
MMOs are supposed to suck you in, they're huge time sinks.
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hydralisk86

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#13 hydralisk86
Member since 2006 • 8845 Posts
[QUOTE="hydralisk86"]Like I said, the MMO I talked about could encourage this. I don't know, kind of creeps me out, that something like this could suck you in.Allicrombie
MMOs are supposed to suck you in, they're huge time sinks.

Yes, but if it takes the place of real life, like relationships, stuff to do in life etc... I'm not talking about MMOs where you talk with people. I'm talking about interacting deeply in a game that isn't even with real people. For example, there was that move with Arnold Schwartzenegger, where his friend had a holographic "girlfriend," who was just a program, but that guy was really into her. I could provide the example of the guy who refuses to talk with people, because he can interact with other "people" who are little more than a computer program
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thriteenthmonke

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#14 thriteenthmonke
Member since 2005 • 49823 Posts
[QUOTE="Allicrombie"] people got virtually married in EverQuest, if I recall correctly.

Did they have ceremonies in real life? He did.
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thriteenthmonke

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#16 thriteenthmonke
Member since 2005 • 49823 Posts
I thought there was a guy married to a pillow. :|magicalclick
I believe that has also happened.
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hydralisk86

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#17 hydralisk86
Member since 2006 • 8845 Posts
[QUOTE="magicalclick"]I thought there was a guy married to a pillow. :|thriteenthmonke
I believe that has also happened.

i'm not saying that has never happened. I'm asking what do you guys think if it exchanging real life for "virtual reality" became more common? So that it's more accepted?
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ZumaJones07

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#18 ZumaJones07
Member since 2005 • 16457 Posts
The unreal becoming the real? Not likely.
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hydralisk86

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#19 hydralisk86
Member since 2006 • 8845 Posts
The unreal becoming the real? Not likely.ZumaJones07
That's not what I said. I said what if people at a wider scale accept the world that computers can offer over real life.
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KungfuKitten

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#20 KungfuKitten
Member since 2006 • 27389 Posts

We avoid the truth nearly everywhen. We don't have time to think things through, to find out how things really are. We don't have time to know the rules, to know how all taxes really work, or what we should do with our life. There's no time, and often no motivation. Cause life is distracting and taxing enough as it is. We watch TV, take drugs, alcohol, cigarets. Do a lot of things to just get away from things for a while cause it'd be too much.
I think we overestimate how much of the real we can deal with.

So, sure. As games become better i.e. become more to our liking i.e. our ideal situation, paradise, we will find it harder to resist them. I'm sure that x years in the future we will have the world hooked on videogame experiences, the best way to get out of reality for a while.
And then there is another upcoming problem: solipsism. Maybe the most logical alternative to the scientific viewpoint is the idea that everything is at any moment just as you think it is. There's no counterargument, only the probability can be discussed and that is far from clear. I think we will see a huge amount of people trying to convince their brains that something is real, that isn't real right now. Fantastic videogame worlds for example.

All this doesn't have to be bad as it will eventually make us understand the world better, and the things we want.
I also believe that if we ever were to make a near perfect game, something so close to our idea of a paradise, that it would have so much power over humanity that it might inspire us all to make reality alike that gaming world.
Maybe even to stop war forever. Or to let a good version of communism function, in which we are all wealthy, and all have a home, and a job without huge differences between the effort one job takes over another, without competition or top down business structures.

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deactivated-6243ee9902175

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#21 deactivated-6243ee9902175
Member since 2007 • 5847 Posts

This has been going on forever.

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#22 Palantas
Member since 2002 • 15329 Posts

Be sure to eat your Nali healing fruit.

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tenaka2

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#23 tenaka2
Member since 2004 • 17958 Posts

You have to define 'real', if wow characters are deemed unreal (despite existance) then so must TV any anythoer form of communication besides face to face.

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VaguelyTagged

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#24 VaguelyTagged
Member since 2009 • 10702 Posts

not gonna happen,unless they find a way to make you experience the E-sex physically.

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#25 UniverseIX
Member since 2011 • 989 Posts
games and the things people do in games aren't real? that's news to me.
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#26 TheHighWind
Member since 2003 • 5724 Posts

Kyle: Jeremy aren't you going to eat anything?

Jeremy: I've got plenty of food and drink in the game, Kyle.

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#29 gun65
Member since 2004 • 3312 Posts

I highly doubt the average MMO player will give up on finding a real life wife in exchange for a virtual character, considering all you can do with the virtual wife is choose preselected lines to talk to her.

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hydralisk86

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#30 hydralisk86
Member since 2006 • 8845 Posts

I highly doubt the average MMO player will give up on finding a real life wife in exchange for a virtual character, considering all you can do with the virtual wife is choose preselected lines to talk to her.

gun65
I don't know if i remember this correctly, but In that movie The 6Th day, the main character's friend was "doing it" with a holographic woman.
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#31 Necrifer
Member since 2010 • 10629 Posts

Like, literally? Cuz that would be nuts.

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hydralisk86

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#32 hydralisk86
Member since 2006 • 8845 Posts
[QUOTE="gun65"]

I highly doubt the average MMO player will give up on finding a real life wife in exchange for a virtual character, considering all you can do with the virtual wife is choose preselected lines to talk to her.

hydralisk86
I don't know if i remember this correctly, but In that movie The 6Th day, the main character's friend was "doing it" with a holographic woman.

What do you mean? What literally?
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#33 Rickettsia
Member since 2009 • 213 Posts

There is an article about this situation in futurama in the kidnaptser episode. That's what would happen with these unreal relationships. Any way the world is already overpopulated so I think this is a normal way the world's nature is moving this modern society in response to this crisis.

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deactivated-590595a6292ce

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#34 deactivated-590595a6292ce
Member since 2008 • 5080 Posts

They already made a movie about this...

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#35 Gaming-Planet
Member since 2008 • 21106 Posts

Real life > Fantasy life

Losers =/= Fantasy life.