Machine constructed dreams – surely there is something better?
Science Fiction writer Ray Bradbury - a man who spent a good deal of time thinking about the woes and wonders that technological progress has conjured up - had this to say about 'Space Invaders', 'Pac Man', 'World of Warcraft' and their ilk: 'Video games are a waste of time for men with nothing else to do'.
Go on, admit it - there are many of you who think exactly the same. Well, perhaps not exactly. Any female of the species, who's dedicated many a minute to beating their high score on Angry Birds, will know that it's not all about the guys. And as long as we keep assuming video games are something that people do in the hours outside of work, that they're simply a pastime for those with nothing else to do, we won't wake up to the truth of what's happening around us.
Computer games are reshaping reality for the masses.
There are more than six million people in China who spend 22 hours-a-week gaming. And when it comes to active gamers - those who spend, on average, 13 hours-a-week playing games, whether it's on smartphone, console or PC, we're looking at 100 million people in Europe alone. And in the US, there are at least 5 million 'extreme gamers' who play an average of 45 hours-a-week. This is no pastime. No wonder that next year it's predicted that computer gaming will become a $68 billion industry.
What's the appeal? It boils down to this: when it comes to our current existence, video games are even better than the real thing. We're talking digital salvation here, digital transcendence. As Jane McGonigal, game designer and futurist, puts it 'Where in the real world is that gamer sense of being alive, focused and engaged in every moment?'
Where, indeed?
In a pew on a Sunday morning?
This is, in part, why the church is diminishing in the West: there has never been a better alternative to the benefits offered by religion than those proffered by entertainment technology. And these are offered wholesale, at little cost. No need for the death of the ego, all that's required is surrender to machine-constructed dreams, where you can run your own cosmos.
Life, and life to the full, can now be found online with a tribe of friends, tearing down evil empires and constructing fantastical avatars. In reality, however, the church surely has something even better to offer...
Doesn't it?,
Author: Jason Gardner
Copyright LICC and reproduced by kind permission. To receive LICC’s inspirational bi-weekly emails called Word for the Week and Connecting with Culture, email mail@licc,org,uk
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