Virtual real life
Who hasn't wondered what it would be like to live another life? What would it really be like to be a singer, a politician, or a footballer?
Philosophers and physicists speculate about parallel universes where other versions of ourselves live perhaps slightly different lives. But here and now we can only ever follow one path. But who else could I be if I'd made different choices?
This fascination was one of the reasons we did a piece on Breakfast about Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. A bit of a mouthful that. More simply these are online virtual worlds where people can be whoever they want to be or do whatever they want to do. (.)
In the virtual world, we looked at one woman who'd always harboured a thwarted ambition to sing and was now playing to sell out virtual crowds in the 'Second Life' game. In her second life her ambition was realised. Some of the 650,000 people 'living' in this particular virtual world were even making a virtual, and, in some cases, real living in the 'game'. One woman was selling virtual shoes in the game and making real money. Soon you'll be able to buy the real versions of her virtual shoes. A real living out of an imaginary world.
One couple had met in 'Second Life' and had married for real. Amazing stuff I think.
I must say the idea of joining the game to fulfil ambitions appeals. I could sing like Johnny Cash or be part of Rafa Benitez's rotation system for Liverpool Football club. Or I could just stick to the real world of reading press releases and Government reports. The fun or the real? Should I go in? Just a bit of fun, a dangerous retreat from reality or just a new way of life?
