Self-Titled

I’ve had an idea for a story for a while now that I think would be pretty interesting to write. In the future, a computerized virtual world would be accessible to most people like a utility, much like the internet. Users could interact with the virtual world like a virtual reality game, where your sight and hearing are tuned to the virtual world, not the real one. Its use has become so pervasive that people do many things in the virtual world that are currently done in the real world, such as playing games, meeting people, conducting business, collaborating, performing financial transactions, etc. People from all over the world can access this virtual world. Virtual items are exchanged between users in the virtual world and have real-world values according to average real-world resale prices.

It would be interesting to explore how loyalties, alliances, and power might shift and reform in the virtual world, independent of the real world. Most people from the same country share common feelings of loyalty to their own country. What if you and your next-door neighbor in the real world were secretly members of opposing factions in the virtual world? What if those differences had real-world significance, like support of or opposition to human rights or national sovereignty? Could virtual allegiances lead to a shift in real power?

It would also be fun to explore the role played by the organization, perhaps a company, that created and maintains the virtual world. Do users who obtain and possess items in the virtual world own them in the real world? Is the organization responsible for changes in property values due to changes in the virtual world’s rules or content? Should stealing in the virtual world be a criminal act in the real world? These are some interesting questions that game makers and players struggle to answer even today.

I actually cannibalized this idea for a short story I wrote for a fiction writing class I took last quarter. Instead of focusing on the broader implications of such a system, I narrowed the scope to focus only on two strangers who interact in the real and virtual worlds simultaneously without realizing it. One person is chasing the other in the virtual world. Eventually, they both realize who the other is. Then the other person chases the virtual chaser in the real world.  I still haven’t come up with a good ending to the story.  If anyone has any ideas, please post them!

I finished the game Portal a little while ago. I think it’s one of the best games I’ve played in a long time. The game play is very original and exciting and offers many opportunities to stump us with environmental puzzles and brain teasers. But on top of that, the writers have infused it with a sense of humor I’ve never seen before in a game that totally works. At times it’s subtle and at other times it’s hilarious. The credits are amazing and shouldn’t be missed. But what really surprised me was how well the game works, despite how simple it appears to be on the surface. There’s a moment in the game where you’ve completed the goal put before you at the start and you think everything is over. But the game keeps going. Then a character says a simple, innocent line along the lines of “Put down everything, lay down, and wait to be taken away.” My motivation and attitude completely shifted and suddenly I wanted to do exactly what the game creators wanted me to want to do, without telling me what I should be feeling or what I’m doing next. It’s brilliant, and I’ve never experienced anything like it in a game before. Valve has perfected the art of melding game play, story telling, and perspective in a way I haven’t really seen in any other games, in my humble opinion. They constrain your point of view to the first person and never leave it for cut scenes or flash backs or other points of view. You experience the game through the continuous consciousness of the person you play. Your character never speaks; you have no way to speak or communicate with other characters. The effect is to make you feel like you are there, that you are part of the story and are making important choices that affect the outcome of the game. In short, it amplifies your emotional attachment and immersion, which add to the enjoyment of the experience. In addition, it helps to focus the game experience because anything boring or of low quality is immediately apparent because the player must engage with those things in a way that cannot be completely controlled by the creators. It also forces the creators to develop plot and characters in an interactive, engaging way because it has to happen live in front of the player. You might think a strict first-person perspective might make telling back story contrived or impossible, but Valve managed it brilliantly in Half-Life 2. Portal’s game play is an extension of all of these things and works brilliantly because of it.I highly recommend gamers try this game out.