When we are born into this world, we never get to choose the characteristics or the family we are born into. The famous saying is that "you get what you get." For the lucky few they are born with the genes and family wealth that most of us only dream about. But for most of us, we are not special and must work harder to achieve what others are born with. This is not the case when you are talking about the world of online gaming or the virtual world. In the game you and everyone else start at the same level, giving everyone the same odds of succeeding. Granted there are cheaters out there who try to take shortcut by using gold-farmers and power levelers, however in games hard-work surpasses wealth.
The virtual world is the one place where money is not the most powerful commodity. This is one of many reasons why a person could be drawn into the virtual world. You could become the most power avatar in the game, and all you will have to do is put in the hours. Also in the virtual world, with power comes respect and friendship. This all come easier when you are able to control what someone else sees. Having the power to control what people see you as, you and manipulate what people think of you. They are able to remove the barriers of discrimination and prejudice, allowing people to act freely and as their true selves, or even to be someone they are not. The virtual world is a place where people are allowed to restart and control their lives.
The virtual world has become something more than just a game, but rather an online society, with its own laws, currencies, and purpose. Many people turn to these virtual realities in in order to run away from problems of reality because like Jane McGonigal on TED suggested, gamers know the purpose of the game is achievable and that they are not working hard for no apparent reason. Gamers can attain these goals because when playing these games, they have a more positive outlook and know they will receive instant gratification. In games, you are able to reach the maximum level and goal of the games in months' time versus decades in real life. By having these goals and quests, it removes all the ambiguity like in real life. This type of virtual reality brings us both closer and further away from our humanity. Towards end of the film, a couple of disabled people were allowed to "live through reality" via stimulated virtual realities. The stimulation created an imitation of the real world that disabled people were limited to. These gamers feel as if they have been liberated from their bodies and as if they were able to live a normal life through the virtual worlds. Virtual realities also caused some gamers to further themselves from reality. For instance, one gamer named Dan. He spend 14-16 hours days playing games, which overall left him around an hour to do miscellaneous things like eat, bathroom break, and etc. He lost almost everything in his life including his job, relationship, his home and almost his life. After a while he realized he had did not have anything outside of the virtual world; therefore he became very depressed. But, after sometime he was able to get himself together and realized how much of a waste of time games have been.
All this shows is that we need to embrace technologies, but also at the same time be aware of what is happening around us (Haraway 155). Technologies allow us to partake in another stimulated world which may bring us closer or further away from humanity. People may see it as liberation from humanity and create an artificial imitation of the real world, or for other may see it as destruction to humanity. Many people turn to virtual worlds because we have created a reality that people feel unsafe in.
