Virtual Reality and Immersive Worlds – A Reality Check

Virtual Reality & Immersive Worlds – A Reality Check Article by Nathalie Strassburg

SHORTCUTS: My Gaming History, Why did I give it up? What happened when I gave it up? Is our world a game too? How do we create the life we want in reality instead? Resources and Articles

My Gaming History

I played massively multiplayer online games (MMOS) like Dungeons and Dragons, Elder Scrolls, Guild Wars, Lords of the Rings, World of Warcraft, and Final Fantasy for many years during my early twenties till late thirties. During my early teens and up until I moved onto MMOS I played the original quest games like King’s Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, as well as Quake, Unreal Tournament and similar games on a computer. Before that I played console games on the television, I do not know at what age it started but we were very young. Gaming became an integral part of my life and it took many years to slowly disconnect until about 38 when I finally pushed through to quit completely. The truth is that I sometimes still miss the games, I loved DDO, the unique characters I created, and the guild, I never deleted my game accounts, but I will not go back because I now love my life, I love my home, and I love living with a greater purpose and deeper fulfillment.

Why did I give it up?

Why did I give it up? Because I realized that the time and energy I was investing in the games I was not investing in creating the life I wanted in our persistent reality. The gaming world is beautiful, exciting, fun, and there can be a real sense of achievement and fulfillment on multiple levels. The gaming world provides a huge escape when we are not truly happy with our daily lives. Gaming became a coping mechanism, an escape, and an addiction for me. Virtual worlds are also reflection of the superficial relationship styles that dominate the current world and they become a way of coping with a lack of real intimate and meaningful relationships.

What happened when I gave it up?

What happened when I gave it up? Over many years I slowly decreased my gaming time and replaced it with drawing, writing, relaxing, contemplating, reading, studying, creating a self-sufficient home, growing a fruit, nut, vegetable and herb garden, and doing everything else that was good for me and made me feel good. I followed my authentic joy to create a life I really love. I have never been happier, healthier, or more grateful for being alive than I am now, and it gets better every year.

Is our world a game too?

Is our world a game too? The more I started contemplating my life, studied new subjects, experimented with ideas, and discovered myself through various methods, the more I realized that life was really like a game. I use many of the skills I learned in the gaming world to help me expand my consciousness because they were the tools I had available and could build on. The skills include playfulness, open-mindedness, consistent personal development, perseverance, self-inquiry, meta-cognition, patience, trust, and determination. I now understand the basics of human psychology and it is clear that we are programmed in our early lives which will determine the life we live unless we choose to expand ourselves into an authentically empowered individual. Most of us have very limiting programming simply from being born into the current world that has significant unhealthy and immature patterns. It takes focus, time, and energy to break free from the limiting programming and create the life we want to live. I really believe that each one of us can live a life we love when we choose to engage this reality in the way we would an immersive game. My life is the evidence I have.

How do we create the life we want in reality instead?

How do we create the life we want in reality instead? Without a conscious choice to expand ourselves our lives will be run by limiting programming from our subconscious minds (habits) that were programmed in our first 7 years of interacting with our parents, caregivers and siblings. Limiting programming is found in traditional school systems, medications, addictions, pleasure seeking activities, jobs we do for money and everything else that comes with the old programming from past generations. Our lives are a printout of our programming. If there is anything in our lives that we are not 100% satisfied with, then it is because of a limiting program running.

The first step is becoming consciously aware of the programs we are running, and the limiting beliefs we have that are governing our lives. The second step is to use whatever tools are available to create new habits that we know will serve us. This is all part of the Process of Transformation that has daily, weekly, and annual cycles that become evident as we walk this intuitive path. To do this most efficiently we can see ourselves as a character in a game and not take all the programming personal, not believe all the things running through our head, and become our own best friend that helps us to achieve self-fulfillment. Self-fulfillment is unique for each of us, each of us have our own innate talents, gifts and abilities that determine what we can become when we are self-empowered individuals.