Reality to Fantasy or Fantasy to Reality?  Either Which Way Can Give Satisfaction to a Player Entering Cyberspace

Ma. Carmina Felizco

The World of the Cyberspace (Casual Fridays, 2006)

Violence had been driving crowds of spectators ever since funeral games in ancient Greece brought thunders of approval, as seen in ‘Iliad’.  The chariot race and the Olympia from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean coast of Spain drew crowds of visitors that brought the sacred games to the forefront of the world’s most distinguished events.   

At this contemporary period, however, spectators do not merely wish to see the spectacle of the event but to experience the event itself in a play that transforms them to actual players of the game.  Just like what was reflected in the statement of Johann Heinrich Krause, who wrote about the Olympia and its Greek spectators, playing video games affects the players in the same way that spectators of the Olympia experienced:

“They were impelled unconsciously to move their hands, to raise their voices, to jump from their seats, now with the greatest joy, now with the deepest pain.” (Guttmann, 1998, p.9)

These effects are the same ones that are being experienced by players of the video game.  It brings ecstasy with the advent of seeing people face dangerous stunts and adventures (e.g., chariot race), not to mention the order and the uproar, the hedonism and restraint, the pleasure and difficulty, the life and the death.
According to Jongsuk Ham, writer of the article ‘The Fantasy of Masculinity in a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game’, the role of the cyberspace in the mind of male players can be reflected in the following:


“Cyberspace certainly… [performs by] leaving the proper body behind and floating in the immaterial.  But who is adrift in the data stream?  All identity is lost in the matrix, where man does not achieve pure consciousness, final autonomy, but disappears on the matrix, his boundaries collapsed in the cybernetic net.” (Plant, 1993, p.13)   

It is as if the player exits the mainstream of the physical body and enters another being that is stronger, tougher, more heroic and perfect.  Fantasy becomes a reality, as the spectator becomes the active player of the game.  Things that were merely a dream become a flash of reality that could excite the spirits and control the body in such a way that they “move their hands… raise their voices… jump from their seats… with the greatest joy… with the deepest pain” (Guttmann, 1998, p.9). 

Playing violent video games is like living up to the elements of fantasy and recreating the self and the world to come up with a story that indulges the self to thoughts and acts of masculinity, of heroism,

and of fantastic strength and bravery.  Certain illusions bring utmost satisfaction and pleasure, driving crowds of youngsters to play a game that recreates reality and offers intuitive migration in the synthetic world of the cyberspace.  The experience, according to Edward Castranova (2005), is one that relies on experience:

“Whether the synthetic world grows does depend on the nature of experience within it, but, critically, it also depends on the nature of experience here on Earth.  People will go where things are best for them.  It is an issue of migration.” (Castranova, 2005, p.71)

Take, for example, the survey conducted by Ham that showed how 61% of Filipino players of the game Avatar regarded their players as themselves, while 45% of them did not consider playing opposite-sex avatars (since they regard their players as themselves).  More so, about 65% of Filipino players in the survey (the other of which are the Koreans) preferred same-sex characters, with about 21% of them having been negative about other players who took the role of opposite-sex avatars (Ham, 2008, p.13).  This only proves how players, especially in the Philippines, take the role of their characters, whether the game portrays violence.  For them, nothing is more extravagant and rewarding than having to play in reality, the role of a splendid hero. 

     Playing in cyberspace gives satisfaction and ecstasy to a player that longs to experience both fantasy and reality.  In cybernetic space, the body migrates to a creature or character that gives fulfillment, on the goal of going through the adventures that only true heroes are worthy of experiencing.  Thus, a feeling of masculinity and valor enters the realm of consciousness, leaving behind a mind that seeks places where the best can be found.  True, in the issue of migration, the first step rests in seeking satisfaction.

References:


Castranova, E. (2005). Synthetic worlds: the business and culture of online games. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Casual Fridays. (2006, April 28). Retrieved September 18, 2008, from <http://armchairgeneralist.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/04/>.
Guttmann, A. (1998). The appeal of violent sports. In Jeffrey Goldstein’s Why we watch: the attractions of violent entertainment. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Ham, J. (2008). The fantasy of masculinity in a massive multiplayer online role-playing game: a comparison of Philippine and Korean experiences. (presented at the 8^th ASEAN Inter-University Conference, Manila, May 2008).  Retrieved September 12, 2008, from the MMS 100 Final Project database: <http://sites.google.com/a/upou.edu.ph/mms-100-final-projects/topic-1>. 
Plant, S. (1997). Beyond the screens: film, cyberpunk and cyberfeminism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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