Excuse Me, Do You Accept Monopoly Money?

What has more value: fake money or real money?

Most of you probably said real money, but my experiences have taught me otherwise. Growing up, I observed a strange phenomenon and no matter how much I think about it, I can’t seem to make any sense out of it. Let me lay it out for you.

Video games are great. They’re supposed to be a means of escape from reality because reality sucks. “Life is full of work and I don’t want to work, so I think I’ll play games.” Good so far. Now, some of these games have a currency system built into them (role playing games, or RPGs). That’s fine. What I don’t understand is how for some people the line has blurred and that which was imaginary somehow has become more real than the real world itself.

Why is it that some people feel so much more driven to earn fantasy money than real money? Why are they so much more driven to focus on bettering their characters in a game rather than bettering themselves in real life? It’s gotten to the point where South Korea’s supreme court ruled that virtual currencies are protected just like real money.

Could you imagine how productive the world would be if everyone put the same amount of effort they did playing RPGs into improving themselves or improving society? There probably wouldn’t be any more homeless people. We might even have the cure for cancer. Maybe even both.

Before I go on any further, let me clarify that this post isn’t hating on video games. I bloody damn well love video games. It’s not about video game addiction either. I’m specifically questioning why would people devote more time and effort into developing an in game character rather than developing their own lives. What is it about video games that makes it so much more attractive? And why can’t they take that same energy and apply it to the real world to make themselves better off? I’ve tried to think of a few reasons, but I’m not happy with any of them.

Laziness

I will not blame laziness. Laziness is not a factor. If it were, people would not put in so much time and energy into the video game in the first place.

Video games are supposed to be fun. Grinding (just running around the same area again and again hoping to find some valuable loot) is not. I’ve done plenty of grinding to know how much it sucks. Back in the day I used to play Diablo 2 and 9Dragons for 12 hours a day, doing nothing but farming in-game currency. I wasn’t even really playing the game anymore; I was just watching the number counter go up. After a few years, I eventually grew up and realized this shit was a complete waste of my time. In some games, grinding for loot can be even more monotonous than a real job. The upside of a real job is that at the end of the day you get paid. With a RPG, all you get is a higher electricity bill.

Different Reality

A lot of people play games to get away from reality. I know I do. But sometimes what you end up doing is trading away one set of problems for another. RPG reality also sucks, especially when you first start off. You own absolutely nothing of value and have no friends to boot. You have to work your way up from the bottom. Sort of like real life, no? Interesting psychological phenomenon going on here, escaping one situation only to be placed into a similar one, but instead of real, 3D objects, you have 3D rendering. On top of that you have people that harass you in-game, probably way more than most people would dare to do in real life, since they’re sitting in the safety of their own home, behind a screen, with the anonymity of a username. Then there are the annoying 12 year olds who just won’t shut the hell up.

I suppose there’s the argument that RPGs allow you to embody a character that’s greater than yourself. Maybe. But I’d bet that you yourself would be a whole lot greater if you used the same amount of time improving yourself as you did your character.

Reduced Waiting Time

Video games speed up the passage of time, so maybe people are fulfilling their instant gratification needs. They earn money quickly and are able to make large purchases quickly, something that isn’t easily accomplished in real life.

It may also be because earning money in a video game is a task that does not require much brain power. I’m not saying that it’s easy because it can be very tedious, but for the most part however, there tends to be a set formula. Lather, rinse, and repeat. In real life, it could get a lot more complicated, a lot more unpredictable, which drives people away.

However…

In games with well set up market systems, like Neopets or World of Warcraft, prices prevail just as they would in a real market economy and it ends up taking a very long time to accumulate currency to purchase big ticket items, just like real life. Despite spending half of my day playing RPGs, I managed to accumulate some decent gear and items in game, but I never got to the point where I was considered to be really “rich.”

Ultimately, in most cases, at the end of the day, after the game you are left with nothing tangible. Yet so many people (myself included) are constantly drawn back into that illusionary world. Food for thought.