Quote:
Originally Posted by Ledgem
The real world may not be boring, but there's another reason why fantasy worlds are more appealing. When it comes to games and movies progression happens quickly. Want to be an ace swordsman in a game? Battle a few monsters and increase your level, or if it's a different type of game, work on memorizing combos and increasing your reaction time. In the real world? Aside from the fact that swordplay doesn't matter too much, you're looking at years of training - both in swordsmanship and in athletic training - and a lot of physical pain to work through. And unlike a game, where you can pick it up and start from where you left off even years down the road, you need to keep at things in reality. Train hard so that you can run five miles, and then stop running for a year? Welcome back to level 1.
There's also the aspect of travel. In a game like Pokemon you can easily go all over the game world, moving where you want, when you want. This type of game is particularly alluring to children who have no way to get around easily on their own. At this point you can go wherever you want, but it's going to cost you. You also have responsibilities that prevent you from just getting up and moving around on a whim.
Ah, yes. And each city and town doesn't have its own theme song  |
No one likes working hard, but I think there's a reason why most people won't use cheat codes in a video game to skip to the final level. People have an inherent desire to feel like they've accomplished something through their skill and effort. Once one appreciates the magnitude of the world we live in, then it should follow that they aspire to 'level up' here too. Of course, this isn't as black and white an argument as saying our world isn't boring - some people will still choose the fantasy environment for the reasons you mentioned - but I think many people, at least in their adult life, want to accomplish something with their lives; want to feel like they've done something in this world. I will admit that when you're a kid and you're incapable of doing this, though, escapist games are pretty empowering in that regard.
(Also, call me unrealistic, but I'd like to accumulate enough money to travel about with ease. That's my goal right now anyways.
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