There are many interesting analogies we could use for video games in real life, and modern society. However ultimately, I still believe that embodied reality is far superior than video game reality.

Would you rather be the strongest video game character and be morbidly obese, or to be the strongest power lifter in real life, albeit poorer?

No matter how epic you are in a video game, I will always find embodied reality physical strength 1 trillion times more impressive. For example, I will still find it much more impressive for the power lifter to deadlift over 700 pounds, than the number one StarCraft player in the world with 1 trillion actions per minute.

Video games are a meritocracy, and is that not a good thing?

The Interesting appeal about video games is this: it is the ultimate meritocracy, that is, your self-worth is based on your skill, rather than your social economic background.

For example in the book ready player one, the main character is just a kid who lives in a trailer slum, and through his own personal ingenuity and skill, he becomes number one in the virtual reality oasis.

What appealed to me about the book was this: the Virtual reality oasis was the ultimate democratic platform. Maybe this is the same concept with Facebook and Instagram, that is, everyone is using the same platform, and everyone wants to become number one.

Of course, with social media the playing ground isn’t quite fair either. For example if you are already famous, certainly you will have more followers than somebody who starts off with nothing. for example, the BLACKPINK member Lisa will ultimately have much more social media followers than other people, because she is already famous as a musician and a star.

A society of skill?

Certainly when it comes to video games, there might be a tiny advantage in having a better keyboard and mouse, but the difference isn’t much. Maybe 5% advantage.

Thus perhaps the ideal of video games this: skill trumps everything.