Wednesday, May 31, 2006

of this and virtual worlds

This evening as I took a walk in the puddles of our neighborhood, I was puzzling about why it is that I don't get the same pleasure from the 'realistic' visuals in our world as I do from realistic worlds in computer games like Myst and Riven or to some degree parts of Half-Life 2.

Sometimes I think "If only I could think that this was a computer game, how much pleasure I would get from it, how much fun I would have!" I do love the beauty of creation, but it seems to be a different sort of pleasure that I get from virtual worlds. Perhaps it is simply knowing that they are not real while they seem so magically real.

Or perhaps I too often don't think of the real world as a world brain-stormed, designed, and created to be incredible detailed and...realistic. Perhaps I don't think enough that this world is something that did not have to exist made by someone for the mere pleasure of the people who wander through it.

I think it is when I realize how unnecessary the detail in the world is, I most enjoy it.

I don't know.

2 Comments:

Blogger Susan Hartland Olmstead said...

No, you've got it all wrong dude. Quick! Get in the car, strap on the seatbelt, speed to destination! Efficiently complete task at destination.
Now, it's almost too late! get in the car, strap on the seatbelt, swerve through traffic, grab a meal to-go, reach destination! Play the machine, harder, faster....

6/02/2006 8:51 AM  
Blogger noneuclidean said...

I've had similar thoughts myself. Sometimes, when I am able to recognize that The greatest creative mind made this world, I look at an object, particular one in nature, and ponder how God's imagination created that.

Lately I've been playing Oblivion on my 360 and the visuals are stunning. Everytime I play i'm blown away by something. And in a strange way it actually makes me appreciate the real world more because I find myself going out into nature and thinking, "man, these graphics are awesome."

6/22/2006 5:21 PM  

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