18/12: Advertising in Middle-earth
Immersing into realities different from our own is sometimes called escapism because, in part, we do it to escape the stresses and disappointments of everyday life.
We do it with books, movies, and, of course, computer games. These worlds are attractive not only because of the cultural magic they carry along: there are set rules and guidelines that you can follow to reach certain satisfying goals. This is especially obvious with games where the rules are mostly simple, work as expected and are designed to please the consumer (pixel hunting isn’t a rule, so we won’t get into it here.)
As we inevitably surface to return to the real world, the impression of our experience remains with us. And strong impressions which we get in consuming the media of our preference not only stay longer, but also interact with the real world in our minds on both conscious and subconscious levels. We compare the real world against the imaginary world, building parallels and intersections, fantasizing what ifs, and these comparisons often favor the imaginary. (Surely, there are plenty of examples of the contrary, and we yet have to discuss the realistic vs. unrealistic in the imaginary worlds, an important concern for ads weaved into games.)
Such is the nature of virtual reality: you build idealized images when reading books, you are fed with idealized images when playing games and watching movies. Yes, a game with garbage in it looks funny and resembles the real world more. But what a gamer wants isn’t garbage – garbage is plentiful as it is – he or she wants the idealized imagery. Why? Because escapism is voluntary. The despicable run-of-the-mill, glamour, shine of the contemporary media aren’t as bad as some people believe or are lead to believe. Not at all. Were it not for the bloody brain washers, where’d you get your massive doses of escape? One thing a thinking person does is filter the media and the imagery to taste.
The sequence so far: imaginary worlds, escapism, idealized imagery, comparison to the real world. So what spaceships don’t exist? Spaceships are cool. So what immortality is impossible? Elves are cool. So what the new BMW cars are crappy? “NFS: Most Wanted” still kicks ass. You get the idea.
You can read the rest of the article at V-Lodge. Click.
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We do it with books, movies, and, of course, computer games. These worlds are attractive not only because of the cultural magic they carry along: there are set rules and guidelines that you can follow to reach certain satisfying goals. This is especially obvious with games where the rules are mostly simple, work as expected and are designed to please the consumer (pixel hunting isn’t a rule, so we won’t get into it here.)
As we inevitably surface to return to the real world, the impression of our experience remains with us. And strong impressions which we get in consuming the media of our preference not only stay longer, but also interact with the real world in our minds on both conscious and subconscious levels. We compare the real world against the imaginary world, building parallels and intersections, fantasizing what ifs, and these comparisons often favor the imaginary. (Surely, there are plenty of examples of the contrary, and we yet have to discuss the realistic vs. unrealistic in the imaginary worlds, an important concern for ads weaved into games.)
Such is the nature of virtual reality: you build idealized images when reading books, you are fed with idealized images when playing games and watching movies. Yes, a game with garbage in it looks funny and resembles the real world more. But what a gamer wants isn’t garbage – garbage is plentiful as it is – he or she wants the idealized imagery. Why? Because escapism is voluntary. The despicable run-of-the-mill, glamour, shine of the contemporary media aren’t as bad as some people believe or are lead to believe. Not at all. Were it not for the bloody brain washers, where’d you get your massive doses of escape? One thing a thinking person does is filter the media and the imagery to taste.
The sequence so far: imaginary worlds, escapism, idealized imagery, comparison to the real world. So what spaceships don’t exist? Spaceships are cool. So what immortality is impossible? Elves are cool. So what the new BMW cars are crappy? “NFS: Most Wanted” still kicks ass. You get the idea.
You can read the rest of the article at V-Lodge. Click.
