2nd Life -- Other Worlds

Appeal of Another Reality

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

Q: Dear April Masini,

With my son choosing to spend more time playing virtual reality games, it makes me wonder what is the appeal of these popular games?

Sincerely,

Online Lyn

A:

Dear Online Lyn,

There are lots of reasons that people like to play games and step out of their reality. Some people step out of reality in a normal way. Some step out in a clinical way that is not normal. Some step out temporarily and have no problem getting back into real life, others, like the main character in the movie, The Science of Sleep, a Michael Gondry film, have trouble differentiating between reality and non-reality and getting back into reality. 

This game playing starts very early when children have imaginary friends, or even play dress up, doctor or cowboys and Indians. They step outside of their reality to have some fun -- because their real life is pretty sedate. 

People who undergo trauma -- physical, sexual, emotional -- will take this idea of stepping out of reality to the extreme and create splinter personalities, as in multiple personality disorder, to deal with the trauma that they cannot deal with in their "real" life. This is different from schizophrenia, which is biological in origin. 

Children learn that play time often means having a different world. This inter-personal and intra-personal dynamic does not disappear. In fact, many adults love to play games -- sometimes they create drama in their real lives, and sometimes they play games like board games or virtual world games that allow them to step outside of their everyday life and play. 

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

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