Alternate Reality

The internet truly is a wondrous thing. So is the mind. Both are not all that dissimiliar. Both operate extremely quickly and are virtually limitless, at least in their learning capability. Although I think that storage of information in the mind can be limitless as well.

The mind brought us imagination of unparalleled use. Imagination has brought us innovations and ceaseless new technologies throughout the generations. And now imagination has brought us the internet.

The internet has brought us alternate realities where the mind can use its imagination to roam free and in complete control. In a sense, it's almost like the id is taking over. Online games such as Second Life, WoW, Eve Online and others provide clients with the opportunity to take place in worlds that they never could in reality. For example, in WoW, you can ride a gryphon, learn super healing powers, and fight to the death, over and over again. In Second Life you can be a completely different person from who you are. In Eve Online you can travel through space.

The downside, to me, is that the draw is so powerful, that over time the client gets more and more sucked in. This happened with my brother, who is actually now back in the Marines and is in Iraq (where he won't have access to WoW for many months, I'm sure much to his regret). Different life circumstances eventually led my brother to turn away from reality and submerge himself in the world of WoW. [If you ask him, I'm sure he'll tell you a different story. This is my point of view.] I think that spending 18-20 hours a day or more or going on binges of playing for two or three days straight is far outside of the "norm" for playing time, whatever that is. It got to the point where my brother would skip work or class so that he could play online. Or would rather go play online while he eats dinner than eat with his family. (My brother lived with my husband and I for seven months before leaving for the Marines.) It was very hard to accept.

I inquired as to why, what is that has drawn him so into this alternate world. The answer wasn't exactly what I expected: it's the people. He's been playing with the same group of players for years. Most of these players he has never met face to face, but they know each other so well and I would say so intimately, that strong friendships have formed over the years. I would not be surprised if this group of friends, and others out there like it, have shared deep secrets with each other that the "real" people in their lives don't know about. It's a whole other world, it is quite literally, an alternate reality, with alternate friends who are real people, that one has never met. A world where they can fight together, stand up for each other, be heroes, fall in love, learn unique skills - be a band of brothers (I don't think there are any females in my brother's online clique).

To me, this begs the question of what happened in real life where they cannot forge the same kinds of relationships? Has society become to femine for them? Has the chivalrous hero been lost to history? Is there something to be said for going to war the "old fashioned" way? (By that, I mean like in medieval times.)

And lastly, how to do you get this person back? If they prefer their alternate reality, why would they want to come to back to the "real world"? There is real pain, real love here. How do you get them back?