Thread: A discourse on Vicarious Living

Yeah there's no question that as long as we have needs in our actual life, delving too deeply into a vicarious life is dangerous. I'm sure you heard about the korean couple whose baby starved to death because they were so caught up in a virtual baby raising game. There's other frightening stories, such as people who starved to death or people who killed themselves after their virtual character was deleted. I think there's even one school shooting relating to a guy's deleted everquest account.

And who can forget the kid who tried shoving the remote up his ass in a ballistic rage when his brother deleted his WOW account?

But that's an intense level of addiction, one we can safely assume you're not referring to. I think the film surrogates is a good example of the lesser known danger of a vicarious life, which is a loss of self-esteem. The less one cares for their own life, the less confident they feel about it, and the farther they delve into their vicarious life. The farther they delve, the less they upkeep their own life. This vicious cycle can be inescapable, people get to the point where they can't even stand being with themselves. But I think it's very similar to other forms of addiction such as film and television. Though it's not our personally created character, we end up empathizing with them so our mirror neurons react to their experience as though we were actually experiencing them.

I suppose I don't see anything inherently wrong with this. I just think, like anything else, moderation is key. One must occasionally turn off the game for a week and experience life as themselves, because at the end of the day the escape is always temporary and you still have to work on yourself to get yourself to the stature of your game character.

Originally Posted by Omnis Dei

Yeah there's no question that as long as we have needs in our actual life, delving too deeply into a vicarious life is dangerous. I'm sure you heard about the korean couple whose baby starved to death because they were so caught up in a virtual baby raising game. There's other frightening stories, such as people who starved to death or people who killed themselves after their virtual character was deleted. I think there's even one school shooting relating to a guy's deleted everquest account.

And who can forget the kid who tried shoving the remote up his ass in a ballistic rage when his brother deleted his WOW account?

But that's an intense level of addiction, one we can safely assume you're not referring to. I think the film surrogates is a good example of the lesser known danger of a vicarious life, which is a loss of self-esteem. The less one cares for their own life, the less confident they feel about it, and the farther they delve into their vicarious life. The farther they delve, the less they upkeep their own life. This vicious cycle can be inescapable, people get to the point where they can't even stand being with themselves. But I think it's very similar to other forms of addiction such as film and television. Though it's not our personally created character, we end up empathizing with them so our mirror neurons react to their experience as though we were actually experiencing them.

I suppose I don't see anything inherently wrong with this. I just think, like anything else, moderation is key. One must occasionally turn off the game for a week and experience life as themselves, because at the end of the day the escape is always temporary and you still have to work on yourself to get yourself to the stature of your game character.

Well put, I think I agree with this. Perhaps I'm just looking at a highly deviated case rather than its more core practicality. I watch film and read books, but typically its not to live vicariously, its more a philosophical/intellectual inquiry or desire I satiate... or nurture, for that matter. But in video games I think its purely vicarious fantasy.

I think I need to specify my question.

Given the choice of living a period of the day vicariously or directly, is there a "better" choice.

No, there is not a better choice. Not objectively. With any situation though, a preferable choice may become clear. But it comes down to actions made for investment in your future vs actions made to enjoy the present.

Obviously living your direct life is more of an investment in the future because it may not be as enjoyable as the vicarious life but with work it can become as enjoyable or nearly as enjoyable. One must essentially forego their reward in order to surrender to their life's necessities. Of course, if one spends their entire life in the future without enjoying the present, their life is wasted anyways.