Spiritual Quest?

Virtual Reality

“Virtual reality is the 'ultimate empathy machine.' These experiences are more than documentaries. They're opportunities to walk a mile in someone else's shoes.”

Chris Milk

I learned something new last night. Always a good day when you learn something you didn't know before, right? Two young men at the party for my friend, Melissa, are working on Ph.D's, and their area of research is the impact of video games on young people. Before you jump to the conclusion that all findings are negative in this area—I confess that I thought so, too—let me tell you, they are not. Yes, video games are entertainment—escapist entertainment, but so are novels. For my generation and those before me, books were (and are) the way we check out and entered a different world. I was a voracious reader as a child—all the Little House books, all the period pieces by Jane Austin, Heidi, Nancy Drew, Dickens, and later, Ian Fleming, Tolstoy, Tolkien, and on and on. They placed me in a different reality, introduced me to the culture of that time and place, taught me a new vocabulary and gave me beloved characters that were as real to me as any flesh and blood humans in my life. Fast forward a generation or two, and video games are that vehicle.

There is one difference, however. In video games, especially the ones played on-line with other people, it is you, or at least your avatar, who is having the experience. It is fiction on a personal level. You design the avatar, and you and the other characters direct the story. It's not a passive immersion like reading a novel, but an experiential one. These young men spoke about the symbolism in the games, a new version of the ancient hero quest. Rather than describing the avatars as “heroes,” they are called “adventurers,” but the quest is the same. They learn about one another and expand their own imaginative selves in a safe environment. Unless there is an underlying addiction, the role-playing video games turn out to be vehicles of self-exploration in a way that books are not.

Perhaps you already knew all this, but I didn't. The thing that is abundantly clear is the difference in brain connections required for the virtual world of our children and grandchildren. We read one line at a time, left to right, (or right to left, etc.) repetitively. The language we read is made of letter-symbols strung together into words, and words into sentences. Our brains laid down neural circuits for this format to assist with learning and understanding the meaning of the images that the letter-symbols conjured. This new generation's vehicle is visual images, and their brains are wired differently because the neural pathways have been laid down differently. Their hands, eyes, and brains are connected in way that ours are not—hence, they can two-hand, not only game controllers, but cell phone key-pads. Playing rapid-pace video games using just two thumbs is as natural to them as turning the page in a book is to us. I found this amazing. Different and intriguing.

One of these young men is a counselor on a college campus. He is using virtual reality with some of his clients because it is a language they understand. With coaching and inquiry about the symbols they find especially interesting in their games, his clients form insights into themselves that are helpful in the non-virtual world. He said that it would be helpful for adults—especially parents and teachers—to stop telling children that gaming is a waste of time, and instead, have conversations with them about what they are discovering there, and how that affects their lives. So I pass that on to you.

Chris Milk, who is an entrepreneur in the virtual world, believes that gaming holds transformational significance for the real world. He wrote about it this way: “It connects humans to other humans in a profound way that I've never seen before in any other form of media. And it can change people's perception of each other. I think virtual reality has to potential to actually change the world.”

As one who is content with words and books, I will not tax my old brain with virtual reality, but I have a new appreciation for those who do, and for our ingenious brains. Their plasticity and the rapidity with which they adapt to new circumstances is truly amazing. Indeed, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

                                                                In the Spirit,

                                                                    Jane