Real life in the matrix

I've always loved the Fantasy genre, and have been known to lose chunks of my real life escaping into the realms of Tolkien or World of Warcraft, amongst other not-real places.

What is it about Fantasy, that seems more appealing than real life? Where to start answering that?! With some bullet-points, I guess :-)

• People in Fantasy land have a purpose: there's usually a clear line between good and evil, with specific quests, goals and rewards;


• They get to wear beautiful clothes and have great names;


• They often have special knowledge, skills and powers like magic, herbalism and martial arts;


• Real-worldly issues like money, boring work and bill-paying aren't involved. Fantasyland inhabitants tend to be autonomous and to lead exciting, adventurous lives;


• There's a sense of real fellowship - singing, story-telling, campfires etc.;


• They get to ride horses - there are no cars!

Real life doesn't usually contain those elements nowadays, but it could do. One of my worries is that, the better and more accessible the Fantasy genre becomes, the more it attracts the rebels and natural creative thinkers, enticing them in, Matrix-style, and leaving the totalitarians free to have their way with real life, their natural opponents being otherwise engaged, fighting imaginery dragons instead.

The old battle between Good and Evil is still there in real life to be fought, but the bad guys are winning by means of a few new-fangled weapons: confusion, distraction and boredom. By stealth, they perpetuate the status quo, bring in new laws and contrinue to subtly control our lives, decisions and habits. Our potential young freedom fighters, with the instincts, courage and strength to fight back, instead get lost in World of Warcraft and impotently satisfy their natural instincts in Fantasy world.

In the recent series of Dr Who, The Doctor and his assistants wore keys to the Tardis, which had the effect of surrounding them in a kind of imperceptibility shield, meaning that although they weren't invisible, nobody saw them because the shield made it so that they didn't want to look. In some ways I feel the same about economic and political manoeverings in the real world, almost as if things are going on behind an imperceptibility shield. It's easier to look the other way, and play WoW, or read/watch Tolkien instead.

And the fantasy worlds don't involve doing anything physically scary in real life.

I had to stop playing WoW in the end, because it annoyed me that it wasn't real. Instead of spending my spare time gathering real herbs and making remedies, I'd be doing this on my computer, for pixellated points instead of for people's actual, real life health and wellbeing. Instead of working out how to preserve and maybe even regain some real life legal freedoms, I'd be working out a strategy for my guild to kill the next dragon. And instead of training and honing my real life self defence skills, I'd be doing the same thing with my imaginery WoW characters.

Progress in a game leads to - well, just more to do. Nothing in real life. Progress in real life leads to increased safety, increased options, increased useful, applicable knowledge.

So I'm trying out Real Life, these days, instead. The graphics are good.