The therapeutic value of MMORPGs ?

This is somewhat of a follow-on to the previous posting. In digital worlds, we witness behavior that is much like the physical world. Social organization and stratification, establishment of culture, personal relationships, work relationships, essentially all aspects of the world our bodies inhabit form around these digital bodies we control. Unlike “biospace,” cyberspace holds no real risk to our bodies. And, since our essential identity rests with the physical body, the risk to our self image is mitigated, generally, depending on our self image in biospace. On the other side, when our image of ourselves is in jeopardy in biospace, when we are challenged physically, when we are challenged economically, when we feel powerless overall, then our investment in our cyberspace identity can significantly increase.

The phenomenon of people investing themselves emotionally and psychically is not limited to MMORPGs, of course. It is also very evident in chat rooms, through email, on forums, and in every aspect of the digital communications medium we are working with today. In MMORPGs we often see this investment grow because of the richness and complexity associated with the avatar the player uses in the game world. This avatar often has an appearance that can be accessorized with clothing, equipment and more. These avatars can also communicate individuality through action that creates a history. This is a unique aspect of persistent virtual worlds. In these virtual worlds, the ability to have a complex day to day life as your character is taken to an extreme only found otherwise in biospace. We can: 1) control the appearance, within the parameters set out by the game developers, of our avatar, 2) purchase equipment, clothing and accessories that fits our idea of what this avatar should have, 3) set out to acquire equipment, gear, clothing, and accessories through in game activities that are not available through purchase, 4) choose the people we associate with, 5) choose the activities we undertake, 6) and of course, choose what we say. There is much more to it as well, this just serves as an illustration of the complexity and depth that can be experienced in terms of identity creation and investment in-game. What this does is allow for a very complex and emotionally invest able cyberspace experience. The richer the experience, the more seamless the emotional and psychological transition can be to “being” in the virtual realm, with one notable exception, which I mentioned earlier; no threat of physical harm or biospace risk. The entire experience takes place in the mind. Apparently, as a result of this, the world moves faster, the players take more risks; they express themselves in ways they would not in their physical lives. The cyberspace virtual world experience becomes a place to experiment, (boys as girls, for example) a place to release the stresses and concerns from the embodied existence in biospace. And of course, we see issues come up! We see all of the usual experiences from the biospace come up, and they often come up fast and go away just as fast. What I mean by that is: all of what I have said before (and of course much that still remains to be explored on this topic) can show us a bit of how people relate to each other in this medium and use it as a therapeutic tool that can have substantial effect on how they live their biospace lives.