I've written before about how life is a game (or at least how it's convenient to think of life as a game). I actually have some experience with the design and running of a big multiplayer online game, in which game, as one of the programmers, my character was an "Ascendant God". In the U.S., there are folks known as Creationists who believe that the same thing goes on in the real world: it was designed and built by an ascendant God like the programmer of a video game. (Well, they don't usually put it in those terms, since they're always So Serious about it all.) Well, I'm not sure that's what really happened, but for the duration of this article, I'd like us to imagine that the world was indeed created by some ascendant deity, so I can compare that with the multiplayer game.
LIFE IS MEANT TO BE FUN
At all times when I was designing and running my online game, the absolute number one priority was to make it fun for the players. Why would I bother wasting my time designing some feature if it wasn't going to be fun for the players? The whole point of the game is to have fun.
Some people have an idea that this mortal life is some kind of "test" devised by a cruel, testing God. To weed out the pure of heart or something.... well, that doesn't sound right to me at all. Don't take it from just me, though. Let's see what J.R.R. Tolkien has to say on the subject:
Tolkien was, besides an author and a linguist, a pretty good theologian. He pretty much came out and said exactly what I'm saying: this lifetime is supposed to be wonderful and good for humans. Tolkien wasn't a game programmer, but he designed the whole Middle Earth world in his mind, which amounts to pretty much the same thing minus lots of computer programming.
Of course, there are tragic, sorrowful things in this mortal life. But these only serve to enhance the good things and ultimately make life more joyous in the long run. It's like Agent Smith talks about in The Matrix, if everything were perfect and flawless, humans would become miserable.
WHY DOES GOD NEED A STARSHIP?
When I ran my online game, there were some "illegal" actions: no spamming the chat channels with gibberish... no inappropriate language on the chat channel... no stealing items that other players had dropped... and so on. We had to have game administrators keep an eye out for these actions and manually stop them when they occurred. But that's only because of the limit of my programming abilities. If I could have programmed the game to automatically detect when a player was spamming the chat channel, I could have made it physically impossible for the player to do so. Then, there's be no need for the rule. No need to outlaw something if it's physically impossible!
Creationists believe the universe is created by an omnipotent deity who can do literally anything. If some action were truly insufferable to this deity, since he/she/it's omnipotent, he/she/it could simply alter the laws of physics to make the hated action be physically impossible. So for example, if the Abrahamic God really wanted people not to (for example) steal, He could just make theft be physically impossible. He had the power to do so, and He did not, so the only logical conclusion is that theft is "meant to be part of the game". (Well, another conclusion would be that God isn't powerful enough to make such a thing physically impossible... but most Creationists are very firm about the omnipotence issue)
"Why would theft be part of the game?" you may ask. "It clearly makes life more miserable!" Well, yes, just as the evil goombas in Super Mario make life more miserable. But if the goombas were removed from the game, it would be less fun. As terrible as the vices of the world may be, without them life would be boring and lacking. They were definitely "left in for a reason by the game designer".
GOD DOESN'T CARE ABOUT OUR PETTY POLITICS
When I played multiplayer online games, before I designed one, I was always paranoid about the game designers being biased in favor of certain clans or families or groups of players. I even suspected some of them of using their positions of power to directly, cheatingly benefit their friends or even their own alternate non-god characters.
Then when I tried my own hand at design and administration, that all went right out the window. When I was the head programmer for such a game, I absolutely didn't care a grain of sand about the various politics and in-fighting among players and clans. It most certainly had no effect on any actions I took involving players (running quests or punishing misbehavior). And when, by modifying some lines of code, I could fundamentally alter the very physical laws that governed warfare and weapons... what conceivable reason would I have to cheat those weapons onto myself in the game?
In real life, people assume their God favors some nation, political party, even baseball team. What?! With barely a thought, the Christian conception of God could completely change the entire shape of the world's landmass... why would He conceivably favor some nation? (Granted, the Old Testament God is alleged to favor Ancient Israel, but consider the source... the Old Testament was largely written by the Ancient Israelites! Biased writing, anyone?)
LET'S SHUT UP ABOUT GOD ALREADY AND HAVE SOME FUN
My players had a big tendency to dwell on "immortal politics", the rumors and scandals about the Gods (ie the game designers). Speculation about who "really ran the show" and "who was just a figurehead". Rumors about which players were actually the undercover mortal characters played by the designers when we wanted to just play for fun. Whispered rumors of designers trading in-game favors for real life cash. All a big load of crap. I disliked it whenever I heard this kind of thing. I especially disliked it when players would change their behavior in an attempt to "suck up to the admins". The way I saw it, the designers shouldn't even be a visible part of the game. I just wanted the players to have fun.
In the same way, I don't think any real life all-powerful all-knowing God would be so insecure as to crave devotion from humans. If such a God does exist, I think he'd just want us to enjoy the creation he'd given us. The Christians make a big deal about salvation through faith. The idea that if we believe we'll go to heaven, then we'll go to heaven. I think my theory of just enjoying life, automatically covers that. If we believe the universe is a mansion whose purpose is for us to have fun and joy, then the idea of "Hell" or whatever, doesn't even come up, so we automatically believe we're "saved" just because any other option sounds ridiculous.
In any case, as long as we're on the subject of "Let's shut up about God and have some fun already"... I think that's the signal for this article to end.
Here are some other articles I wrote. Or rather, maybe they're divinely inspired. You tell me.
A Modern Version of the Lord's Prayer
Life Is A Game
Real-Life Tool-Assisted Speedrun?
LIFE IS MEANT TO BE FUN
At all times when I was designing and running my online game, the absolute number one priority was to make it fun for the players. Why would I bother wasting my time designing some feature if it wasn't going to be fun for the players? The whole point of the game is to have fun.
Some people have an idea that this mortal life is some kind of "test" devised by a cruel, testing God. To weed out the pure of heart or something.... well, that doesn't sound right to me at all. Don't take it from just me, though. Let's see what J.R.R. Tolkien has to say on the subject:
"Behold I love the Earth, which shall be a Mansion for the Eldar (Elves) and the Atani (Humans)!" - Iluvatar, Tolkien's version of God in the Middle Earth universe. From The Silmarillion, 2nd edition.
Tolkien was, besides an author and a linguist, a pretty good theologian. He pretty much came out and said exactly what I'm saying: this lifetime is supposed to be wonderful and good for humans. Tolkien wasn't a game programmer, but he designed the whole Middle Earth world in his mind, which amounts to pretty much the same thing minus lots of computer programming.
Of course, there are tragic, sorrowful things in this mortal life. But these only serve to enhance the good things and ultimately make life more joyous in the long run. It's like Agent Smith talks about in The Matrix, if everything were perfect and flawless, humans would become miserable.
WHY DOES GOD NEED A STARSHIP?
When I ran my online game, there were some "illegal" actions: no spamming the chat channels with gibberish... no inappropriate language on the chat channel... no stealing items that other players had dropped... and so on. We had to have game administrators keep an eye out for these actions and manually stop them when they occurred. But that's only because of the limit of my programming abilities. If I could have programmed the game to automatically detect when a player was spamming the chat channel, I could have made it physically impossible for the player to do so. Then, there's be no need for the rule. No need to outlaw something if it's physically impossible!
Creationists believe the universe is created by an omnipotent deity who can do literally anything. If some action were truly insufferable to this deity, since he/she/it's omnipotent, he/she/it could simply alter the laws of physics to make the hated action be physically impossible. So for example, if the Abrahamic God really wanted people not to (for example) steal, He could just make theft be physically impossible. He had the power to do so, and He did not, so the only logical conclusion is that theft is "meant to be part of the game". (Well, another conclusion would be that God isn't powerful enough to make such a thing physically impossible... but most Creationists are very firm about the omnipotence issue)
"Why would theft be part of the game?" you may ask. "It clearly makes life more miserable!" Well, yes, just as the evil goombas in Super Mario make life more miserable. But if the goombas were removed from the game, it would be less fun. As terrible as the vices of the world may be, without them life would be boring and lacking. They were definitely "left in for a reason by the game designer".
GOD DOESN'T CARE ABOUT OUR PETTY POLITICS
When I played multiplayer online games, before I designed one, I was always paranoid about the game designers being biased in favor of certain clans or families or groups of players. I even suspected some of them of using their positions of power to directly, cheatingly benefit their friends or even their own alternate non-god characters.
Then when I tried my own hand at design and administration, that all went right out the window. When I was the head programmer for such a game, I absolutely didn't care a grain of sand about the various politics and in-fighting among players and clans. It most certainly had no effect on any actions I took involving players (running quests or punishing misbehavior). And when, by modifying some lines of code, I could fundamentally alter the very physical laws that governed warfare and weapons... what conceivable reason would I have to cheat those weapons onto myself in the game?
In real life, people assume their God favors some nation, political party, even baseball team. What?! With barely a thought, the Christian conception of God could completely change the entire shape of the world's landmass... why would He conceivably favor some nation? (Granted, the Old Testament God is alleged to favor Ancient Israel, but consider the source... the Old Testament was largely written by the Ancient Israelites! Biased writing, anyone?)
LET'S SHUT UP ABOUT GOD ALREADY AND HAVE SOME FUN
My players had a big tendency to dwell on "immortal politics", the rumors and scandals about the Gods (ie the game designers). Speculation about who "really ran the show" and "who was just a figurehead". Rumors about which players were actually the undercover mortal characters played by the designers when we wanted to just play for fun. Whispered rumors of designers trading in-game favors for real life cash. All a big load of crap. I disliked it whenever I heard this kind of thing. I especially disliked it when players would change their behavior in an attempt to "suck up to the admins". The way I saw it, the designers shouldn't even be a visible part of the game. I just wanted the players to have fun.
In the same way, I don't think any real life all-powerful all-knowing God would be so insecure as to crave devotion from humans. If such a God does exist, I think he'd just want us to enjoy the creation he'd given us. The Christians make a big deal about salvation through faith. The idea that if we believe we'll go to heaven, then we'll go to heaven. I think my theory of just enjoying life, automatically covers that. If we believe the universe is a mansion whose purpose is for us to have fun and joy, then the idea of "Hell" or whatever, doesn't even come up, so we automatically believe we're "saved" just because any other option sounds ridiculous.
In any case, as long as we're on the subject of "Let's shut up about God and have some fun already"... I think that's the signal for this article to end.
Here are some other articles I wrote. Or rather, maybe they're divinely inspired. You tell me.
A Modern Version of the Lord's Prayer
Life Is A Game
Real-Life Tool-Assisted Speedrun?
Posts
1 comments:
Excellent post Glowing Face Man. Loved every bit of it.
Francis
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