[geeks] Games...

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

On Tue, Aug 07, 2007 at 10:50:30AM +0100, Mark wrote:
> Here's one for you. Would you consider Microsoft Flight Simulator to  
> be a game or a simulation of virtual flight? I consider it to be the  
> latter as, like SL it has no specific goals or activities defined  
> unless you specifically ask for one. If you like you can go into MSFS  
> and just fly from one place to another the way you feel like.  
> Critically here, for me at least, that makes MSFS a simulation, NOT a  
> game, because it has a significant factor of realism.

Hence the difference between Flight Simulator '98 and Combat Flight
Simulator. Although the original Flight Simulator was purely a game, by
the mid 1990's it had passed to the point that it could be used, with
the proper equipment to train pilots.

FS98 could teach you to fly, but there was nothing to do, except fly.
CFS was the same basic flight engine with specific goals "missions" and
game type simulation of things you would probably not want to do during
real life, such as being in a fight to the death with the Luftwaffe or
the RAF, and so on.

At this point FS 10 is real enough to learn to fly a real airplane,
complete with videos, AI based training etc. If it is a game or
a tool is up to you to decide. The distinction blurs, but the
bottom line is that when you crash and burn with FS 10 instead
of a real airplane, you walk away from it unhurt.

BTW, CFS was released and improved as CFS2 (which I can't find, but would
love a copy) and CFS3 (I was able to buy CFS and CFS3 in a discount bin).
CFS4 was developed and canceled before release probably because of 9/11.
FS9 (aka FS 2004) was modified because of it, but I think FS8 (aka 
FS 2002) was already out, or close enough not to.

 
> Second Life does not have a general sense of realism. The fact that  
> 'anything is possible', despite being really cool and all is  
> generally what ruins it for me, and a lot of other people. Then again  
> it makes it what it is to those who enjoy it. Faced with the prospect  
> of doing anything I do nothing because I can't make up my mind what  
> to do, and I can't comprehend a world  without limits. I like to  
> operate inside a set of defining rules and constraints, as do many  
> human beings, which set me along a line. Real Life has that set of  
> rules, as do racing or flight simulations (which I really enjoy) or  
> many other MMOGs.

I think that's an important point, it allows you to go beyond your 
real life limitations, however does that affect whether it's a 
game or a similation? 

 
> To me if it doesn't have a sense of reality it is just a weird play- 
> thing (play = game). I'm not even saying that reality has to be our  
> reality, just A reality, a Universe if you will. If the rules are too  
> lapse, or loosely defined it makes an environment hard to comprehend  
> for some people. People like me then dismiss it, wether consciously  
> or sub-consciously, as not being tangible.

I tend to agree with you, but I'm not sure that is correct. Our reality
is based upon our perception of things, a universe with less "realism"
may be a different race's perception of reality and therefore a 
simulation not a game. Would for example, a black and white simulation
of colorblindess be a game? Or muffeled sounds (a simulation of
hearing loss, or cheap long distance calls? :-)  and so on.


> Refer to Agent Smith's speech in The Matrix (if you haven't seen it  
> skip the paragraph, this is a spoiler! ). Smith, while interrogating  
> Morpheus talks bout the first iteration of The Matrix. He states that  
> it was a 'perfect human world'. He also states that it was a total  
> failure, 'a dream that your primitive cerebrums kept trying to wake  
> up from'. The point made here is avery good one. A perfect world,  
> where everyone is happy and free, simply does not appeal to a lot of  
> people. I'm not saying this is a reason to dismiss SL as nonsense, I  
> appreciate it has a following and has captured some people's  
> imaginations, that's fair enough, but to the mind of a lot of people  
> it won't stick because it is 'too good to be true'.

Knowing you are in a virtual reality, does affect humans, but will it
affect people who are programed not to notice it. Look at the movie
"The Thirteenth Floor", where there are multiple layers of simulation.

However if you choose to ignore that you are in a simulation, does that
make it less real? 

Geoff.
-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 
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