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Good Luck With Your Video Game.

  • Writer: T MVS
    T MVS
  • Oct 1, 2022
  • 6 min read

The title is a quote from The Social Network by Erica, the frustrated ex-girlfriend of Mark Zuckerberg. She is greeted by him in a restaurant some time following their breakup, where thanks to Zuckerberg's penchant for lack of social awareness, she takes the opportunity for some form of revenge by nonchalantly and sarcastically belittling his future empire to a mere set of video game code.

It's a great moment in the film that stuck with me and resonates more so with me now than ever, not just for its brilliant, punch in the gut, two fingers up delivery, but because despite the colossal success that Facebook (and now Meta) became, it offers an almost Rosebud reality to the concept of social media: that it is, in fact, simply one big video game.

We live in a hugely connected world nowadays, with communication at our fingertips. Yet there is a troubling truth to this supposed connectedness in that we don't really seem to be connected in the true sense of the word. We share, a lot, and social media plays a huge part in that. The general public are now their own journalists, taking unqualified information and turning it into our own qualified opinion. Meta will try to convince you that their ethos is and always has been about connecting one another. The video marketing campaign for Meta and the Metaverse took the concept of connectivity to underline every new and exciting, anticipated aspect of what the company envisioned/envisions.

We hold a pocket computer in our hands daily, with knowledge, communication and productivity at our fingertips. Yet there are still only 24 hours in a day, minus the average hours of sleep taken, where we can't even begin to be able to use all the possible functions of such an expensive piece of technology kept on our person at most times. The telephone app is considered to be one of the least used apps on average.

Whilst getting to grips with art and creativity, I sought a need to share it. At first, producing the work and sharing it with those close to me was sufficient enough. Yet suddenly, it began to reopen an old desire to share and engage with other likeminded people, with the same interest. My grandmother was a significant part of my life, but she passed away in my teens, just as I was about to embark on an artistic set of studies, of which I would have loved to have shared with her. When I left university, it seemed harder to seek out others with that shared interest, since I was venturing into the world of full-time employment in jobs that weren't based in the arts. Sadly, before I recognized I had the knack for making the art I do now, my mother, who I believe would have been my partner in artistic crime, also passed away.

In the past year I have come to embrace network communications and social media to showcase my art, with a hope that it might have solicited engagement, discussion and dissection of ideas, theories and just a general shared loved of the arts. When I was at university, I was in my element, surrounded by people with that shared love, watching, theorizing and exploring film as an art form on the daily. Now, after years of struggling with mental health and introversion, I want to be able to share what I have since, finally, I have something tangible to contribute.

So surely, social media should be the answer? Well sadly no. You are asking the billions of people in this world of which approximately 1.44 billion at present use Instagram to find the time (and to find you) in order to engage fully, in a sea of other content creators, the successful of who have grabbed attention by having spent years building their brand, or who are in a position to dedicate themselves full time to creativity. I spend 8 hours a day in front of a screen for my day job, desperate to get back on it in order to be creative, but only to have this sick feeling knowing it means staring at a brightly lit square into the night (thank god for paints, canvasses and books amirite?!)

Furthermore, social media isn't going to necessarily allow for you to garner someone’s full attention, as its usage is primarily catered to allow for short attention spans. Instagram itself is considered to be the quickest growing platform and what is it that Instagram allows users to do? At its most basic, to look at and tap a simple like on photos. Remember when you were a child and you only ever read picture books, because you couldn’t even read? Then when you did learn, to read a book actually … took time? Social media is a means for people in general to pass the time, to feed their vision with aesthetically pleasing visuals, to offer support with the least amount of effort in the form of a click of a like, thumbs up, or at a stretch an emoji. What is the less likely thing you may see on a post? A comment!

I actually did engage with someone surrounding a piece of my artwork a little while back and boy was it a relief of joy! But alas, since then, it's hasn't turned out to be a regular occurrence with users (and if my content is the problem, then I am at a loss, because among paintings, doodles, digital sketches, badges, greeting cards and eventually stickers, I don't know what more I can give!!).

When using social media, you are also receiving a strong dose of dopamine. I know I do when I get a like from a post of my artwork, or a view of a blog, or a visit to my website. It is a brief moment of hope that someone wants to engage. Yet the dopamine effect only lasts as long as it keeps coming in and unless I prepare to spend my entire day on it, that’s just not happening.

Much like the art making process, social media is fun: making a post, playing with the tools, curating your profile, it is all a means of creativity and simple enjoyment. Yet much like when the art making process is over, you may face this desperate need to share, but if your art isn't seen you may find yourself questioning if you can just enjoy the process in isolation. A recent book I read called Art and Fear addressed this dilemma precisely.

So how is social media meant to equate to a video game? When you play a video game, you do pay a lot of attention sure, you have to. Yet much like social media, you are losing yourself in a virtual world, where you have interaction with other people/characters, that don't rely on you to invest time you don't have for pleasantries, small talk, meetings, or in-depth discussions (except perhaps for those heavy dialogue based ones - come on game, I want to get moving and crack that next quest!). You can keep other "people" at arm's length.

The immersion can have you dragged from the real world for several hours (or more if you're one of those gamers). In addition, the screen separating you from physical human interaction is allowing you to treat your virtual interactions as a means of escape, imagination, perhaps visualizing and immersing yourself in an ideal world of your own. We know the vitriol we see exists as it is online, because people are protected by a shielding screen. If you verbally abused someone in real life to the extent of the worst behaviors online, you could be punched, sacked from your job, or possibly arrested.

Gaming allows you to be real in an unreal world, shutting out actual reality for a while, tailoring a character, or a world to suit you, being the hero of your own curated story. Video game creators and Meta/social media platform creators are seeking ways of making endless possibilities in the virtual world to usurp the real world, additionally making a virtual competitor for Elon Musk's Earth 2 (Mars).

So, as I navigate this year of change, try to come to terms with technology and human behaviour, and generally lose my mind to an endless cycle of repetitive thoughts on what it's all about, I can at least rest easy in the knowledge that since I enjoy video games, social networking should be a breeze!



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