Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2015 17:43:56 GMT -8
Some food for thought.
The French Absurdist/Existentialist philosopher Albert Camus once said that the chief goal of life is to “imagine Sisyphus happy.”
For those of you who don’t know, Sisyphus is a mythical Greek figure who was punished for attempting to deceive the gods. His punishment? To be condemned to forever roll a boulder up a hill, only for it to fall back down again, thereby dooming him to repeat the process from here to eternity.
So what do Camus’ words mean in light of the myth of Sisyphus? His intent, I believe, is to communicate that the myth of Sisyphus is actually an allegory for life as you and I experience it—that life is but a series of repetitive, menial tasks which we must repeat until the day we die, and that the best way for us to about experiencing it is to imagine ourselves in Sisyphus’ shoes, and imagine ourselves happy.
Now how does this apply to MapleStory/NobleStory?
Think about the things you do within the virtual realm. My guess is that you’ll come up with a few things.
There are a couple more, but this pool should be sufficient in demonstrating my point.
• Grinding in order to level up.
• Fighting bosses in order to level up or to obtain skills/equipment.
• Farming for equipment.
• Farming for scrolls or ores in order to power up the aforementioned equipment.
• Completing quests.
• Having conversations in the Free Market.
All of these things have one ultimate commonality, although it’s one which might elude most people at first. But it’s a powerful, problematic commonality because it deconstructs any notion of “fun” which we can experience by putting into question the inherent meaning of the things we do, the words we say.
You see, in the end, none of things function as anything other than an end outside of themselves.
Why do we level up? To become more powerful. Well, then, why do we want to become more powerful? To become higher level and to become more famous. But then, why do we level up…?
Why do we farm for equipment? To become more powerful.
Why do we complete quests? For material gain which enables us to become more powerful.
In the end, it really comes down to this never-ending loop of completing tasks in order to complete other tasks simply for the purpose of enabling us to complete the initial task faster and with more efficiency. We are like Sisyphus, rolling a boulder uphill only for it to come back down upon us so that we can roll it up again. And again. And again. And yet we derive enjoyment from this. Psychologically speaking, you could of course ascribe this enjoyment to a release of dopamine which is triggered in our brains whenever we accomplish illusory goals such as gaining a level, a job advancement, or getting a scroll to work (or in some cases, simply having it not blow up the item).
But logically speaking, the whole process is absurd.
The only conceivable action which seems to elude this Sisyphus-structure is the act of conversing with others in the Free Market. These conversations we have, however, are really even more meaningless than the above actions and carry with them an added dimension of impermanence. Unlike gaining levels or earning equipment, both of which result in somewhat tangible, observable achievements, our conversations take place at one point in time and then cease to exist. Decades from now (assuming NobleStory even stays up that long), very few people will even remember what was said during these conversations, while on the other hand, our levels and equipment will be able to be seen by way of screenshots, rankings, or simple observations in-game. Our conversations have an even greater sense of impermanence, and yet they are what many people value above all of these other things! Indeed, this holds true in real life as well; generally speaking, we enjoy our friendships and prioritize them far above many material possessions.
At its core, this entire situation is really quite absurd. We level up in order to grow stronger in order to level up more efficiently in order to grow stronger. We are a virtual manifestation of the myth of Sisyphus, and there’s no reason for what we do at all! But on the other hand, deriving enjoyment and pleasure from these sorts of tasks is precisely what Camus intended us to experience in order to carry through life triumphantly and contentedly. We do all these things which are ends-in-themselves for no good or rational reason whatsoever. Yet we enjoy NobleStory, and we still continue to play the game with vigor and happiness.
Unless you had thought about it this way, in Existentialist/Absurdist terms, then you might be like Merle Dixon from The Walking Dead: “I don’t know why I do what I do. I’m a mystery to me.” But when you start to think about NobleStory, and indeed life—for NobleStory can be accurately said and demonstrated to be a microcosmic representation of real life—then you will start to see the myth of Sisyphus in everything that you do, and you will start to see the inherent lack of meaning in life, and the absurdity which follows.
The French Absurdist/Existentialist philosopher Albert Camus once said that the chief goal of life is to “imagine Sisyphus happy.”
For those of you who don’t know, Sisyphus is a mythical Greek figure who was punished for attempting to deceive the gods. His punishment? To be condemned to forever roll a boulder up a hill, only for it to fall back down again, thereby dooming him to repeat the process from here to eternity.
So what do Camus’ words mean in light of the myth of Sisyphus? His intent, I believe, is to communicate that the myth of Sisyphus is actually an allegory for life as you and I experience it—that life is but a series of repetitive, menial tasks which we must repeat until the day we die, and that the best way for us to about experiencing it is to imagine ourselves in Sisyphus’ shoes, and imagine ourselves happy.
Now how does this apply to MapleStory/NobleStory?
Think about the things you do within the virtual realm. My guess is that you’ll come up with a few things.
There are a couple more, but this pool should be sufficient in demonstrating my point.
• Grinding in order to level up.
• Fighting bosses in order to level up or to obtain skills/equipment.
• Farming for equipment.
• Farming for scrolls or ores in order to power up the aforementioned equipment.
• Completing quests.
• Having conversations in the Free Market.
All of these things have one ultimate commonality, although it’s one which might elude most people at first. But it’s a powerful, problematic commonality because it deconstructs any notion of “fun” which we can experience by putting into question the inherent meaning of the things we do, the words we say.
You see, in the end, none of things function as anything other than an end outside of themselves.
Why do we level up? To become more powerful. Well, then, why do we want to become more powerful? To become higher level and to become more famous. But then, why do we level up…?
Why do we farm for equipment? To become more powerful.
Why do we complete quests? For material gain which enables us to become more powerful.
In the end, it really comes down to this never-ending loop of completing tasks in order to complete other tasks simply for the purpose of enabling us to complete the initial task faster and with more efficiency. We are like Sisyphus, rolling a boulder uphill only for it to come back down upon us so that we can roll it up again. And again. And again. And yet we derive enjoyment from this. Psychologically speaking, you could of course ascribe this enjoyment to a release of dopamine which is triggered in our brains whenever we accomplish illusory goals such as gaining a level, a job advancement, or getting a scroll to work (or in some cases, simply having it not blow up the item).
But logically speaking, the whole process is absurd.
The only conceivable action which seems to elude this Sisyphus-structure is the act of conversing with others in the Free Market. These conversations we have, however, are really even more meaningless than the above actions and carry with them an added dimension of impermanence. Unlike gaining levels or earning equipment, both of which result in somewhat tangible, observable achievements, our conversations take place at one point in time and then cease to exist. Decades from now (assuming NobleStory even stays up that long), very few people will even remember what was said during these conversations, while on the other hand, our levels and equipment will be able to be seen by way of screenshots, rankings, or simple observations in-game. Our conversations have an even greater sense of impermanence, and yet they are what many people value above all of these other things! Indeed, this holds true in real life as well; generally speaking, we enjoy our friendships and prioritize them far above many material possessions.
At its core, this entire situation is really quite absurd. We level up in order to grow stronger in order to level up more efficiently in order to grow stronger. We are a virtual manifestation of the myth of Sisyphus, and there’s no reason for what we do at all! But on the other hand, deriving enjoyment and pleasure from these sorts of tasks is precisely what Camus intended us to experience in order to carry through life triumphantly and contentedly. We do all these things which are ends-in-themselves for no good or rational reason whatsoever. Yet we enjoy NobleStory, and we still continue to play the game with vigor and happiness.
Unless you had thought about it this way, in Existentialist/Absurdist terms, then you might be like Merle Dixon from The Walking Dead: “I don’t know why I do what I do. I’m a mystery to me.” But when you start to think about NobleStory, and indeed life—for NobleStory can be accurately said and demonstrated to be a microcosmic representation of real life—then you will start to see the myth of Sisyphus in everything that you do, and you will start to see the inherent lack of meaning in life, and the absurdity which follows.
), I still obtain joy from it, and that is all I feel I should worry about. Also, through my experiences -- all the nostalgic private servers and video games in general I have played -- I have learned one thing. I cannot quit, no matter how much I desire my life to be better. Maplestory always seems to override my need to belong socially in real life. And so, because my experiences lead me to believe that I can never escape this endless cycle, I also play NobleStory. Despite not being “good”, to me, they are rational at the very least.
