School #60

Gamer / Virtual-Realist Worldview

Cultural phenomenon (gaming communities, VR/AR, metaverse). Influenced by Neal Stephenson, the Matrix films

The Gamer or Virtual-Realist worldview treats multiple simultaneous realities as normal and navigable. Physics is rule-set-dependent and varies across worlds. Identity is avatar-based, mutable, and plural. Consciousness can exist across multiple substrates, and the distinction between "real" and "virtual" is a spectrum rather than a binary.

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I. Time

Extent	Both
Ontological Status	Emergent
Grain	Discrete
Freedom	Non-Deterministic
Traversability	Branching
Dimensionality	N
Direction	Multi-directional

Time is emergent and infinite — it is a mutable, designed parameter of virtual environments. Save states, respawns, and time-manipulation mechanics make temporal linearity optional. Time is discrete at the computational level (frame rates, tick rates) and branching through divergent playthroughs. Direction is multi-directional: the gamer can reverse, pause, accelerate, and branch time at will within the game world.

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II. Space

Extent	Finite
Ontological Status	Emergent
Curvature	Undefined
Dimensionality	N
Locality	Non-local

Space is emergent and both finite and infinite — virtual spaces are rendered environments that can be as large or small as the designer chooses. Space is non-local: fast travel, teleportation, and loading screens dissolve spatial continuity. Dimensionality is N because different game engines implement different spatial dimensions. Space is fundamentally a data structure, not a physical container.

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III. Matter

Extent	Finite
Ontological Status	Emergent
Conservation	Non-conserved
Dimensionality	N
Locality	Non-local

Matter is emergent and finite — it is rendered geometry, voxel data, or physics-simulated objects within the game engine. Matter is non-conserved: objects can be spawned, duplicated, deleted, and modded. It is non-local: inventory systems, procedural generation, and respawning decouple matter from any fixed spatial position. The gamer experiences matter as fundamentally malleable and rule-governed.

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IV. Observer

Time Instance	Multiple
Space Instance	Multiple
Extent of Knowledge	Immediate
Retainment of Knowledge	Immediate
Physicality	Both
Agency	Active
Number	Plural

Time Instance: Multiple — the gamer routinely experiences multiple timelines: save states, respawns, parallel playthroughs, and time-manipulation mechanics make temporal multiplicity a lived norm rather than a theoretical abstraction

Space Instance: Multiple — the observer inhabits multiple spatial environments simultaneously (physical room, game world, chat server, streaming audience); spatial identity is distributed across layers

Extent of Knowledge: Immediate — knowledge is gained through direct interaction with the environment; the "fog of war" and progressive discovery are core mechanics; you know what you have explored

Retainment of Knowledge: Immediate — knowledge is context-dependent and session-bound; what is learned in one game, one save, one server does not automatically transfer to another; wiki knowledge and muscle memory provide partial persistence

Physicality: Both — the observer is simultaneously a physical body at a desk and a virtual avatar in a rendered world; the felt reality of both is genuine; haptic feedback and VR increasingly blur the boundary

Agency: Active — the observer is defined by agency; the entire medium is built around choice, action, and consequence; passivity means game over

Consciousness: Present — consciousness spans the physical and virtual; the gamer's subjective experience moves fluidly between substrates without experiencing discontinuity

Number: Plural — multiplayer environments, guilds, clans, and persistent online worlds make the observer inherently social; the solo player is the exception, not the norm

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V. Energy

Extent Finite

Ontological Status Emergent

Conservation Non-conserved

Dispersibility Reversible

Finite and emergent — energy in virtual worlds is a designed resource: mana bars, stamina systems, power-ups, and cooldowns are explicitly constructed game mechanics rather than natural laws. Conservation: Non-conserved — virtual energy can be spawned, duplicated, deleted, and cheated into existence; conservation is a design choice, not a physical necessity; different game worlds implement different energy rules. Dispersibility: Reversible — health regenerates, mana refills, respawns occur; the entire logic of gaming assumes that energy depletion is temporary and reversible, in stark contrast to the thermodynamic arrow of the physical world.

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VI. Information

Ontological Status Substantival

Conservation Conserved

Granularity Discrete

Reality is composed of game data — information is the fundamental substrate, encoded in discrete states (pixels, voxels, game objects). The universe is a data structure. Information is substantival because data is all there is. It is conserved because save states preserve everything. It is discrete because games are digital systems with finite resolution.

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