Have you ever played an open ended video game to completion?

Question

After finishing everything there is to do in the game, having maximized every stat, you are still left to wander the game environment in complete boredom. Wouldn't that be what eternal life was like? Eventual boredom?

Heresy hunter, read the whole question next time.

Answer 1

Excellent question.

I know exactly what you are talking about . . . I've experienced this with games like Oblivion.

You hit on one of the essential features that makes life worthwhile, and that is "newness" . . . if there is such a word. By newness I mean fun, creativity, adventure, excitement, new experiences in general, and . . . well, you get the drift . . . that is what you get from a new video game. Once everything becomes stale and routine, and life becomes boring, what is the point? (One of the great benefits to entertainment like television, movies, and video games is that they provide some measure of newness in our otherwise boring lives).

On the flip side, while newness is obviously very important, the other side of the coin is that life becomes too stressful without security. Security is also an inherent part of video games because they aren't real, so to speak, so you can kill monsters or whatnot without fear that any of that will hurt you in real life. In otherwords, video games are safe, they provide a feeling of security because they are virtual, and because of that we can have more fun doing crazy things in them.

So a life eternal, such as in heaven, would by definition need to be both secure and fun at the same time. I think many religious views of heaven just focus on the "secure" part . . . probably in large part because of the puritanical impulse of some of these religions against the more fun things in life. But a merely secure heaven would be a boring heaven, and any place that is boring is by defintion not "heaven".

So heaven would have to be fun. And more importantly, it would have to always be new. There would always have to be new things to do. This again is overlooked by many traditional religions, because religion tends to be conservative, to seek stability and to fight against change, and so they overlook the very thing that would be necessary for "heaven" to indeed be heaven . . . namely newness. And what we are talking about here is an infinite newness. For, if you live there forever, any finite amount of newness would eventually run out, so the newness would have to be infinite. I can't think of anything more terrifying to the conservative worldview.

Yet for all that I don't mean to suggest that we can merely throw out the "security" part of our equation of what heaven must be like . . . for again, fun is not fun when it is stressful, or when there is fear involved. If heaven were nothing BUT change and newness, that could very rapidly become something more like hell for many people. So heaven would have to be safe and secure, as well as constantly new and exciting.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Nope, because there's always the chance to do it differently.

Besides, I don't think of eternal life like an open-ended game, where everyone has the same thing to say, and there is never anything new... but rather like a high quality MMORPG, where updates are continual.. it's not just about doing quests, and doing the grind... it's about being with friends, talking, it's showing things you already know to new people, finding new ways to do old things, finding new uses for things you once thought were mundane, it's learning from others what they've discovered.

I played a certain MMORPG for just under a year before I had to quit for real life reasons. But I had done everything there was given to do with 12 characters, all maxxed level, all top-level items, in the top 1,000 richest people of over a million players, a highly respected PvPer, in one of the top 100 guilds, and completed the entire game, every level, at least twice with every character... and if I was able to continue, I would still be playing today... probably with a new group of friends, and always teaching the newbs all the tricks of the trade. Not because there was nothing new, but because I enjoyed the experience. I enjoyed the people. I enjoyed the seasonal festivals. I enjoyed simply being there.

Greetz to Iyanden Wraithguards and Adult Swim. May ectos and sigils always be in your futures.

Answer 4

I'm feeling you on this one. If I had the choice of immortality I would say no. Living a little longer would be nice just not eternal life.

There is a difference though. In the game it always has the same boards and the same challenges. But Life is always different. You always meet new people and see new things. Your playing board is alot bigger.

Boredom will come if the same things are being done over and over again. However, take a trip outside the boundaries of regular gameplay and explore what is out there. You will never be bored.

Answer 5

Yes, Sinyckel, eternal union with God is exactly like wandering a video-game environment after you have completed playing. You have successfully convinced me that to seek God is folly, because even if found, the creator of all things good must be a drag. You have convinced me that I should rely on my own dim and limited imagination and impotent analogies instead of seeking something higher than myself. I am grateful to you for putting me in right relation to eternity.

Answer 6

First off, as many open ended games as I've played (and as much as I like them!) I haven't ever "completed" one. (I've never even come close!)

But comparing that to eternal life (that is, eternal life with Christ, the only possible eternal life one can have) just isn't a fair comparison. For one, in an open ended game there are "max stats" and a limited space to explore. The most open ended game in the world is finite and limited in many ways. There are only so many different items, so many monsters to kill, etc;

Real eternal life is completely different- it is totally unlimited, because God is totally unlimited! I guarantee you, you will never get bored with it! Eternal life with Jesus Christ is not the end of the game, its the end of the title screen and prologue, and the beginning of something that never ends.

Answer 7

Read the bible on how it describes heaven. Unfortunately I cant give you any scripture quotes right now, but you will realize that it would not be as a "completed video game".

We will be able to travel all over the universe, witnessing the birth and death of stars and planents, we will live in a golden city, everything your imagination can comprehend will be possible to do.

Personally i cant wait,

Answer 8

One of the many reason I don't think eternal life is a viable career after death.

Answer 9

Yes, on many occasions. I find that after completing them, to continue playing is pointless.

That is exactly my perception of eternal life.

Answer 10

you are in the wrong section...go to another category to ask that