Hyperreality in Gaming from the Perspective Baudrillard

Özet

The notion of reality has been a subject of debate since the prominent ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle, Plato, and Heraclitus started searching for the essence of truth and reality. While Plato based his philosophy on the concept of reality, a definite consensus about what constitutes reality has yet to be reached, even today, due to its complex nature. There are two agreed upon ways to understand reality: objectively and subjectively. Objective reality relates to the physical while perceptions comprise subjective reality. Although reality is divided into these two categories in the simplest sense, a new phase has commenced with the postmodern age. Rather than seeking the nature of reality or attempting to understand the source of reality, questions have now been raised related to how technological changes have affected the existence of reality. Questions such as whether reality truly exists or what the real world is have emerged due to the steady influx of messaging and imagery delivered by technology. In this postmodern world, images lose their point of reference and no longer illustrate reality accurately. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to understand the concept of reality in digital environments from the perspective of Jean Baudrillard with a focus on virtual reality, as it is based on the Internet, computer games, arcade games and simulation programmes.