Humour

When software mimics life

An introduction to virtual life. By T A Balasubramanian

You, Papyrus Bytewala, CIO of Baffle Corporation, continue to explore the bustling arena of the Techno Over-exposition of Geeks and Gizmos for Lazy Enterprises (TOGGLE), accompanied by Danny DeVito, CTO, the biped walking humanoid.

Once again, you find your old friend, Nawab Ghoda Ghallstone, Junior at his new stall. From past encounters, you recollect that this vociferous character, the founder and CEO of Ghallstone Labs has a penchant for coming up with unusual gizmos and software that borders on the bizarre. The nawab, beaming from ear to ear, is stationed in front of a large display that reads ‘Welcome to Your Own New World’ and under it is a larger-than-life rendering of several human figures, young and old, dressed in a variety of styles. Some of them are relaxing in a room; others are seen walking in a park.

“Well, hello, Papyrus. And Danny. So we meet again in this great bazaar for IT goods, eh?” he booms, slapping your back. Dressed in an outlandish maroon coat, he sports a matching golf cap. “We have made it out mission at Ghallstone to bring you a great new experience where you are drawn into a world that is real—and yet not the real world.”

“You lost me, nabob. What are you talking about?” says DeVito, looking puzzled.

“Oh, my apologies for running ahead of myself, Danny. So first, permit me to give you a little introduction to what we call virtual life. It is all about using your imagination in a creative manner to manifest your goals inside a purely software-generated world. The more lighthearted you are when playing the role of your virtual creation—or avatar, as I call it—the more successful you become in your real corporate negotiations with people and situations. With vendors, with bosses—and with all the other people you encounter in a bustling place like Baffle.”

“Ah, so why would we want to do that, nawab?” you say. “We can meet them head on in the real world anyway, can’t we?”

“Yes, of course, Papyrus. But you never have a second chance if you make a faux pas in real life, is it not? So what we have here is the game that mimics your life and turns it into play. It hones your social skills and makes you a little more of a child than an adult. A playful attitude is really helpful when manifesting your reality and taking control over your life, is it not? And what better way to take control than by letting your avatar play your most imaginary self in Mimics?”

“Wow, nawab,” says Danny, rolling his eyes. “This is like a Hollywood rehearsal for the role of a lifetime.”

“Yes, indeed,” chuckles the nawab. “Mimics is a life simulation game where you have total control over the life stages, needs, personality, relationships, career and even quirks of the characters you create. What’s more, you can build some pretty fabulous settings and scenarios, if you like, and live there.”

“I am not sure that I would want to put in all that effort to create an avatar of myself,” you say.

“Oh, Mimics is different, and it will hook you the moment you play it,” says the nawab, cheerfully. “It has a new kind of object-oriented operating system that taps into the complexity of social dynamics. The objects are smart, so if you introduce a coffee machine, Mimics will be able to make espresso without your having to reprogram the game. All you have to do is drop the object into the environment and it will make other things happen. The objects create their own response. It is as if the program senses anything new that you drop into it.”

“Wow, that is staggering,” says Danny. “Smart machines, eh?”

“My suggestion is that you create yourself and the people you want in your life—and of course those that are already in your life—and live your dream life in simulation. As you play the game, you will feel the excitement of dabbling with new technology without even buying it, the satisfaction of ticking off people who annoy you—including your bosses, and so on. You will find your avatar irresistible.”

“Oh, sure,” you say, wryly. “I suppose I could send him off to work and laze around at home?”

“Ah, Papyrus, that is indeed possible,” says the nawab, laughing. “One of the remarkable things we have done with Mimics is to make work seem like fun. And it is not just for adults. As my fourteen-year-old niece said recently, when I asked her what she liked about playing it, “You have got one Mimic who you have to get to school, and another who needs to get his breakfast, and another who has been up all night and is in a bad mood, and the house is dirty—oh, there are a hundred things to do!”

“So it is all about play imitating life, eh?” says Danny.

“You could say that, yes. Your Mimics have many human motives or needs—hunger, hygiene, bladder, comfort, energy, social, fun, and room—all of which are affected by objects in the world around them. Life for a Mimic is the pursuit of happiness, but happiness depends on social interaction and consumption, and consumption requires money. For example, the cheapest bed in Mimics, which costs three hundred ‘mimeos,’ earns your avatar one point of comfort and two points of energy; a three-thousand-mimeo bed carries seven points of comfort and six of energy. Everything, as in real life, is about economics.”

“So there is a cost attached to comfort, eh?”

“That’s right. The game is a real projection of how unchecked splurging can drain your resources. If you sit there and build a big bungalow full of luxuries, you soon realize that these lavish objects end up sucking up all your money and energy—when you thought all along that they would be bringing you comfort and saving you time.”

“That would apply to what we face every day at Baffle. IT vendors offering the latest technology that they promise will save us from all kinds of disasters—if only we spent money generously and immediately,” says DeVito.

“So what is it that makes Mimics so appealing? It’s just a game, right?” you ask.

“Ah, Papyrus, mimicry is incessant invention. This is a game that invites you to accept an illusion, or at least an imaginary space where you make the rules. The appeal lies in being another avatar in your own little drama. You are the player in control of this actor, and you are also the spectator watching yourself take actions. We have just taken the fun of playing with dolls, which has been our early childhood experience for thousands of years, and made it a virtual game.”

“Hey, nabob. Do you play Mimics too?”

“Of course, Danny,” says the nawab. “In my current game I have built a grand palace where I live with my kids, next to a beach. My palace has ample space for creative and meditative activities. I wake up in the morning; have tea on the balcony while sitting on my marble verandah admiring the view before going for a swim in the ocean. After a light lunch, I open my computer screen and get cracking on my next project—called Mimics 2.0, which is an advanced enterprise edition. This is the life!”