Some gamers already live in the Matrix.
From this very interesting article: Even the most open-ended games tend to offer a sense of progress and direction, completion and commitment.
In other words, they make people happy—or at least happier, serving as a buffer between the player and despair.
Video games, you might say, offer a sort of universal basic income for the soul.
Instead, I played video games.
They weren’t as good as a job.
[snip] Did all those hours playing games make me feel fulfilled?
At other times, I have let go of my controller late at night, overcome by existential emptiness and the realization that I have, yet again, just spent the better part of a day engaged in an activity of no practical value to me or anyone else.
I enjoy games, but not without some reservation.
And if I had to choose between gaming and work, I know I’d pick the latter.