Holodeck - Fantasy or Reality?

I am an avid reader, and one of the reasons I love to do it is that I become lost in story. I am able to shut out the outside world for awhile, but, as pointed out in class on several occasions, I am always able to shut the book at any point and return to reality. Janet Murray describes the holodeck as a sophisticated book that the user can immerse her or himself in, but like the book, it can be turned off or shut by the user at any point. But could it really? Is it that cut and dry? I don't think so.


One of the reasons I can stop reading a book at any point, whether I want to or not, is that I still am conscious of where I actually am, and it is those outside influences that keep me grounded and enable me to separate fantasy from reality. However, if there are no outside influences then how are people supposed to stay grounded without the contrast? How are they to keep their fantasies from becoming their realities? In the example that Murray used, Janeway becomes engrossed in the created world of the holodeck. While in the holodeck she becomes part of the story. The characters become real, her character becomes real, and just when she is in the thick of the story, a voice interrupts her and she freezes the holodeck program. Would she have been able to freeze the program without being reminded, by the outside source, that her story world is nothing but a complex illusion?

Another reason that I can stop reading a book or watching a movie is that it ends. Murray's holodeck programs are potentially unending. After a period of time, could it be possible to separate one created world from another? Would the lines of fantasy and reality blur until the user can no longer differentiate between them? I saw on a T.V. show a woman who has what is termed as an obsession with The Lord of the Rings. To her the characters are real, and they are her friends. She has the cardboard cut outs that they use as promotional displays in movie theaters of all the main characters in the movie trilogy. She does everything with them. She takes them out to eat with her family, a husband and two children, and even orders for them speaking in there voices, such as a child playing with a toy making it talk. She even places them around her kitchen table and plays cards with them. When it is a character's turn she picks up their cards and plays for them as if the cardboard cutout is really the one playing. She has taken her fantasy, her story and blended it with her reality. Another example is the video game World of War Craft.

My younger brother and his friends constantly play this game. When talking about the characters they control in the game, they speak in terms of I, my and me. "I am a level 60 wizard," or sum such. They have become so involved in the game that the characters and the virtual world have become extensions of themselves. About two months ago, my brother and one of his friends were telling me about a guy, an avid WOW player, who had died. The guild that he was a part of had all of their characters meet at a certain location within the game, without armor and whatnot, and held a funeral to commemorate their friend. During the WOW funeral, a rival guild who new about the funeral, had their characters hidden and ambushed the funeral, killing all of the players' characters. What I thought most interesting about this was the reactions of my brother and his friend. My brother thought it was funny as hell, but his friend on the other hand was seriously angered by the actions of the rival guild. Again fantasy is blended with reality. In reality no one was hurt, except the guy who had died, but in the virtual world of WOW, a heinous crime was committed, that to my brother's friend should be avenged not only in the game but in reality too.