Death Through Gaming

Death Through Gaming – Work in a Different Online Milieu
It has been stated that “the model of the thing is the thing itself.” From that perspective, every room, every space in a game is a reflection of a bardo chamber — the actual chamber itself. One can utilize gaming spaces as places in which to practice bardo voyaging or the ‘between-lives’ state. While playing, we are without a body within the game just as we are without a body after death. However, we may still undergo sensations and perceptions as residual effects even though we are bodiless. In a game (despite the fact that the character in the game is only a three dimensional rendering created with pixels of light) one can experience feelings of discomfort, paranoia and panic — also joy, wonder and surprise — due to voyaging within a particular space.

By all reports, the dissolution of the psyche in death is an overwhelming experience in which one can easily be set adrift by the shocking ambushes of the bardos. One has a better chance of not taking an unwise rebirth if the study of bardo training has occurred during one’s lifetime. Texts such as

The Bardo Thodol

and The American Book of the Dead are examples of resources to which one can turn as tools for this training. Upon entering a game, it is immediately obvious that you don’t know where you are. You are in a space where anything can happen and you don’t know who else is with you, if anyone at all. Quake’s Capture the Flag or Teamfortress are examples of publicly available online games that offer excellent opportunities in which to deal with the unexpected and often disarming events of scrimmage, flag steals and ambushes by enemy players. As a discipline or practice, one must use one’s full attention and work on the development of impartiality and good bardo habits in order to survive this particular space. And then, of course, one experiences the endless cycle of life-death-respawn, life-death-respawn, life-death-respawn again and again during the course of a few rounds of gameplay.

So much for games currently available to the public. Recently, I have been playing another sort of game created by a group of folks who have produced several hundred levels of games to be played either singly or as a group. There is no violence or killing in these games. Usually they are a series of mazes set within eerily familiar dreamscapes that one senses as fleeting glimpses of things half-remembered. These gaming levels or orbs have been known to evoke feelings associated with those one experiences in the bardos. The main creator-in-residence is no other than E.J. Gold, author of the American Book of the Dead and he recommends the running of these orbs as a great way to practice voyaging in the bardos. On a personal note, I can say that I have had some rather dramatic experiences while traveling within these orbs. It has allowed me to develop a certain sense of perseverance and skill in finding my way within alien terrain. Fear, panic and impatience have lessened and, through the use of a high attention, intuition and sensing have grown. Part two of this series will describe some practical exercises one can use in these spaces with which to prepare for the death experience. Although this game is not currently available to the public, special levels have been made available to those truly in need. If you would like more information about the exploration of death through gaming feel free to contact us at www.fairgame.org/godd or (800)869-0658