The Illusion of Choice

We live in a free world. We can choose the type of food we like for dinner, where to meet our friends, and what clothes to buy. We are also able to decide which political party our votes go to, the gadgets which accompany us to wherever we go everyday and so on. The things we have, how we look, and how we carry ourselves, are the result of our individuality. We live in a free world of choice.

... Or is that really so...?

In this world there has been an increasing move towards expression of individualism. We all want to be different from one another, and this has often been exploited in advertisements. ("Get the new Chevrolet Cruze. It expresses your individualism." or the Dove commercial that says something along the line of "You are who you are") However, aren't we limited by the "choices" that are given by the circumstances? The clothes we buy in the shopping malls we go to are limited by the stock they carry in their stores. The ideas we spark off are limited by our knowledge, values and personal experience. The look of our in-game avatars are limited by the choices we are given by the game designer.

I thought of this issue again when I was randomly exploring the idea of expressing individualism in games, especially role playing games. As mentioned earlier, games these days allow players to customize their avatars to express individualism. This works, when the player base is small. However, when the player base is huge, problems arise. There has been complaints of how a player in World of Warcraft could see the exact same avatar as he strolls across the game map. As much as we try to cater to expressing individualism, there is still a probability of someone who acts and dresses the way you do.

This is when creativity comes in. We have to break away from the box of options we are given. If I want to be truly unique in my dressing, I have to design my own clothes. In relation to games, this is probably where user-created content comes in.

But how creative can one be? There is still the invisible box of values, personality and experience that one have, which shapes their thoughts and actions. And creative ideas cannot materialize unless the tools to create the crystallized idea are available.

And humans are lazy by nature. That is why it is always easier to fall back on existing convention(s).













True individualism is a lie.

The World Ends With You

"... The world ends with you. If you want to enjoy life, expand your world. You gotta push your horizons out as far as they’ll go."

-- Mr. H, The World Ends With You

"... the world ends with me. To expand my world, I have to learn to look farther--not write off other people’s values as inferior.
... Maybe I had it backwards. Maybe I need to open up to really enjoy..."

-- Neku Sakuraba, The World Ends With You

Everyone has different perceptions of the world (not only in terms of philosophy, psychology says so too!), and thus "the world" is different for every individual. Or a more accurate way to put it might be that we are all living in different worlds. In our individual worlds.

When people meet, their worlds and ideologies clash. Sometimes people open up to one another, allowing their different worlds to partially merge, and causing change to their own worlds. Sometimes when two worlds are simply too foreign, they just close up and reject each other. It may not be due to people "writing off other people's values as inferior", it might be more of people drawing boundaries of their worlds, to close off their worlds from other "unwanted elements" from other worlds.

There is no right or wrong to drawing boundaries I guess. In fact all worlds have their own boundaries, limited by the individual's values, ideas and personal experience. But, in order to really grow as an individual, although it is possible to expand one's world just by oneself, the potential of growth simply cannot be compared to exposing one to another's world. But... let's just be selective about which worlds to open our own worlds to, shall we?

Personal space

I guess I probably need lots and lots of time out on my own to chill out and reflect about the world I face...

What starts with F...

 and ends with the letters UCK?

...
...
...

Fire truck lah! What were you thinking? =Pp

My hair still smells of BBQ

... since the BBQ gathering last Sunday... omg!