Reading response to Baudrillard

Throughout this entire piece I only had one question in my mind that plagued me. I didn't not have the answer for myself, nor do I think Baudrillard, as smart as he is, really knew either. What does reality mean? We think of reality as what is happening to us. Reality is our experiences. What experiences count as "reality" and which ones as "fiction." As we explore new ways of creating communications and simulations we are testing our knowledge of what is real and what is not. Today we have so many different ways to create our own worlds within today's natural experience. In olden days the worlds we would create would be the stories we imagine or the dreams we have at night. These two ways to create our own worlds still exist today, but what about the interactions we have in role playing games online? Or what about dating websites? Or even the forums we find online? What do those worlds mean to us?

Personally I believe these are all new ways of forming an alternative reality. These are experiences some people have on a daily basis. None of them are too permanent, which is what I believe is the intent of these realities. These realities were never meant to become a way of reality, but a way of escaping and better your own reality. You see the idea of a video game is to allow the user to create their own little world, in which they can play God. This playing of God can get aggression out or a release of some kind of emotion. All powerful in your own world to forget that in reality you cannot control as much as you would like to think. A personalized world and it is all for the player's taking. A dating website is simply a place to find love. A reality in which that the hope of love is shared with many other romantics. It is simply a virtual reality that is a club for the romantic. Forums are much similar to this. They are realities in which people with similar interests meet and discuss.

Simulation does not mean that you are not in reality but in an alternative one in which you can be what you please and the bonds you make can be just as strong as a lover's, companion's or friend's. In all of the examples shown we can see that they are all a type of reality. I guess I just answered my own question about the piece, but I think it is still worth it to mention it. The piece very well could have very well answered it, but who knows. Baudrillard had a lot to say, and was very dense about his writing.