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RPG, in the most basic sense, is taking the role of another character that is not yourself. Often in RPG people can take on the role that they desire or can’t take in reality. In other terms, I can say that the private self is better displayed in an RPG rather than in reality. I think the use of RPG can easily trigger us to think of the illusionary world and how it can contrast the reality. Ultimately the highest level of the RPG is presented to us as the real world. I think what Oshii tries to say is that don’t consider the world we live in right now as the true reality or at least don’t be sure about it since there could have been another world in a different dimension that when compared to, refers our world as the illusion.
RPG is the genre that makes the most sense for the movie since the point of the game is that you play a role that is typically very different from your real self. Not only do you play a different role than your identity but other players in the game also play a role. This is similar to the concept of the mediated self because being in the virtual reality RPG is like creating a new identity for yourself in a different world. What Oshii might be trying to say with this is that what may seem to be our true reality not even be real but could be a role we play.
Although I question whether Oshii has ever played the kind of RPG that he is trying to portray in this movie (granted this film predates the largest MMOs of the last decade,) he seems to understand, at the very least, the essence of the RPG. Though the mechanics of the game either nonexistent or vague, the motivations of the characters who inhabit the game world seem consistent with those of real life gamers and function as a commentary on the essence of escapism in human life. These people seek escape from their humdrum, awful sepia lives (although I am not yet convinced that the game world, from my perspective, is any better) to experience exciting adventures and exercise powers unavailable to them in real life. Like the infamous “real-life” simulator type MMOs that have surprisingly large playerbases, the deepest level of Avalon is just a copy of a better version of the real world. The “Level Real” realm demonstrates the fundamental human desire to leap to a dimension more bright and vibrant than our own, whether through video games or through a painfully yellow movie about games.
Oshii chooses to make Avalon an RPG because of what an RPG is. An RPG is a game in which the player assumes a new person and can live that characters life to the fullest, typically with adventures that cannot happen in the real world. With Ash’s real world being far less than ideal and her losing herself in the world of the game, having the Avalon be an RPG makes perfect sense. Countless kids use RPG’s as an escape from reality, a place where they can be anything and everything they dream of. Oshii also uses this to give commentary on what is truly real in life. Depending on who is asked, reality could mean anything. There is nothing that makes the life within the game less of a reality than life outside of the game. By choosing a game genre that allows an escape from life, Oshii analyzes this comparison and allows the characters to choose for themselves what their reality is.
In a role playing game, players take on the role of a character and such a game often gives the player a chance to live a life completely different from one’s own. In Avalon, using a role playing game scenario is quite fitting because it allows for Ash to shape her own life and escape her bland life that she is living and immerse herself in to a new action-packed environment. Oshii uses this to raise questions of what exactly is reality especially in the case where the virtual reality is displayed as one that is more real and lively than the actual world. Oshii is saying that people can choose the reality they want to live in and how life is partially how one interprets it to be.
First, I’m not a huge fan of the RPG in this movie. The nature of the game made special effects fairly necessary, and to be honest, the effects were not enjoyable. Part of that of course was the extent of the technology during that time, but I also think a lot of it was stylistic choice. The role of the RPG in Oshii’s message is pretty critical in this movie. The theme that we revisit often in our class is that of illusion vs reality. The RPG is the basis for the whole illusion part of this message, more specifically what prevents the RPG from becoming “real-life”. Ash definitely struggles a lot with this, neglecting her “real” self, and placing priority over issues she faces within the game. I think Oshii wants to raise the question of what makes reality “real”.
I was a player of RPG games such as Fall Out. I think the most important feature that characterizes RPG games is that people can create alternative personas that more or less reflect themselves, or contain their ideal personalities. Players through RPG can raise the avatar in the game as if they are to enhance themselves. Thus, Oshii decided to choose this genre as a media to present his perspective about subjective reality, because RPG games mark the boundary between the reality and the illusion. In Avalon, since RPG is characterized as the game that has realistic elements, Oshii can more extensively talk about the confusion of reality and illusion in the movie.
Oshii chooses to portray Avalon on the set of a role playing game with the main emphasis being that the sense of self created within the game has the ability to effect a persons actual identity. Like Ash, who’s reality is stark when juxtaposed to the success she has in Avalon, games like this allow players to disguise their reality with something else, a better and more enjoyable reality, much like Class Real allows Murphy to do. Since the game is entirely inside of the players mind, it is easy for Oshii to pose the question as to what is the actual reality, especially with the layers of “inception” that a provided, and by doing such he questions what actual reality is; is it what people see in their minds? Or instead, the actual legitimate world people live in.
RPG is meant to be an immersive experience in which a player can identify himself/herself as the protagonist of a game. In a way, a good RPG should make the game world feel real to the player as the player takes on the role of a protagonist.
For Oshii, the RPG Avalon is a way for him to make a statement that one chooses one’s own reality. To Ash, the game is more real than her actual life since the game is more fulfilling to her in every way. In the ending, when Ash had the ultimate choice to either stay in Real or move on to Avalon, she chose Avalon over “reality”. This is because to her, the RPG Avalon is her reality; everything else is “fake” to her.
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