How a Virtual World Can Fuel Real-World Projects

There are two big visionary projects I've been working on (mostly in my head). At first, they seem diametrically opposed, but the more I write about them the more I notice how much they have in common. Once again, I find myself repeating Catholic writer Flannery O'Connor's words: I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say.

A New Kind of Virtual World

The first too-big-for-realists idea I have is to connect all the fantasy worlds in literature, cinema, and gaming in one big immersive, interactive, virtual internet for stories and games. In this virtual world, all imagined settings can exist in a single united gaming universe. If you're thinking, 'Oh, that's like the OASIS in Ready Player One', it's not. Hear me out.

The OASIS was designed to give people an escape from reality. The Ramblerverse, which is the working title for this crazy idea, will be more like an imaginarium workshop where people can explore ways to improve the real world and the human condition. The OASIS explores what it would be like if we didn't have to deal with the limits of our humanity. The Ramblerverse will explore what it means to be human.

Also, the Ramblerverse won't be a world within which all these other imaginary worlds exist. There would be all kinds of intellectual property right problems with that. Rather, the Ramblerverse will be a network that connects all of these worlds: an internet for stories and games. Companies and individuals still own everything on their websites. The internet just provides a network for connecting all the websites on the world wide web.

The Ramblerverse would do the same for fantasy stories, games, and anything that provides a fictional setting. Instead of just clicking links, scrolling, and browsing web pages though, the Ramblerverse would provide an avatar so you can immersively explore all the worlds it connects.

A New Kind of Town

The other crazy idea is to build a self-sufficient town that encourages agrarian lifestyles, autonomy, craftsmanship, and medieval technology. The Ramblerverse and the self-sufficient town---which I'm calling Hearth---seem like a thesis and antithesis for modern society. The Ramblerverse is in line with modern tech's trajectory, while Hearth is the gadfly that flies in the face of many modern expectations, seemingly opposed to progress.

But they both represent different kinds of progress that fit together like a plug and an outlet. There is an underlying truth that ties the two visions together. In this article, I attempt to explain it.

Bringing the Two Visions Together

What excites me about the Ramblerverse is the way it can give life and depth to our imagination. It can serve as a gateway to a new virtual frontier to explore. It can be a new outlet for creativity, a fresh venue for sharing stories, a way to connect across corporate boundaries, and a common world where people can build together.

But the Ramblerverse are and Hearth are both about restoring the human spirit to everyday life.

The mediums are different, but the goals are the same. The real thesis is this: Technology should serve human flourishing, not replace it. Technology should help us build a better world, not help us escape it. The Ramblerverse explores that principle through virtual reality. Hearth explores it through physical reality. The Ramblerverse can visualize and develop a vision, so Hearth can embody it.

One question I believe is somewhere within everyone's mind is, "What would a better world look like?" The virtual world I'm envisioning can help us imagine, theorize, and experiment with that question in mind.

The problem is, there would be no point to all of that imagining, theorizing and experimenting if we didn't then try to build something based on what we came up with or discovered.

How can we inspire people to build something great? We can start by giving them a canvas and interactive tools that help them visualize the vision in their minds. That's the purpose the Ramblerverse could serve.

So, the synthesis for these two massive projects has been hiding in plain sight. For years, I've been thinking about making a virtual world. Most people imagine virtual worlds as an escape from reality. But we need to imagine a virtual world that points people back toward reality. That's the unique angle the Ramblerverse could offer.

Imagine a virtual world where people learn architecture, agriculture, craftsmanship, entrepreneurship, community building, and more not because they're trapped there, but because they're preparing to build things in the real world.

The virtual world becomes a laboratory for building up civilization. The town becomes the prototype. One is the map. The other is the territory. One is the master plan. The other is the real estate.

Tools, not Toys

This article about the printing press argues that grand visions spread through new media. Books, the internet, video games, and virtual worlds are tools for spreading visions. The development of virtual worlds is an endeavor that can stretch its roots all the way back to the first myths. From oral myths and legends, all the way to the massive detailed open world video games we create, it's all an attempt to bring the human imagination to life.

For centuries, we simply didn't have the means to literally embody our imagination with actual bricks and mortar. But times have changed. Now it is much more possible than it used to be, probably more possible than ever. The Ramblerverse and Hearth are just different stages of the same process: vision, story, community, institution, civilization.

The Ramblerverse lives somewhere in the middle of that chain. The town lives near the end. I'm sharing the vision here. And, in case you didn't know, I've written the story in my first novel, The Last Rambler. The virtual community that the Ramblerverse will provide comes third.

The danger is in not trusting the process and trying to build everything all at once. That is bound to make everything fall apart. Or, in a best-case scenario, one of the projects would have to be abandoned.

So, I'm building the vision first with articles, books, and a newsletter. And I'm hoping a community will naturally spring from those endeavors, with the help of those who have a similar vision.

Finding and Building the Community

I know there are people out there who'd be excited about these projects, but they're probably scattered all around the world. That is one of the reasons why we should build the virtual world. Right now, all Rambling Spirit has is an online presence. A virtual reality would provide a universally reachable place where people can virtually gather around a vision; not just mine, but any vision. My vision is to provide a place where people can discuss and visualize any great idea. That visualization will then hopefully bring the ideas one step closer to fruition.

Someday, I hope to build a more tangible place in the real world to serve a similar end---like a public forum akin to those of ancient Greece and Rome. In fact, the first Roman basilicas served as forums before being converted to churches. One day, I hope our culture sees the value in building such places again.

But we know the way the world is going right now. It's digital. In fact, when we think of a forum, the first thing that comes to mind is probably an online group chat or discussion thread. That's why I believe the virtual forum is the next logical step in this process. We need to build a bridge between the imagination and the real world.

Before we can build real-world places that foster community, we need to find our tribe virtually so we can more easily visualize the ideas we have for building community in the real world.

The Ramblerverse would be one step closer to reality than the internet. Moving from faceless usernames to avatars we can look in the face is one step closer to the real world. Since we live in such a digital world, it behooves us to use it to help people get back to reality.

People may ask why not just encourage like-minded people to meet in person. There are a few reasons why I think that wouldn't work. The first I kind of already mentioned: There probably aren't that many people who share visions right now. By virtually shrinking the space where we can meet as a community, people won't have to travel miles and miles just to see that the community exists. I've tried looking for and even building community in the real world. It's too hard these days. We're too far apart and transient.

Also, the ideas discussed in the Ramblerverse will be too big to share in any physical format. Hypothetically, a group could meet in person and share their ideas digitally. But what's the point in that? Is someone going to travel hundreds or even thousands of dollars to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles just to share an idea? We need to think big and start small.

During the lockdowns of 2020-21, all of society shifted to a makeshift digital reality with video conferences, virtual meeting places, and live streaming. So, we learned years ago that people prefer to stay where they when sharing ideas and plans.

From Virtual to Physical

Then we build the physical community of Hearth fourth; after building the vision, the story, and the virtual community. Hearth will be the place where people embody their visions, whether that vision is a bakery or a virtual reality suit---it doesn't matter. Once we have a physical community built on the principle of bringing dreams to life, the embodied visions themselves will follow much more easily because they'd been in the making the whole time we were building up the stories and communities.

A town without a community is just real estate. A virtual world without a vision is just another game. The thing we've been building for 13 years here at Rambling Spirit isn't either. It's an unprecedented framework for a union between the virtual and real worlds.

People flourish when they share a meaningful vision and work together to bring it into reality. Religious orders have been doing this for centuries. St. Benedict’s "dream of communities of holy men became the motive force for a Christendom to replace the corrupt and desiccated old Rome."

Ramblerverse will form a community that helps us wonder and find answers to deep questions in an immersive environment that brings the human imagination to life.

The Sacramental Aspect

People may criticize the idea of a virtual world. They may say we shouldn't be in the business of trying to duplicate God's creation because God's creation is all we need right now. We live in a sacramental world, after all, and it's in this sacramental world---not some virtual one---that we will best encounter God.

I agree with that completely. I also believe that one important aspect of our sacramental reality is our own physical existence. As physical beings, we often need some sensual representation of the things in our minds. The real world often cannot accommodate our visions, our imaginations, or sometimes even our emotional needs. To provide a virtual world that offers sensual outlets for these human realities is a kind of charity.

Reality is tough and harsh. Sometimes dreams just can't come true. Sometimes pain is the only way through a hardship or tragedy. Sometimes, for instance, we just have to deal with the pain of missing someone.

I agree, to an extent.

The Ramblerverse wouldn't be a place to avoid the pain of reality. It would be a coping mechanism to help us deal with reality.

What if memories could be remade so we could do the things that we keep telling ourselves we ought to have done. Sure, it wouldn't matter in reality, but we are spiritual beings as well. And that kind of closure could help our spirit, and it can help the spirit of whoever we may have hurt.

You may say we can do this through prayer. And we can. But we are also physical beings. Through the sacraments, the Catholic Church offers physical signs of spiritual realities. The Ramblerverse can be sacramental by giving us sensual aids that help us along spiritually.

Personally, I've found that one of the best ways to get through hard times is to remember that there is so much more than the real world. Faith and imagination are the human faculties that help us realize there is something more. But, just as faith without works is dead, imagination without implementation is just wishful thinking. The Ramblerverse will help us see how we can bring our imagination into the real world.

Then, Hearth will incarnate the practical ideas we share in the Ramblerverse.

The whole point of the Ramblerverse is to inspire people to build something real in the real world. The imagination is not an escape from reality, but a training ground for reality. Before we can build a better world, we have to imagine one.

Featured image imagined with Chat GPT.