TED演講者：Noah Raford / 諾亞·拉福德

演講標題：How gaming can be a force for good / 如果使游戲成為向善之力

內(nèi)容概要：If you think social media is powerful, keep an eye on immersive video games, says futurist Noah Raford. As more and more people are drawn into gaming and virtual worlds, the communities they forge are spawning real-world social movements. Raford urges us to recognize what's really going on -- and then harness those forces to build the future we want.

未來主義者諾亞·拉福德（Noah Raford）說：“如果你認為社交媒體非常強大，那么就請你關(guān)注一下沉浸式電子游戲?！比藗儗τ螒蚝吞摂M世界趨之若鶩，他們構(gòu)建的社群甚至涉及了現(xiàn)實世界中的社會運動。拉福德讓我們?nèi)デ宄私庖幌卢F(xiàn)狀，利用這些力量打造我們想要的未來。

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【1】Do you spend more money on virtual fashion in video games than you do on physical clothes?

比起實體的服裝,你有沒有 在電子游戲中的虛擬裝扮上 花過更多的錢？

【2】About a third of all teenage gamers in America do.

有差不多三分之一的 美國青少年玩家會這么做。

【3】Do you think the government is actually run by a secret cabal of demon-worshiping perverts?

你會不會覺得政府是由一個 崇拜惡魔的變態(tài)們 組成的秘密團體統(tǒng)治的？

【4】About 50 million people do.

有 5000 萬人這么覺得。

【5】(Laughter) These numbers sound crazy to you?

（笑聲） 這些數(shù)字很離譜嗎？

【6】It's because they are, but they're also a sign of things to come.

確實很離譜, 但也是未來的預(yù)兆。

【7】The world feels like a pretty insane place right now.

我們的世界現(xiàn)在一團亂麻。

【8】And if you spend any time on the internet at all, you can probably tell that people think it's going to get a lot worse.

如果你上網(wǎng)看看, 你會發(fā)現(xiàn)人們都認為 情況只會越來越糟。

【9】Now, that may be the case, but this feeling is why I believe that we're going to see a rise in social unrest in the coming decades, and that is going to come from a surprising place.

也許確實是對的, 這也是為什么我覺得 在接下來幾十年里 會更頻繁地出現(xiàn)社會動蕩, 而這些動蕩的出處 會讓你意想不到——

【10】Video games.

電子游戲。

【11】Now before you think, "Is this going to be another talk linking video game to violence?"

你可能會想:“這又是那種 把電子游戲和暴力扯在一起的演講吧？”

【12】Sorry to disappoint you, that’s been proven conclusively wrong, and that is really old thinking.

不好意思讓你失望了, 這已經(jīng)被證實是一個錯誤的說法了, 太封建了。

【13】But what I am going to argue is that video games are going to become the platform through which tomorrow's social battles will be fought and the source of recruitment for some of the strangest and possibly most impactful social movements of the future.

但是我想說, 電子游戲會成為 未來社會戰(zhàn)爭的戰(zhàn)場, 也會是未來最詭異、 也許是最有影響力的 社會運動的參與者來源。

【14】I like to call these video gamecults.

我想稱之為“電子游戲邪教”。

【15】Sounds kind of scary, I admit, but I hope to show how they might also be used as a tool to cause some serious hope.

我承認聽起來有點嚇人, 但是我想給大家展示 它們?nèi)绾吸c燃 一些切實的未來希望。

【16】Now this is all just my personal opinion.

這只是我的個人觀點。

【17】But I started thinking about this a few years ago after I heard a very interesting story while working in the Gulf.

但是自從幾年前 我在波斯灣工作的時候, 聽到了一個非常有意思的故事, 我就開始有了這樣的想法。

【18】The story was about Hassan ibn Sabbah, a charismatic young preacher who lived about 1,000 years ago in an age full of drama, conflict and social change.

故事的主人公是哈?！け尽に_巴赫 （Hassan ibn Sabbah）, 他是一個非常有魅力的年輕牧師, 來自大約一千年前, 那個時代充滿了戲劇性、 沖突和社會變革。

【19】Hassan became famous for creating the Order of Assassins: a fanatically devoted group of young men known as the fedayeen, "those who sacrifice themselves."

哈桑因創(chuàng)立阿薩辛派 （Order of Assassins）而成名: 一群狂熱、忠誠的年輕人, 稱為“敢死隊”（fedayeen）, 意為“自我犧牲者”。

【20】His men were so devoted to him that, the legend goes, they would throw themselves from the rafters to their death at his command.

這些人對他十分忠誠, 傳說 只要他一聲令下, 他們就愿意跳樓自殺。

【21】Actually, this is where we get the expression "a leap of faith" from.

這也就是“信仰之躍”的來源。

【22】So this got me thinking.

于是我就想,

【23】Why would someone do this?

怎么會有人愿意做這種事？

【24】What could convince someone so fervently to believe in something that they would welcome their own death?

如何才能說服一個人 如此狂熱地崇拜一樣?xùn)|西, 狂熱到他們可以坦然了結(jié)自己？

【25】The answer is 11th century virtual reality.

答案就是“ 11 世紀虛擬現(xiàn)實”。

【26】See, Hassan had cultivated a myth that he could send people to heaven and bring them back again without actually having to die.

哈桑捏造了一個神話: 他可以把人送入天堂再接回來, 人也不會真的去死。

【27】And of course, he didn't actually have this power, but before a mission, the story goes, he would dose his soldiers with massive amounts of hash.

當(dāng)然,他也沒這能耐, 但是在任務(wù)開始之前, 他會讓手下大量嗑藥。

【28】(Laughter) Their enemies actually called them the "?ashshāshīn,"

（笑聲） 他們的敵人稱他們?yōu)?“?ashshāshīn”,

【29】which is also where we get the word "assassin" from.

也是“刺客”（assassin） 一詞的來源。

【30】This would knock them out and then he would lower them down into a secret garden he had built behind his mountain fortress, designed to look exactly like a replica of heaven.

他把這些年輕人打暈,拖到 一個建在山寨后面的秘密花園里去, 照搬了天堂的外觀。

【31】Waking up in this simulated paradise, his men would gorge themselves on all the things they had been denied in life.

這些人在這模擬天堂中醒來, 縱情享受 之前人生中的禁忌之物。

【32】Then, after a night of ecstasy, they would awaken back in their barracks, convinced of Hassan's powers, eager to fulfill his suicide missions in order to return to heaven again.

在這一夜紙醉金迷之后, 他們又在小破屋中醒來, 對哈桑的力量五體投地, 迫不及待自殺一次, 這樣可以重返天堂。

【33】So.

所以,

【34】What does this have to do with today?

和今時今日有什么關(guān)系呢？

【35】Well, most scholars agree that this is probably just a myth, but that's not the point.

大多數(shù)學(xué)者認為這只是個傳說, 但是這不重要。

【36】The point is that people believed deeply in Hassan and his vision for the world and were willing to sacrifice their lives for it.

重要的是人們對哈桑和 他對世界的暢想深信不疑, 甚至愿意犧牲自己的性命 前往這個世界。

【37】He gave them a sense of meaning and purpose during a time of great uncertainty.

哈桑在動蕩時期 給予了這些人 人生的意義和使命感。

【38】A purpose which he communicated using the best tools of his day.

他用當(dāng)時最有力的工具 傳達了這個使命。

【39】And that is what brings us to video games.

也就牽扯上了電子游戲。

【40】Video games are already the world's dominant form of entertainment.

電子游戲已經(jīng)是 世界上最主流的娛樂形式。

【41】They're three times larger than the entire global film and music industries combined.

電子游戲行業(yè) 比全球電影和音樂產(chǎn)業(yè) 加起來大三倍。

【42】Every year, the top streamers on Twitch receive on average twice as many views as the biggest Hollywood movies.

每年, Twitch 平臺上的頂流博主 比最火爆的好萊塢電影 達成的觀影量大約多一倍。

【43】And collectively, we spend twice as much time watching and playing video games as we do using all other forms of social media combined.

合計起來, 我們在觀看、打游戲上花的時間 要比花在其他所有 社交媒體上的時間多一倍。

【44】That's a lot of eyeballs.

這可是萬眾矚目。

【45】Game sales are huge, but the real action is in in-game economies where people spend over 130 billion dollars a year buying and selling virtual goods online.

游戲本身的銷量巨大, 但是更大頭在于游戲內(nèi)的交易, 人們每年會在虛擬商品的 線上交易上 花費超過 1300 億美元。

【46】Everything from outfits to avatars, to vehicles to weapons, to dances to architecture to music, to access to live events and more.

服飾、虛擬形象、坐騎、武器、 舞蹈動作、建筑、音樂、 在線活動入場券等等。

【47】Haven't even mentioned NFT or Web3, but these hopefully will become the infrastructure that drives this going forward.

我都還沒提到 NFT 或者 Web3, 但是它們很有可能 會成為驅(qū)動未來的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施。

【48】So if you're wondering what the metaverse looks like, this is it.

如果你想知道 元宇宙是什么樣子的, 就是這樣的。

【49】The reason games are so successful is because they provide a deep sense of engagement, community and purpose.

游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)大獲成功的原因是 它提供了一種參與感、 社群感和使命感。

【50】Yes, we use them to escape and to entertain, and that’s OK.

沒錯,我們通過游戲逃避現(xiàn)實、 娛樂身心,這很正常。

【51】But at their best, they speak to some of our primal social and psychological needs, from feeling effective to achieving our goals, to belonging to a group, to working for something bigger than yourself.

但是最佳的情況是 游戲可以抒發(fā)我們最初級的 社交和心理需求, 無論是達成目標的成就感、 團體歸屬感, 還是努力成就大業(yè)的激情。

【52】Describing his experience in a top World of Warcraft guild, the player Wincy once wrote, "It felt so amazing...

玩家 Wincy 描述了他在 魔獸世界頂級公會中的經(jīng)歷: “太爽了……

【53】Thinking back, it was probably the most intense, positive emotional experience of my life.

回想一下,這也許是我人生中 最濃墨重彩、 最振奮人心的一段經(jīng)歷了。

【54】Not my kid being born, not getting married."

不是我孩子出生的時刻, 也不是我結(jié)婚的時刻?！?/p>

【55】(Laughter) "My mind was convinced we were in a war against an insurmountable foe and we won."

（笑聲） “我的信念是 我們正在與勁敵戰(zhàn)斗, 然后我們贏了?！?/p>

【56】You can probably see where I'm going with this.

你可能會猜到接下來的走向。

【57】Although he later went on to regret the amount of time he spent online, gamers develop a deep sense of commitment to a shared narrative world.

雖然后來他后悔 在線上花了這么多時間, 玩家們還是全情投入了 這個共享的虛擬世界。

【58】A world which provides for them in a way that "real-world" jobs and relationships often do not.

這個世界為他們帶來 “現(xiàn)實”工作和人際關(guān)系 通常無法提供的價值。

【59】And this is already the world that our children live in.

這也是我們的孩子 身處的世界。

【60】The only thing that my son and daughter want for their birthdays are Skyblock coins and digital emotes for their characters.

我的兒女想要的生日禮物 是空島生存（Skyblock）幣 和他們角色的虛擬表情。

【61】Most of their social time outside of school is spent hanging out in-game with their friends.

他們大部分的課余社交時間 都花在了和朋友們 在游戲里玩耍上。

【62】My son Teo, he's already flipping NFTs to, in his words, get rich as quickly as possible so he can take care of us when the world falls apart.

我的兒子提奧（Teo）, 已經(jīng)開始倒賣 NFT,用他的話說, 他想迅速發(fā)家致富, 這樣他就能在 地球毀滅的時候保護我們。

【63】Thanks Teo, appreciate that.

謝謝提奧。

【64】That's why I think games are going to be one of the driving forces of tomorrow's culture.

這就是為什么我覺得游戲 會是未來文化的一種驅(qū)動力。

【65】But if that's the game's part, what about the cults part?

但這說的是“游戲”的部分, 那“邪教”的部分呢？

【66】Well, I'm sure we can all agree that the coming years are going to be interesting, to say the least.

我覺得我們都同意 接下來的幾年 至少會比較有趣。

【67】From climate change, mass migration, pandemics, job loss and now war.

氣候變化,大規(guī)模移民, 疫情,失業(yè), 現(xiàn)在又有了戰(zhàn)爭。

【68】The future feels terrifying for many people.

對很多人來說, 未來很恐怖。

【69】And this is having a tremendous impact on our mental health.

這也嚴重影響了我們的心理健康。

【70】One third of all US undergraduates surveyed report having moderate to severe anxiety.

三分之一的美國大學(xué)生受訪者 表示他們有中度至重度焦慮。

【71】Their rates of suicidal thinking and severe depression doubled over the last decade or so.

他們患有自殺傾向和重度抑郁的比例 自過去十年翻了一倍。

【72】And COVID didn't help.

新冠肺炎只會這個情況更糟。

【73】But it's not just the US, either.

這也不只是美國的情況。

【74】Two thirds of those surveyed in a study of 17 different countries reported that they thought their children were going to grow up poorer and not have successful careers.

來自 17 個國家的三分之二受訪者 表示他們覺得 孩子會越長越差, 以后也不會事業(yè)有成。

【75】In other words, the world feels like it's falling apart for a lot of people.

換句話說, 很多人都覺得地球要毀滅了。

【76】And when worlds fall apart, people start looking for answers wherever they can find them.

等到地球真的要毀滅的時候, 人們就會開始竭盡所能尋找答案。

【77】And charismatic leaders like Hassan have always been happy to provide them.

像哈桑這樣的魅力領(lǐng)袖 就樂于給予他們這樣的答案。

【78】And their actions have shaped the course of history.

他們的行為影響了歷史的走向。

【79】From the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century to the rise of new religious movements in the 19th century, every era of social change historically has been followed by a wave of new believers and fanatical behavior.

無論是 16 世紀的新教改革, 還是 19 世紀 層出不窮的新教運動, 歷史上每個 社會變革的時代都伴隨著 一大波新信徒和狂熱行為。

【80】QAnon is just the most recent example.

“匿名者 Q”（QAnon） 就是最近的一個例子。

【81】And while each generation's cults look different and the definition of a cult is certainly up for debate, they do share general characteristics.

雖然每一代的邪教看起來不太一樣, 人們對“邪教”的定義也各執(zhí)一詞, 但是它們還是有一些共同的特征。

【82】The first is that they inspire a sense of higher purpose, often through a lens of good versus evil, where you are the hero, that creates a sense of passion or commitment that seems insane or irrational to the outsider.

首先,它們會激發(fā) 一種崇高的使命感, 通常通過構(gòu)建好壞對立, 而你是其中正義的一方, 引發(fā)一種在外人看來 十分瘋狂不理智的 狂熱或獻身精神。

【83】And the second is that they adopt the form of and use the tools of the dominant organizations of their day.

第二,它們會采取 當(dāng)時的主流組織 采用的形式和工具。

【84】From the church to the corporation to the social media network to our subject for today, the metaverse.

教會、 企業(yè)、 社交媒體網(wǎng)絡(luò), 再到現(xiàn)今炙手可熱的 元宇宙。

【85】So what happens when you mix billions of people looking for meaning, safety and security with widespread virtual worlds, crypto economies and gaming culture?

如果你把數(shù)十億 追求意義和安全的人 和遍地開花的虛擬世界、 加密經(jīng)濟模式、游戲文化 混雜在一起,會怎么樣？

【86】The answer, I believe, is “gamecults.” Large-scale social movements powered by extreme or bizarre beliefs, birthed in virtual worlds, driven by game dynamics, but with real-world consequence.

我相信答案會是“游戲邪教”。 大規(guī)模的社會運動 由極端或者怪異的信仰驅(qū)使, 誕生于虛擬世界, 驅(qū)動于游戲動機, 但是會造成現(xiàn)實世界中的后果。

【87】The future is about to get weird.

未來越來越詭異了。

【88】We can already see examples of this all around us.

身邊的例子屢見不鮮。

【89】We just haven't had a name for it yet.

只是我們還沒為這種情況命名。

【90】Softer versions look like BTS stans swarming Donald Trump rallies online, but more extreme versions look like Hezbollah's own custom-made video game called Special Forces, designed to recruit young people and train them to kill their enemies.

一個不那么極端的例子是 一個更極端的例子是 黎巴嫩真主黨自制的電子游戲, 稱為“真主黨特種部隊” 旨在招募年輕人, 訓(xùn)練他們, 讓他們殺光敵人。

【91】White nationalist groups are hosting Call of Duty tournaments online to attract followers, and there are Roblox games where you can drive your car through Black Lives Matter protesters or assume the role of Kyle Rittenhouse and shoot anti-fascist protesters.

白人國家主義團體在線上 組織使命召喚錦標賽, 吸引粉絲, 在一個羅布樂思（Roblox） 出的游戲中,你可以開車 穿過“黑人的命也是命”（BLM）的 抗議者隊伍, 代入你就是凱爾·里滕豪斯 （Kyle Rittenhouse）,

【92】And there are many other examples, but all of them are wrapped in a layer of Discord servers and YouTube channels and podcasts that act as the funnel to draw you deeper into a web of extremism and radical behavior.

還有很多的例子, 它們由 Discord 服務(wù)器、 Youtube 頻道、播客引導(dǎo), 這些渠道會把你引向極端主義 和激進行為的魔窟。

【93】What starts on the screen no longer stays on the screen.

屏幕里的事 將蔓延至屏幕之外。

【94】QAnon is a perfect example of this.

“匿名者 Q” 就是一個完美的例子。

【95】What started on 4chan and Facebook, mutated into a live-action role-playing group for evangelical militants and ended up as an anti-vaccination campaign.

起家自 4chan 網(wǎng)和臉譜網(wǎng), 逐漸演化成了一個 實況角色扮演集團, 充滿了狂熱的激進分子, 最后搞了一個反疫苗活動。

【96】Before you know it, we have a million excess deaths from COVID in the United States and a political landscape far stranger than anything we've ever seen.

可以給你分享一下, 美國有超一百萬人 死于新冠, 政治局勢前所未有地怪異離奇。

【97】The same is going to be true for games.

游戲也是如此。

【98】First you're a player, then you're a fan, soon you're in a clan, and before you know it, you're invading the Capitol.

你先成為了一名玩家, 然后是一個粉絲, 不久你加入了一個幫派, 還沒等你反應(yīng)過來, 你已經(jīng)在入侵國會大廈了。

【99】So I'm a futurist.

我是個未來主義者。

【100】And there's a saying with futurists, that your job is not to just predict the automobile, but to predict the traffic jams.

有人這么說未來主義者, 你的工作不單單是預(yù)測汽車, 而是預(yù)測路況。

【101】So what might this look like in 10 or 20 years, when widespread augmented and virtual reality meets thriving crypto economies and a generalized crisis of meaning?

所以在 10 年、20 年之后, 增強現(xiàn)實和虛擬現(xiàn)實 廣泛普及, 加密經(jīng)濟蓬勃發(fā)展,追尋意義已經(jīng) 見棄于人,會是什么樣的情形？

【102】Well in the future, games are going to be everywhere.

未來, 游戲?qū)o處不在。

【103】They're going to move from our screens and onto the streets around us.

它們會走出屏幕,走上街頭。

【104】Hundreds of millions, if not billions of people will be buying, selling, making and trading virtual goods online.

不說幾十億人, 至少有幾億人 會在線上買賣、制造、 交易虛擬物品。

【105】They're going to assume roles as characters, follow quests and get real-world money for in-game performance.

他們會選擇虛擬角色, 踏上征途,根據(jù)游戲內(nèi)的表現(xiàn) 賺取現(xiàn)實中的報酬。

【106】Guilds, corporations and clans will form around them.

他們周圍會組建 公會、集團、幫派。

【107】They might start offering salaries, paying benefits, and providing real-world services like education or health care or even security.

也許會付工資、給福利, 提供一些現(xiàn)實生活中的服務(wù), 如教育、醫(yī)療,甚至是安保。

【108】People's entire lives will be built around their characters and their stories, particularly if things get really bad.

人們的整個人生將圍繞著 他們的角色和故事形成, 尤其是在人生 不那么順利的時候。

【109】And those stories will come to dominate popular culture and politics.

這些故事會主導(dǎo) 流行文化和政治走向。

【110】Now, thankfully, not all of them will be harmful, but some will be violently evangelical in their nature.

好在不是所有游戲都在干壞事, 但是有些游戲的本質(zhì)就是 具有強烈煽動性的。

【111】It's got me thinking, there must be a better way that we can use these dynamics to heal instead of harm.

我不禁想, 一定有一個更好的方法 讓我們通過這些游戲 產(chǎn)生正面影響而不是負面影響。

【112】So I started thinking, what might this look like?

所以我想, 會是一種什么樣的情形呢？

【113】How can we explore possible futures for positive gamecults?

我們該如何探索 正向“游戲邪教”的未來呢？

【114】So here are just three examples I came up with a few friends.

我和我的朋友們想到了 以下三個例子。

【115】Consider Druidica, a Minecraft-like nature game designed to restore damaged ecosystems and preserve indigenous knowledge.

Druidica 是一個《我的世界》 （Minecraft）性質(zhì)的游戲, 旨在修復(fù)被破壞的生態(tài)系統(tǒng), 保護當(dāng)?shù)匚幕?/p>

【116】Or perhaps Walkabout, Walkabout， a Rust-like survival game for refugees designed to encourage skill sharing, interdependence and mutual aid linked to scriptural messages of tolerance and compassion.

一個類似于《腐蝕》（Rust）的 生存游戲,面向難民, 鼓勵共享技能、 相互依賴、互相幫助, 傳達《圣經(jīng)》中的 寬容和憐憫之意。

【117】Or perhaps Temple, a pray-to-earn game, linked to a network of nondenominational meditation spaces where players can perform coordinated acts of care to level up on the good works board.

還有 Temple, 一個“邊祈禱邊賺”形式的游戲, 提供一個無宗教 冥想空間網(wǎng)絡(luò), 玩家可以組織關(guān)愛活動, 提高善行榜上的等級。

【118】A kind of, decentralized church of kindness, powered maybe by HOLY coin.

就像是一種 去中心化的善意教會, 也許由 HOLY 幣（意為“圣幣”, 虛構(gòu)的虛擬貨幣,類比 ETH 等）支持。

【119】It's clear that something like this is coming.

類似這樣的現(xiàn)象近在眼前。

【120】The question is: What can we do about it now?

問題是:我們現(xiàn)在能做些什么呢？

【121】As we've learned from social media, technological fixes and regulatory restrictions will only go so far.

我們從社交媒體得到的教訓(xùn)是 技術(shù)修復(fù)和監(jiān)管限制 已經(jīng)到了終點。

【122】And in the attention economy of political priorities, gamecults are clearly quite low.

但是在這政治優(yōu)先級導(dǎo)向的 注意力經(jīng)濟（attention economy）中, 游戲邪教并沒有受到多少重視。

【123】But that’s OK, it means we still have time to do something about them.

沒關(guān)系, 這意味著我們還能為此做點什么。

【124】That's why I think that everyone, from policymakers to players to game designers and gamers should be having a conversation about what this means right now.

這也就是為什么我認為每個人, 無論你是政策制定者、參與者、 還是游戲設(shè)計師和玩家, 現(xiàn)在都該思考一下 它代表著什么。

【125】If you are a media company, you should be talking to experts in radicalization.

如果你有一家媒體公司, 你該去和激進化專家談?wù)劇?/p>

【126】If you are a game company, you should be speaking to those who don't understand gaming dynamics and the communities around them.

如果你有一家游戲公司, 你該去和那些 不懂游戲動機的人談一談, 了解一下他們身邊的社群。

【127】If you're a church or a religious institution, you should be understanding how people use these tools to build beliefs and what they're believing.

如果你經(jīng)營著 一個宗教組織的教會, 你該去了解一下人們 如果運用這些工具構(gòu)建信仰 和他們信奉的事物。

【128】And finally, perhaps most importantly, if you're a parent, you should be playing games with your kids to understand the world that they're growing up in and to have a conversation with them about the role that they might play in it.

最后一點,也許也是最重要的一點, 如果你有孩子, 你該和你的孩子們一起打打游戲, 了解一下他們成長的環(huán)境, 和他們聊一聊 他們應(yīng)該在其中扮演什么樣的角色。

【129】Someone's going to connect these dots.

會有人清醒地看透這一切。

【130】The question is: Who is going to be our modern-day Hassan?

問題是: 誰會成為當(dāng)代的哈桑呢？

【131】And will the games of tomorrow be games of subjugation and domination?

游戲的未來會是征服和統(tǒng)治嗎？

【132】Or inspiration and liberation.

還是啟迪和自由呢？

【133】It's really up to us.

這就取決于我們自己了。

【134】Thank you.

謝謝。

【135】(Applause)