Do you prefer living experiences or virtual realities?

For example:

• Table tennis or Wii table tennis game?
• Magic the Gathering or MTG Planeswalkers?
• Live Role Playing or World of Warcraft?
• Practicing/watching sports or Madden/FIFA/NBA?
• Driving or GT/FORZA?
• Exploring/Hiking or Tomb Raider/Uncharted?
• And so on and on and on...

Both. Why limit yourself?

Depends. I enjoy playing some sports games like Wii Sports, but I don't play sports in real life. I also really enjoy driving in real life, but driving games that don't involve shells and bananas tend to bore me after a while.

depends on the situation... for the ones you listed:

table tennis/any similar game i.e. billiards, darts, foosball: real world

magic... i've never played these type of games and have no idea what the real example you gave is

role playing: virtual. real role playing just makes me feel dumb and i have a lack of imagination so theres that

sports... i don't like sports real or otherwise

real driving is better than virtual

exploring: virtual

scuba diving in videogames is a hell of a lot more fun than in real life

JustSignedUp

Why is that? Because on games there are explosions and sharks you can kill with spears?

Some of each, depending on what it is

The point of videogames is to experience things that can't be experienced in real life. For example, your comparison of hiking vs Uncharted or Tomb Raider doesn't work because those games are not realistic. It's fun because you can do things you normally can't, like being chased by water in a sinking ship and surviving. As for simulators, they try to be realistic but there's still that aspect of doing something you normally wouldn't be able to. For example, racing simulators try to be realistic so that you can feel like you're really driving all of those cars. Not many people would be able to afford to drive all the cars in Gran Turismo in real life. This is why we also feel excitement when we try something new or out of the ordinary.

Your question implies that we're comparing real life and virtual experiences of the exact same experience, so in respect to that, I'd have to say: obviously real life is superior. I mean, come on, who would prefer to go "hang gliding" in Far Cry 3 rather than doing it for real? However, the biggest advantage of virtual experiences is that they cannot be compared with real life.

Well, rarely can you tell a good story about the times you played video games. Actual life experience is better, unless of course we are talking about war or really dangerous stuff.