Where is the boundary between the physical and the virtual world?
Where is the boundary between the physical and the virtual world? At first it seems obvious: you sit at a computer, a monitor lights up, and the physical ends while the virtual begins. Unless...? Let's look at the definition of virtual.
"not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so"
This definition sounds tidy, but is it really that simple? Software runs on hardware. Pixels are voltages in a panel. The image on your screen is a physical process. If I used a hot air balloon and a crew to rearrange a 2560 by 1440 grid of stones to show you a game while you shouted inputs, would that be virtual? Probably not. So why does electricity and LEDs make it virtual?
Maybe it is because you cannot touch what is on the monitor. You cannot touch animals in a zoo either. You watch from a distance. No one calls the zoo a virtual experience.
Communication seems different online. We miss body language, timing, and depth. Video calls help, yet the flat image and mediocre quality get in the way. Those are technical limits. If a booth captured you in real time and projected you in VR with life-like fidelity, and a haptic suit mapped proximity to touch, would that still be virtual? Where would you draw the line?
Now to games. What is a game? I lean on Jesse Schell’s definition:
"a problem-solving activity, approached with a playful attitude"
Most video games fit that, only the interface differs. So what truly separates Minecraft from Lego? Why might a parent accept a pile of bricks but not a keyboard and mouse? What separates soccer in a park from a first-person FIFA played on a treadmill with a headset and a sensory suit?
Furthermore, what is the difference between collecting things in the physical world such as rare post stamps, pricy whiskey bottles, rocks, cups, designer shoes, perfumes, paintings or old computers and collecting rare loot in an MMORPG? Neither collection has a practical use, they both usually require effort and knowledge, both can be shown off to your friends and both presumably bring joy and a sense of accomplishment to the collector. You could say a "virtual" collection can be wiped out by data loss or the servers shutting down, but a natural disaster hitting your house is also a possibility.
Graphics are now good enough to move you. A vista in a modern game can awe like a real vista. If your aim is to feel wonder, is a virtual panorama so unlike a holiday photo stop? What exactly separates a vacation photo from a screenshot? With enough fidelity and presence, is hiking to an overlook and flying there in Google Earth the same act, or just adjacent? (disregarding the obvious health benefits of hiking)
I still have more questions than answers. I grew up fascinated by games and never found a satisfying boundary. The line between physical and virtual looks less like a border and more like a gradient, and it keeps narrowing as displays and sensors improve what counts as presence.