Lagos Lifestyle: Playing Pretend in a Broken Reality .

🤦🏽🤦🏽🤦🏽🤦🏽Honestly, I think the whole concept is stupid. Not the maker of the game, but the idea itself. And before anyone comes for me, no, I haven’t played the game. So technically, I might not be in the best position to judge it. But then again, I have questions. A lot of them. What exactly is the point? What’s the need to build a virtual life where you can have millions, billions, or even trillions when your actual reality hasn’t changed? To escape what, exactly? Your financial situation? The struggles of everyday life? The things you cannot afford? And for how long? Because let’s be serious for a minute. You have to use the little money you have to buy data to access a game where you can pretend to have the kind of money you don’t have in real life. You’re spending actual money to maintain access to a virtual world where you can live a life you cannot afford outside it. Doesn’t that sound ironic? You can be a billionaire in the game, but you still need actual money to buy data, pay your bills, feed yourself, and take care of your responsibilities. Close the game, and whatever wealth you accumulated disappears into the screen. So what exactly have you gained? Now, I understand entertainment. I understand wanting to unwind and experience things you might not be able to afford in real life. Not everything has to be productive, and not every game needs to teach you a lesson. But what happens when the entertainment starts looking like an extension of the very things people are trying to escape? Because from the conversations I’ve seen and heard, I have even more questions about the social side of this game. Are people genuinely there to have fun, or has it become another platform for begging, transactional relationships, and hookups? The other day, a male friend said something that got me thinking. His words were, “Even for games, babes still dey beg.” And I couldn’t help wondering about the dynamics behind that statement. If someone wouldn’t give money to a stranger begging in person, why should the situation suddenly become different inside a game? And if someone is willing to give money virtually, what exactly are they expecting in return? Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with giving someone a gift. There is nothing wrong with people meeting through games either. But when money starts becoming the entry fee for attention, affection, or access to another person, then I think we need to ask ourselves some questions. I’ve also seen conversations about men offering to send women money, asking for their handles, and using that exchange as a way to initiate a link-up. Like, seriously? Have we turned everything into a transaction? Must money always be involved before people can interact? And when did sending someone money become an automatic invitation to expect something from them? What concerns me is the possibility that a space created for entertainment could become another place where people feel pressured to exchange money, attention, or intimacy to get what they want. And let’s talk about the gender dynamics, because that is another conversation entirely. Some men have become comfortable speaking about women as though every woman is available for purchase. Meanwhile, some women reinforce that perception by treating every interaction as an opportunity to collect money. Notice the word some. I am not talking about every man or every woman. There are decent people on both sides, and it would be unfair to pretend otherwise. But we cannot deny that these attitudes exist, and I wonder whether spaces like this will challenge them or simply give them another place to thrive. Then there is the hookup aspect. If people are using the game to meet potential partners or arrange sexual encounters, what precautions are being taken? Are people being honest about their intentions? Are they thinking about their sexual health and the consequences of meeting strangers? Because HIV and other sexually transmitted infections are real. They are not imaginary consequences that disappear because an interaction started in a game. To be clear, playing the game or meeting someone through it does not automatically put anyone at risk of an infection. The concern is unprotected sexual activity, lack of testing, dishonesty about sexual health, and the assumption that a stranger is safe simply because you have interacted with them online. Still, if a virtual space is encouraging people to connect in ways that lead to real-life sexual encounters, then sexual health and personal safety deserve consideration. And this is where my questions become even more complicated. Are we simply playing a game, or are we recreating the same social problems we already have in real life and giving them a virtual home? We already have people struggling financially. We already have transactional relationships. We already have people who believe money entitles them to another person’s attention or body. We already have people who judge entire genders based on the behaviour of a few. Now imagine carrying all of that into a virtual world and calling it entertainment. Perhaps I am looking at it too deeply. Perhaps it is just a game, and people are having harmless fun. I haven’t played it, so I am not going to sit here and pretend I know everything happening inside it. But I don’t think asking questions is a crime. My concern isn’t that people want to have fun. It isn’t that someone wants to experience virtual wealth or meet new people. My concern is what we choose to normalise, what we are willing to spend our limited resources on, and whether we understand the difference between enjoying a virtual experience and confusing it with real-life progress. Because at the end of the day, you can have trillions in a game and still have nothing tangible to show for it outside that world. You can be the richest person in the game and still be struggling in reality. You can have a hundred people wanting to interact with your character and still feel lonely when you put your phone down. And you can spend hours building a virtual lifestyle without taking a single step towards the life you actually want. So, I have one question. If I can be a trillionaire in a game but still struggle to afford the life I want outside it, then what exactly am I winning? Perhaps the game isn’t the problem. Perhaps the problem is what we choose to make of it. But until I understand the appeal, I’ll keep asking questions.

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