A Simulation of a Simulation
June 6, 2011
by Joel Jordon
Disneyland Adventures was announced at Microsoft’s E3 conference, and it promises to bring “the magic of visiting Disneyland Park to millions of homes around the world.” They’ve “faithfully created the entire park for your family to explore.” It’s a simulation of a place that’s already a simulation. Is this where the world ends?
(Yes, this is the sort of E3 coverage you can expect here.)
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The Game Manifesto 
This reminds me of the idea of simulacra so important to French philosophy. It is like a Philip K Dick book come-true. It also reminds me of Fox News’ recent mistaking Tina Fey for Sarah Palin. What is real and what is simulated is now so confused that simulations of simulations are taken for real.
I know that Baudrillard actually has an essay (http://www.egs.edu/faculty/jean-baudrillard/articles/simulacra-and-simulations/ in the “Hyperreal and Imaginary” section) in which he talks about how people like to think of Disneyland as the imaginary so that they can view the rest of Los Angeles, which is really filled with the imaginary, as real. Which is part of why I found this game—which takes it even a step further, by putting Disneyland into a video game—so striking!