If you’ve been following the latest scientific advancements, people might live forever. From cloning body parts, to downloading your brain into a computer, there are all sorts of theories that suggest an indefinite lifespan. But what about today? What about on your Wii? If you were to leave this world suddenly, what would happen to your virtual persona? What would happen to your Mii when you die?
This seemingly bizarre realization occurred to me while returning to Wii Fit. The software, bundled with the Wii Balance Board, is something of a novelty that has worn off. My character represents more than 400 days of Wii Fit tracking. However, I don’t do the body tests every day — far from it. In the beginning, I was motivated to monitor minor fluctuation in my weight. But as the entertainment value of Wii Fit diminished, my $90 scale began to collect dust.
A lot can happen in a year. Some things good, some things bad… very VERY bad!
When I logged into Wii Fit, the Balance Board avatar does it’s usual greeting. Here’s a dramatization…
“Hey Photics, where you been?! You’ve been playing Guild Wars and PS3 again huh? I’m not jealous. It’s OK. Oh, so you’ve been putting on weight huh fatty?! …and now you need me! That’s what you get for surfing the net and eating all those brownies, chocolate chip muffins and cream cheese bagels.”
I’m at an excellent weight for my age, but I put on about 10 pounds. I know that exercise and calorie restriction is a good way to extend one’s life. I felt it was important to at least know how much I weighed. I felt I was getting heavier and Wii Fit confirmed it.
On the main menu of Wii Fit, other Miis are shown. If they haven’t exercised in a while, they’ll start snoring and sleeping while standing up. The Balance Board avatar doesn’t like that. No, it wants you to exercise and play. If you don’t log in, it will start to pester your friends about it. Check this out…
The Balance Board was concerned about Marie. That’s admirable, but what if something awful happened to Marie? My mind began to think of terrible scenarios. What if Marie was the mother of a nine year old girl? Let’s call her Lisa. Let’s also say that Marie died in a car accident. Stricken with grief, Lisa wants to get back into a normal life again. She finds the courage to do some exercise. Perhaps the escapism that video games can provide will allow Lisa to rest her troubled mind. There’s no chance of that in Wii Fit. She will see her snoring mom and an overactive avatar pestering her about the disappearance.
What is the little girl supposed to do? Does she delete the Mii? I imagined how painful that must be. Does she keep the Mii active, only to have this digital nuisance remind her of the tragedy? That’s when I thought of something cool… HALO MODE!
I think you should be able to set a Mii as deceased, but still have that Mii walk around in your virtual playground… kinda like Obi Wan Kenobi for Luke Skywalker. This way, your Wii becomes a memorial. It adds value to the product and it could give Wii gamers a less dramatic means of closure. Would you rather have Lisa delete her mom’s character or honor it?
My plan is to work on an alternative. I’m going to keep exercising and trying to extending my life. Maybe we all can live forever. 🙂
Thats a wonderful idea! It would make me sad if my mother died and i kept seeing her on the Wii snoring. Isn’t there a way to make custom apps on the Wii or something?