@Leo Gura
I'm well aware of your nerd cred. Bioshock dev! Super cool. I think there's also some miscommunications happening here. I am personally not a veteran. I only seek to use my experience within the format of the game to offer context on trauma and integration. It is not the highest consciousness resource available, granted. However, as an individual open to psychedelic work I know I have a potential to be a light in the darkness here.
Many of the people opting into the gaming experience will choose alcohol or some other substance/behavior to perpetuate their cycle of addiction. My intent is to develop a personal process of growth that I can share within a community based on the deconstruction of social archetypes within the game as a shared community experience of Self (capital S, as you say) exploration. Hopefully the game itself will serve as an alternative to these sorts of abuses while opening the door for expansion.
For instance, the Priest archetype offers 3 unique denominations of gameplay. Shadow, Discipline and Holy. I am currently digging into the shadow archetype and finding that the archetypal framework rests a lot on Jungian theory and poetically integrates parallels to the psychological dynamics of projection and ego dynamics. Mastering the priest in full will require the player to invest in understanding this archetypal framework, which hopefully will lead them to an interest in shadow work! Stan Lee had similar practices in Marvel comics integrating scientific concepts to inspire the modern nerd.
I am being pragmatic about my skillset while constructing a process of personal development from the angle I enjoy most. Eventually I hope to push the limits of growth within the space to its highest boundaries. From there, my brother and I plan to make games of our own.
It will take years, but I am also interested in the prospect of creating a game that integrates the growing seed of the field of "technodelics" and simulating extradimensional experiences and phenomena to offer a holistic exploration through the sensory experience of gaming.
So much love for you and what you do, my friend!!! I'm grateful for any more insight or thoughts you have to offer. And yes, I'm aware there's a level to which my ego is challenging and rationalizing this, but I feel extremely passionate about investing into this possibility, if not simply to exhaust it and move forward elsewhere.