I've been sitting on this gem for a while. I present to you: The Bruce Wayne Gap Year.
Wealthy people with desires to become Batman can more-or-less do so.
First they sign a waiver and an NDA, removing any liability from the Bruce Wayne Gap Year company. Then they'll pay the company tens of thousands of dollars to pay for what is to come.
They'll be put into a real criminal gang [1], and taken around the world getting involved in all sorts of illegal [2] activities.
Sooner or later they'll be subtly led to the Himalayas, where they'll join a monastery, lead a simple life of celibacy and minimalism and slowly learn to meditate and fully understand themselves and their body.
After a while, they'll be groomed by a man [3] claiming to be working for a mysterious and powerful leader of a guild of assassins, and taught all kinds of martial arts over months and months, culminating in a complex battle which determines their eligibility. At that point, they will be asked to do something their morals will not allow (this will be determined in a psychological screening), and end up betraying and destroying [4] the guild.
Then they return home, better for the experience.
It can't fail. A friend of mine also suggested it be re-implemented for all sorts of action hero/film type situations. James Bond, Die Hard, Rambo, etc. It's essentially a very expensive, realistic roleplaying experience.
[1]: Actually, very highly paid and well-trained actors. We don't tell them that though.
[2]: Mostly not illegal, but they're made to believe that these things are illegal. Some things will be borderline (they may accidentally end up threatening people who are not part of the ruse, for example), hence the NDA.
[3]: Also an actor. A very good, very well paid actor. Possibly we'll just get Liam Neeson, and he'll act so well that he'll convince them that he's not Liam Neeson.
[4]: Not really. The martial artists will never be allowed to be worse than the client, and will also be stunt-trained and capable of faking death.
You also basically described the movie The Game (with Michael Douglas). If you haven't seen it I suggest you check it out.
I always thought this was a cool idea. I'd imagine this couldn't effectively be done for less than a couple hundred thousand considering the number of people who would have to be working on this full time.
As for the full-time-ness? Yeah, totally. I think there's something to be said for big, serious roleplaying games which effectively can take up your entire life for a certain amount of time, and I think a lot of people would do it.
In some scenarios, it could be cheaper to do since you could involve multiple people in the same experience.
Could this be built on top of current virtual reality hardware/software?
Edit: I have a friend who made LOADS of money filming couples who wanted to do their own version of adult movies. So I am sure there is a market for something like this.
Good idea. The Matrix is definitely on the list of available experiences.
EDIT: If you take the red pill, you get to live Neo's life when he was still Thomas Anderson, go to his job and do all the stuff he would do. It'd be hilariously boring.
Yep, right you are. I looked it up on Google and read the summary, and I guess I must've mis-read it. When I went to the Wikipedia page [0] it in fact says:
The blue pill would allow him to remain in the fabricated reality of the Matrix, therefore living the "illusion of ignorance", while the red pill would lead to his escape from the Matrix and into the real world, therefore living the "truth of reality".
Wealthy people with desires to become Batman can more-or-less do so.
First they sign a waiver and an NDA, removing any liability from the Bruce Wayne Gap Year company. Then they'll pay the company tens of thousands of dollars to pay for what is to come.
They'll be put into a real criminal gang [1], and taken around the world getting involved in all sorts of illegal [2] activities.
Sooner or later they'll be subtly led to the Himalayas, where they'll join a monastery, lead a simple life of celibacy and minimalism and slowly learn to meditate and fully understand themselves and their body.
After a while, they'll be groomed by a man [3] claiming to be working for a mysterious and powerful leader of a guild of assassins, and taught all kinds of martial arts over months and months, culminating in a complex battle which determines their eligibility. At that point, they will be asked to do something their morals will not allow (this will be determined in a psychological screening), and end up betraying and destroying [4] the guild.
Then they return home, better for the experience.
It can't fail. A friend of mine also suggested it be re-implemented for all sorts of action hero/film type situations. James Bond, Die Hard, Rambo, etc. It's essentially a very expensive, realistic roleplaying experience.
[1]: Actually, very highly paid and well-trained actors. We don't tell them that though.
[2]: Mostly not illegal, but they're made to believe that these things are illegal. Some things will be borderline (they may accidentally end up threatening people who are not part of the ruse, for example), hence the NDA.
[3]: Also an actor. A very good, very well paid actor. Possibly we'll just get Liam Neeson, and he'll act so well that he'll convince them that he's not Liam Neeson.
[4]: Not really. The martial artists will never be allowed to be worse than the client, and will also be stunt-trained and capable of faking death.