Real astronomy require training that virtually always costs money and time (with teachers who are often unwilling to work with variable time availability), a minimum of investment in specialty EM hardware components (such as binoculars, telescopes, or radio antennas), and an unobstructed view of the sky in whatever frequencies matter (visual, radio, whatever).

Exploring in a video game suffers none of those barriers.

Is it escapism if one’s life has no room (in time, in money, in attention span) for physical astronomy, but does have room for virtual astronomy — with its lower requirements at the cost of its unproductive result?