If things that "aren't real life" don't have any affect on us, why do advertisers spend billions per year just on TV ads alone? After all, those people depicted in the Gain or the Bud Light commercial aren't "real" either?

I don't really understand why you would want to "hit" or otherwise abuse a virtual anything, or why you'd want to brag about doing that. It certainly speaks to a lot of dysfunction in our society.