Seems like you agree with the analogy more than you disagree. Especially considering the great lengths you went to noting how many people within the church are ‘faking it’ and /or living by the rules outlined in the quote.

I grew up in christian churches and schools, and I find the analogy to incredibly prescient and literal.

I should mention that I observed it for 16years to be much more akin to community theater, a performance wherein we, the flock, pretended to feel connection to an intentionally incomprehensible being by singing for hours on end with our hands in the air and dramatic reading of texts. This is where you will say what hundreds have said to me: ‘wrong church,’ however I went to probably 20, so I think the sample is fairly large.

Strictly speaking, the rules outlined in the quote are absolutely the rules of the game in christianity. If anything, the rules of a VR game are much more binding, as with most denominations of the church, you can kill 1 million people and accept jesus the second before you die and be on your way to heaven. Which sort of means there are no rules at all.