When the Matrix movies first came out, I was quite taken with this concept. But, I've come to believe that this is merely another way to get us to buy into the whole nihilistic worldview that they are pushing. Think about it, if we are merely characters in a simulation, then what we do isn't "real" and we also have no control over it because we aren't independent actors. That frees us to do a lot of bad stuff because, hey, it is just pretend and if we mess things up too much, the simulation can always be rebooted. Morality and compassion and other such concepts are useless in a simulated environment if the rules of the game are "survival of the fittest".
I think (just my humble opinion, of course) that it is offered as another distraction to those who are trying to figure out who or what is the controlling power of this world. If we aren't willing to conform, then we will just be given an endless maze of theories and conspiracies to keep us busy and neutralize any potential threat we might pose to their success.