20050112
The Real World Doesn't Use a Joystick
Wired News: Real World Doesn't Use a Joystick
Interesting read. The article discusses how gamers think with their "gaming brain" in the "real world". I've certainly had that happen to me before. I remember one morning years ago, after having played a LOT of Half-Life, thinking that it was a beautiful day on my way to work, and that I should quicksave before something came along and ruined it. I felt a silly about it at the time, but I thought about it some more, and really it makes sense.
After I read a good book, especially if I've been reading for a couple of hours, my brain also gets into this residual contemplation mode, where I'm, for all intents and purposes, somewhere between the real world and the imaginary one. Eventually I transition fully, but there's definitely a bit of an overlap. Same thing can happen with a movie sometimes, though, because movies lack the interaction and length that books (reading does require a certain amount of imagination) and games have to offer, the duration is much shorter.
I think it's safe to say that this is a function of the way the brain learns things and analyzes the world. I'm sure that things have worked this way for a long time. What concerns me is that the Wired article doesn't take the thinking quite that far, and just leaves it at:
"Some people can't get their minds out of the gaming world."
I worry that some fool is going to come along and claim this as evidence that violent video games are turning children into killers that can't tell fantasy from reality. I think it's lack of parental responsibility that turns children into violent psychopaths, and that it's the assholes trying to play the blame game that can't tell fantasy from reality.
If only I could roll them up with my katamari... *glee*
Interesting read. The article discusses how gamers think with their "gaming brain" in the "real world". I've certainly had that happen to me before. I remember one morning years ago, after having played a LOT of Half-Life, thinking that it was a beautiful day on my way to work, and that I should quicksave before something came along and ruined it. I felt a silly about it at the time, but I thought about it some more, and really it makes sense.
After I read a good book, especially if I've been reading for a couple of hours, my brain also gets into this residual contemplation mode, where I'm, for all intents and purposes, somewhere between the real world and the imaginary one. Eventually I transition fully, but there's definitely a bit of an overlap. Same thing can happen with a movie sometimes, though, because movies lack the interaction and length that books (reading does require a certain amount of imagination) and games have to offer, the duration is much shorter.
I think it's safe to say that this is a function of the way the brain learns things and analyzes the world. I'm sure that things have worked this way for a long time. What concerns me is that the Wired article doesn't take the thinking quite that far, and just leaves it at:
"Some people can't get their minds out of the gaming world."
I worry that some fool is going to come along and claim this as evidence that violent video games are turning children into killers that can't tell fantasy from reality. I think it's lack of parental responsibility that turns children into violent psychopaths, and that it's the assholes trying to play the blame game that can't tell fantasy from reality.
If only I could roll them up with my katamari... *glee*
