Psychologists Claim Games Alter Personal Reality

[Keepitclean]

I have had what this paper is proposing. After playing Assassin's Creed I looked at everything trying to figure out how to climb it. It was more a 'that would be cool to do' sort of thing rather than a full on impulse.

On the more extreme end, I had been play ME 2 for 7 hours straight (new toy syndrome) when my mum walks into the room and says something. I paused for about 5 seconds looking at her waiting for a wheel of options to appear. Weird.

As others have said I doubt this is restricted to games.

 

[twm1709]

Whenever I stop playing a game that demands heavy concentration from me, whenever I stop playing it feels like a part of my mind kept playing. I´ve noticed this mostly with Tetris and Portal but recently a few things from L.A Noire stuck with me as well when I went to sleep.

 

[seditary]

So I guess I should post this here:

Normal human behaviour is normal.

Well done.

 

[Loonerinoes]

Of course it does, everything affects personal reality. Hell, advertising and politics is based on it.

Bingo. Nuff said really.

Sometimes reading these scientific reports (bear in mind, ones that either speak for or against video games) is like getting a fortune teller reading. They're always myopic enough to ignore and forget to mention the greater context in which video games find themselves compared to other abstract products like say...TV or reading a book.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

Usually, after I play a certain video game for a while, I'll start to think I hear sounds from it. Like maybe I'll be walking past a construction site and I'll swear I heard someone creating a portal. So this discovery sounds about right to me.

 

[DonMartin]

Experienced it once, I was going when all of a sudden a bird flew out in front of me, out of a hedge. My first reaction was to hold R2 to lock on to it and fire. Then, naturally, go over to where it would lay and press triangle.

 

[Unclever title]

I've definitely experienced this before. The only time I've ever worried about this sensation was after playing a lot of Burnout. I caught myself automatically determining the shortest path on roads, around curves, and through oncoming traffic. Thank goodness I wasn't the one driving, though realistically if I were driving I don't think I would have driven in oncoming traffic, but I might have taken the most efficient path in my current lane.

Most of the time, however, I just use gaming experiences or constructs as metaphors in my thinking and that's not so much changing how I view reality, but more how I explain it to myself.

I too have found myself in the past thinking about portal shortcuts though that was simply due to me not wanting to walk around campus. I've determined that the exterior walls of the buildings (made of brick) probably wouldn't work very well but the interior walls would be perfect for portals.

I also found myself thinking in Shakespearean English (even in iambic pentameter) shortly after I finished reading King Lear.

On a side note:
What's up with the whole "white wall" preoccupation with portals that everyone who mentioned portals in this thread seems to have? Have you guys not played Portal 1? Have you honestly never shot portals on the greenish yellow walls of the hallways with the hatch doors in Portal 2 for the fun of it? White, seriously? The color doesn't matter at all!

Ranting:
Portals can be shot on non-metallic surfaces that are flat and have enough surface area to support a roughly person sized portal. The notable exception involves conversion gel composed of lunar regolith and that only happens to be white (the same restrictions of flatness and area apply). Compatible surfaces commonly available in both Portal and Portal 2 are made of concrete, drywall, or covered in lunar soil.

Nerd Rage:
Honestly, associating portals with specifically white walls? Did we even obsessively play the same game, it's sequel, and the original prototype* by the development team in anticipation of the game's release? I am disappoint.

*Narbacular Drop if you're curious, there's no portal gun but still portals abound.

Okay this port is hella long but I found this hilarious:

First read it as "fell lesbians" but I imagine Evil Lebanese Psionicists to be far more frightening.

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

I gust realized something.

Does anybody double check if you hear a steam chat message (Or whatever you are using) even if you aren't near the computer?

One word: reflects.

 

[Dalek Caan]

The only time this happens to me is when I hear the sound for achievements being unlocked. Buy a game "Bleep-Bloop".

 

[bakagami]

I've never seen health bars above people's heads. after all NPC's don't get health bars

 

[tehroc]

See a movie called eXistenZ.

 

[ultimasupersaiyan]

I can kinda relate to the topic of game transfer.

-After playing Guitar Hero games and watching Scott Pilgrim Vs The World(awesome movie and Graphic Novels!) I took up playing the guitar.

-Every time I stack a trolley or cab I have the Tetris theme in my head and try to stack everything without gaps.

-Whenever I go out I am always keeping and eye on my surroundings incase a random encounter happens(good or bad encounters)

-I time myself when traveling around and try to improve my time and look for shortcuts(Mario Kart's to blame for that).

-I frequent the same shops all the time to build affinity with the staff regardless of making purchases until I learn their names and they know mine(I think I can blame Western RPGs for that)

I think that covers everything off the top of my head.

 

[Sicram]

While this is true games are certainly not the first hobby to color ones' views. As a 3D/2D artist I sometimes imagine how some thing I look at would look in a wireframe or how things are shaded so that I can replicate that in my own works.

At least for me it only happens when I consciously think about it, never had illusions or the like.

 

[Continuity]

yeah I always get this from any game i'm really into, at the moment its minecraft... No so much seeing blocks as just seeing everything with new eyes, appreciating the planning, construction and materials around us.

 

[Continuity]

Of course it does, everything affects personal reality. Hell, advertising and politics is based on it.

Bingo. Nuff said really.

Sometimes reading these scientific reports (bear in mind, ones that either speak for or against video games) is like getting a fortune teller reading. They're always myopic enough to ignore and forget to mention the greater context in which video games find themselves compared to other abstract products like say...TV or reading a book.

No, the point is that the report has established this effect scientifically, and thats whats important regardless of whether we all knew it existed before or not. Its just the media which tries to hype it up as if it were a new and startling discovery (otherwise who would care?).

 

[MurderousToaster]

But, Mr Psychologist, I swear I do run faster when I'm holding a knife.

 

[Adam28]

I always imagine covenant cruisers in the sky, they are just waiting for me to give them the order to release the phantoms and invade Earth... I have camouflaged spec ops following me too, protecting me wherever I go.

Don't look at me like that... you'll be sorry...

 

[barash]

so, the general consensus is that

don't exist.

Sure, keep your heads in the sand.... Me, I'll be stocking up on fuel and nozzles.

 

[CheckD3]

I think that's what's known to at least Yahtzee as immersion.

I've actually seen a real life medkit on a wall and thought to myself "I wonder if there's any bobby pins in there," and wanted to open it to go hunting after lots of Fallout 3. I also last night saw a large radio tower and kept wanting to take it down to cause Chaos and complete the area (and I've played at least 24 hours of Just Cause 2 in the last few days alone)

I think it's more the memory or thought of the game and the repetition of the actions causing a kind of screen burn on your memory. It's like how if you freeze your tv and leave it that way for about 2 weeks you'll have the image burned onto the screen.

 

[Backstabber]

I catch myself doing idle animations sometimes.