Psychologists Claim Games Alter Personal Reality

[The Morrigan]

Well, thank goodness they interviewed 42 people for this study... I was worried that they wouldn't get nearly a large enough sample size to begin making scientific claims.

All sarcasm aside, this seems plausible. But then, I'd be willing to bet that you can find this type of transfer for most entertainment mediums (media?).

 

[Speakercone]

Perhaps it's simply fun to think about your hobbies when you're not currently engaged in them.

Just a thought.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

"From interviews with 42 Swedish gamers between the ages of 15 and 21"
Wow! A whopping 42 people in a very narrow age range! What an incredibly credible paper, with watertight proof this makes!

Science is in the numbers, and a study on a microscopic group is what they use in advertising.
"Product makes you look less fat!!!!!!!!!!!*"

* Based on a 1 day study on 20 women

 

[Jegsimmons]

portal and half life have in fact effected my problem solving. as in i can easily find solutions to complicated puzzles and what not.

 

[Truly-A-Lie]

Back when I used to watch Dragonball Z as a kid, if I got bored in school I'd imagine the crazy quick fights going on outside the window and see what the school would look like once the fight inevitably lead to everything becoming an impossibly large wasteland.

Now that I play videogames, I jump when I hear the "!" noise, and I see every nook on a wall as a means of getting to the synchronization point. It's the same thing, and it's a good test of your visual imagination. I've been complemented for it more than once.

 

[badgersprite]

Yeah, this is nothing new, and it's totally true, although it's not limited to games to be honest. Anything that you spend as much time doing and engaging with as a game will have the same or a similar effect. I had this same effect from Sudoku once. And I'm sure just about anyone who's stayed up really late cramming or doing a paper has gotten "locked" in that mode after they finished. I'm pretty sure I stayed up late one night doing math homework, and then I was subconsciously stuck treating every number I saw in real life as a math problem.

 

[Antisigma]

Definitely happens sometimes. Who hasn't played Fallout for a few hours, then choked in the first few seconds of a real-life conversation because they can't find the response menu?

 

[Byere]

Wait... so you're telling me that the reason I like to run around throwing painted tennis balls at animals is perfectly normal?

Joking aside, I agree that it's mainly how the human mind thinks. We find points of interest as a way of learning, and in doing so we try to mimic and interact with said way of learning so we might adapt and become better as surviving as a species/being. Perfectly natural...

 

[The Random One]

I remember when I played The Darkness. There's a miniquest in the game to call all the phones in it. So every time I saw a phone number in a wall or sign in real life for that week I thought I had found another. Actually, since every phone in the game was 555-four digits (and you didn't need to dial the 555 to call them), and in my hometown phones are eight digits long and usually separated at the very center (i.e. 4321-1234), every time I saw a phone number I thought I had found two more.

And I say it goes even deeper than that. This study is actually mild.

Okay... I am obviously a machine.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

Reminds me after I played minecraft the first time, I saw blocks in everything.

I think they should oint out though that this is still mostly mental, we (or I, at least) don't actually "see" this stuff, only sort of plants the thought in while your processing the stimuli, more like a gut feeling then anything.

Back when I used to watch Dragonball Z as a kid, if I got bored in school I'd imagine the crazy quick fights going on outside the window and see what the school would look like once the fight inevitably lead to everything becoming an impossibly large wasteland.

Lol.

You earned a place on my friends list for that.

DBZ 4evar!

 

[Diligent]

I remember years ago in the hayday of quake 2, I was walking down the street with a buddy of mine and we were going underneath an overpass. He flung out his arm like an asshole then quickly became embarrassed with himself and explained that without thinking he was trying to use the grappling hook (from a quake 2 mod we were playing at the time) to swing under the bridge.

I totally believe this study.

 

[Antisigma]

It is interesting how games can condition us to respond in certain ways to circumstances, sights, or sounds. Note to coworker: the fact that your phone announces text messages the way a rocket turret in Portal announces lock-on is not amusing. I moved to dodge more times than I will ever admit.

 

[Biosophilogical]

I can sort of understand this. Games aren't the only think that tend to temporarily effect the way you think, but due to it engaging a lot more of our senses/mind than any other entertainment medium, it makes sense that more would bleed over. But, I can read a book for a few hours, and by the time I'm done, for the next hour or so, my thoughts will follow the writing patterns of the book.
I think it has to do with how we adapt to allow ourselves to process the information the best we can, and afterwords, we have to adapt back.

Agreed. I also sometimes do this with prominent movie figures after I've just finished watching the appropriate movie. Because I'm so adapted to seeing in the same way as them, I leave the theatre being able to hold onto that perspective.

OT: I'll be honest, I've never had that game-bleeding effect ... don't really know why ... :\

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

42 swedes...Wow that sure is large representation of the gaming community. Might as well take 40 Germans while we are at it, and see how anti Semitic the world is. (Sorry Germany)

To be honest all of Sweden must be required by law to play WOW considering the size of the population and how many players you meet that are from there compared to other countries.

I once found myself on a driving test thinking about how I need to get some mario kart shells to knock the drivers in front out of the way.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

Seems possible. I've played enough video games to be conditioned to not let things touch me without me wanting to touch them. When I come into contact with something non-voluntarily, I panic a bit like I just lost a life in Mega Man.

In addition, I tend to jump a bit when people refer to me because I'm listening intently to them like a silent protagonist, waiting for a visual dialogue prompt which I can react to at my own speed.

I think I play too many games...

 

[ManiacEskimo]

Same more or less thing with movies and novels or good stories. Culture does a good job of making some people afraid of things like spiders or sharks or bats that are completely harmless.

42 people however is a pretty small sample.

 

[Vakz]

Is this actually something new? Haven't books and movies been doing this for ages?

 

[Racecarlock]

The effect appears to be intensified if you play a game until 4 am. http://www.cracked.com/blog/when-video-games-get-stuck-in-your-head/

 

[Nickolai77]

Well, playing lots of total war games has effected how i perceive battles in films. It drives me up the wall when the two sides just charge smash into one another.


But beyond that, i can't relate to anything else this studies claims.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

I played the crap out of Wave Race on the gamecube in high school and I remember walking down the halls imagining I was on a jet ski. Why no, I didn't ever go on a date in high school. Why do you ask?