No worse than watching The Dark Knight and thinking of the Joker the next time you see a clown or a knife.
Psychologists Claim Games Alter Personal Reality
- Thread starter Earnest Cavalli
- Start date
We've long ago pointed out the Tetris Effect. I guess the science is now in. Either way, I've seen this before (and experienced it) so it comes as no surprise to me.
i think you'd have to be an idiot not to agree with this, anything you do can alter how you precieve the world. saying that games do is kind of a "duh" thing for me, because if you have an experience that combines and engages multiple senses then its obviously going to have an effect on you. i think that it is almost a compliment really, saying that games can influence people in this way just shows the strength of the medium as a whole. I'd also be lying if i said that i haven't been effected by things i see and do in games, they let me delve into my subconscious unlike anything else ive done, and sometimes i see things i dont like. That affects me, personally, on a level thats hard for me to explain.
Haha maybe this happened for me when i was playing through all Assassin's Creeds without sleep. I was going out to date and when i was passing buildings I thought that I could climb into one or another even had a strange anxiety to try and climb to one, but I kept myself from doing that 
Bah humbug.
Whenever I played GTA IV, I'd find myself driving a bit overly aggressive in the real world for about a half an hour afterwards... but then I'd just go check emails or make myself a sammich, and the feeling would pass.
Jason Statham movies do the same thing. Nobody panic.
Whenever I played GTA IV, I'd find myself driving a bit overly aggressive in the real world for about a half an hour afterwards... but then I'd just go check emails or make myself a sammich, and the feeling would pass.
Jason Statham movies do the same thing. Nobody panic.
That's not neccesarily a bad thing. The same can be said about just about everything.
I remeber hearing somewhere that games increase the player's confidence.
I remeber hearing somewhere that games increase the player's confidence.
so scientists have found evidence for the existence of imagination.....what other obvious traits of the human mind will people blame on video games next? video games cause a phenomena known as "focus" that causes players to ignore their family, jobs, and sick puppies?
this isnt even finding a negative effect of video games, and it still angers me; this just sounds stupid. either their pathetically limited range of subjects are insane or the psychologists are seriously dramatizing the noted effects. their saying that being put into a certain mindset by an activity causes you to think in that mindset (no duh), but making it sound like video games cause hallucinations and military-grade mental conditioning. the same effect is experienced by practitioners of parkour (the real kind); they passively scan their environment for obstacles and think of how to overcome them; they actively train to think like this, so naturally it bleeds over into day to day life. to a lesser extent, every activity you ever do that requires the slightest bit of thought causes the same effect; its called adaptation, something i thought we were confident already existed. you think a certain way to overcome a problem, you succeed, thus your mind starts passively applying the same thought process in an effort to succeed at other things. this is hardly a phenomena restricted to video games; or media, or humans for that matter.
i really dont think we needed SCIENCE to prove to us the existence of the tetris effect. as the article puts it, whats the end result of this? whats the point?
this isnt even finding a negative effect of video games, and it still angers me; this just sounds stupid. either their pathetically limited range of subjects are insane or the psychologists are seriously dramatizing the noted effects. their saying that being put into a certain mindset by an activity causes you to think in that mindset (no duh), but making it sound like video games cause hallucinations and military-grade mental conditioning. the same effect is experienced by practitioners of parkour (the real kind); they passively scan their environment for obstacles and think of how to overcome them; they actively train to think like this, so naturally it bleeds over into day to day life. to a lesser extent, every activity you ever do that requires the slightest bit of thought causes the same effect; its called adaptation, something i thought we were confident already existed. you think a certain way to overcome a problem, you succeed, thus your mind starts passively applying the same thought process in an effort to succeed at other things. this is hardly a phenomena restricted to video games; or media, or humans for that matter.
i really dont think we needed SCIENCE to prove to us the existence of the tetris effect. as the article puts it, whats the end result of this? whats the point?
So is this a problem if it's caused by other sources, such as television and books? I mean, I personally talk to the 4th Wall every now and then for the fun of it, as well as looking at the world through the eyes of those who I read about in various books.
I think D&D is the single biggest cause of this in my day-to-day life. I always fail those blasted Will saves...
I think D&D is the single biggest cause of this in my day-to-day life. I always fail those blasted Will saves...
At least they don't sound biased. I have to agree with certain parts, sometimes at my school I'll look around as to where I could portal a wall. Or even look at walls that I could climb in a game like Assassin's Creed
It was a full week after beating Portal 2 that I stopped imagining glowing portals on every white wall I saw.
I also once reasoned that I could handle an errand in and hour and a half because It would take 30 minutes to drive there, it would take an hour to get my stuff done, and then I could use my 'teleport home' spell.
I also once reasoned that I could handle an errand in and hour and a half because It would take 30 minutes to drive there, it would take an hour to get my stuff done, and then I could use my 'teleport home' spell.
Do you one better: Real psychologists claim everything alters personal reality.
Also, this is not at all new or groundbreaking. For a nice introduction to the issue, see the Wikipedia article on the Tetris effect. Most of that research is over a decade old. For more recent discussion, you can find some articles on things like Guitar Hero vision. Re the people saying "we" knew about this sort of thing and science is "catching up", science has known about this sort of thing pretty much since "we" did. I think you're forgetting that nerd and scientist communities tend to overlap quite a bit.
Personally, I've felt this most strongly after playing a lot of AC2. I came very close to instinctively trying to scale the raised, fenced porch leading to my apartment rather than walk up the steps around the corner (this wouldn't be too hard a feat, but would look really weird given that I live on a very busy street). It also trains you to see protrusions and possible holds on buildings a lot more readily. The sensations mostly faded about two days later though.
Finally, I know it sounds catchy, but claiming that it "clearly illustrates how little science understands about how the mind deals with the blurry lines between fictional constructs and reality" is silly after noting the researcher's objection to that line of reasoning in the preceding paragraph.
Also, this is not at all new or groundbreaking. For a nice introduction to the issue, see the Wikipedia article on the Tetris effect. Most of that research is over a decade old. For more recent discussion, you can find some articles on things like Guitar Hero vision. Re the people saying "we" knew about this sort of thing and science is "catching up", science has known about this sort of thing pretty much since "we" did. I think you're forgetting that nerd and scientist communities tend to overlap quite a bit.
Personally, I've felt this most strongly after playing a lot of AC2. I came very close to instinctively trying to scale the raised, fenced porch leading to my apartment rather than walk up the steps around the corner (this wouldn't be too hard a feat, but would look really weird given that I live on a very busy street). It also trains you to see protrusions and possible holds on buildings a lot more readily. The sensations mostly faded about two days later though.
Finally, I know it sounds catchy, but claiming that it "clearly illustrates how little science understands about how the mind deals with the blurry lines between fictional constructs and reality" is silly after noting the researcher's objection to that line of reasoning in the preceding paragraph.
After playing enough splinter cell I've started avoiding bright places, trying to sneak up on people (and my dog) and trying to sneak in and out of places unseen. Minecraft has made me think of everything as a blockish thing, but playing call of duty hasn't made me become a heavily unrealistic soldier that believes the concept of war is murdering everyone who opposes me. Can't say this works 100 percent of the time. It really happens to me after playing stealth or puzzle games.
Suddenly, Megatokyo makes even more sense!
...well, it started making more sense when I started playing visual novels, but the actual science is interesting, too. I know I've half-consciously thought of some decisions as multiple choice in that manner.
...well, it started making more sense when I started playing visual novels, but the actual science is interesting, too. I know I've half-consciously thought of some decisions as multiple choice in that manner.