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Video games can alter reality

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Re: Video games can alter reality

#11

Post by patapong »

ehnto wrote: post #3

Interesting, anecdotally I would say all my more serious gaming friends hit this at some point. But it takes serious consecutive hours in game. Something interesting about VR gaming is the very heightened sense of spatial involvement. If I play a game on the screen I remember it as if I played it on a screen. But if I play in VR my instinct when reflecting on it is that I was there, in the game world. It can feel sil…

I also think VR takes this to the next level. In VR, for example, you can often move slightly through walls, since they are not there, so you can cut corners a bit. After long sessions on my meta quest, I sometimes get the idea that I can do this in real life as well, with predictable results.

Re: Video games can alter reality

#12

Post by JKCalhoun »

Maybe a reverse of this (well, that's not quite right). I have had recurring dreams in the past of being in an enclosed space like in a mall or in the halls of a large college building where I can find no exit—just endless rooms, halls, etc. In the dreams it's kind of threatening but also kind of exciting: the endless possibilities. How I imagine Hong Kong, also, BTE. I've never been but would love to go there. Oh, and Kowloon City.)

This seems to have crept into the game, Glider (a game where you control a paper airplane through a long house), that I wrote over three decades ago. In playing some of the longer houses I start to get a little claustrophobic.

It could of course be a coincidence: the dreams, game design. It's also possible I am misremembering the period when I first had the dreams—perhaps they actually began after the first shareware version of the game.

Re: Video games can alter reality

#13

Post by GaryBluto »

I wonder where the limit is. If I theoretically played a game in virtual reality for a year, with bodily functions managed by tubes and whatnot, would I be at Tom Hanks in Mazes and Monsters level delusion once I am removed from it?

Re: Video games can alter reality

#14

Post by thrance »

I don't think this is specific to gaming, whatever new sport or feeling I experience, I "hallucinate" while trying to sleep.

Whenever I go skiing, the first few days I'll feel myself sliding while in my bed, the exact same feeling as on snow.

On the rare occasions I traveled by boat, I could still feel myself rocking in my bed later, while no longer at sea.

And just a few days ago, I picked up Elden Ring (a video game). That same evening after "only" 2 hours of play I could still see swords slashing, giant monsters leaping at me, and me instinctively rolling around to dodge that.

I just think this is normal, and part of the brain rewiring itself to be better at that task. Indeed, my second days of skiing/gaming are way better than the first. Obviously it could be problematic if this process happened to me in the street.

Re: Video games can alter reality

#15

Post by van_lizard »

It's interesting because Tetris is a very simple game but revolving around logic and pattern based mechanics. So I can see how it can reinforce or enhance the brain through its own nature, without being some sort of cheat or gift.

Re: Video games can alter reality

#16

Post by astrobe_ »

Video games can alter the perception of reality. TFA is about the "Tetris Effect", which is nothing new per se.

Perhaps the new elements is that studies confirm its existence, and that it could be leveraged to prevent or mitigate PTSD.

On a side note, this works even with chess. At some point I played Chess a lot, and I noticed I started to interpreting people's movements, behavior, intentions even, as chess piece moves and tactics. Must be weird for actual chess GMs.

Re: Video games can alter reality

#17

Post by HelloUsername »

dudefeliciano wrote: post #2

From what I understand the tetris effect is not caused by the video game itself, but by playing it for an inordinate amount of time. The "tetris effect" has been there way before tetris, any monotonous activity done for an excessive amount of time will cause a tetris effect (i think a lot of people are familiar with hypnagogic hallucinations while falling asleep after driving all day, for example).

> playing it for an inordinate amount of time

I think I disagree. I've had this phenomenon happen to me with a card game, 'Set' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(card_game)). I for sure did not play this game for an inordinate or excessive amount of time, yet I started to combine everyday objects around me to compose a 'set' in my mind. I think during the game you can just enter this hyperfocus state and try to be faster than your opponents; a 'skill' easily leaked to outside the game itself.

Re: Video games can alter reality

#18

Post by or_am_i »

Jonathan Blow's The Witness is a notable example (minor spoiler alert)! Past a certain point in the game, it becomes REALLY challenging to just walk through the IRL woods without over-concentrating on things.
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