TITLE: Gaming vs. Reality In the Subconscious Mind AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard DATE: 11/16/2005 10:42:00 ip. ----- BODY:

Gaming nostalgia. I'm sure we've all felt it. Wanting to play games we haven't played in years. And then actually doing it and getting a weird warm fuzzy feeling. Either that, or being disappointed it doesn't live up to the memories. I think, though, with the introduction of 3D graphics over a decade ago, things were stepped up a notch. A lot of gamers will report dreaming about a game if they've spent 5 hours or more in a row playing. They'll dream they're still playing it. These happen whether it's a 2D game or a 3D game. Really, it happens when you're spending the majority of your waking hours doing any one specific thing. For instance, back when I was in elementary school, during the first couple days of the summer months I would dream I was still in school. That was annoying. At night, being back in class. Heh. Okay, I'm getting off-track here. As for the dreaming that I'm gaming thing, I've had that happen a few times, sure. But it's not quite the same as some other dreams I've had. A lot of times I will dream I'm at a place from a game. Not that I'm playing the game, or even in a game, but that I'm simply in a location that was once part of a game. Some portion of my brain registered these 3D game locations as real locations I've been to. I've dreamt about being places I've seen in movies and read about in books, but they're never as real and as detailed as the dreams that take place in game locations. Often, I find myself wanting to revisit game locations. Which means having to play the game again. It can be kind of annoying, because I just want to be there again, not have to do all the stupid things said game may require. For instance, lately I've been wanted to visit the locations of Everquest again. It's been I'd say at least four years since I've played it, perhaps more. Back then I played it all the time. I was badly addicted. And now I want to see those locations again. Does that mean I want to buy an account, start a new character, level, etc. (generally just play the game)? No. Yet I still long to see those places again. Places like Surefall Glade, Qeynos Hills, Butcherblock Mountains, Greater Faydark. I had to look these names up because I'd forgotten them. But I don't forget the zones themselves. I could navigate my way through any of them like an expert. Sometimes my mind will be wandering and I'll think "I want to go there again sometime" before I realize they were game locations and not real ones. Granted that's usually only when I'm extremely tired, but it happens. Does this mean I'm losing touch with reality? I don't think so. It just means that games can and do actually affect our subconscious to an extent. That might bring up the issue of violence in games. I recall reading a review for Grand Theft Auto 3 in which the reviewer had been playing it non-stop for a few days and when he was out driving one day and saw a cop car, he thought for a split second "I could take him!" Of course, within the same second he realized how ridiculous it was, and that it was a reaction from playing the game too much. Think about it, haven't you ever caught yourself thinking something similar to that? Something to do with a game, but in real life? I'm fairly certain pretty much every hardcore gamer has. Now, think about this for a moment. If you lacked the mental faculties to realize right away how stupid those thoughts are, you just might act on them. Do I think I violent games can turn people into killers? No. But I do think if some one has already completely lost touch with reality, and is used to killing people in games 24/7, that it's possible they might get the urge to do it in real life. Here's something surprising: I agree with Jack Thompson to an extent. I don't agree with his methods, and he is extremely misinformed about a lot of things, but in general I understand his cause. I don't think violent games should be sold to children because their sense of reality is more fragile than most adults. I'm sure most gamers agree with that. We don't want these games in kids' hands. But we also don't want them to stop being produced. Jack Thompson is out to kill Rockstar games. I see nothing wrong with their games. I didn't mean to turn this article into a debate about violent games, but simply about how 3D games in general affect our subconscious. As graphics get better and better, and more and more realistic, will they affect us on an even deeper level? I really can't say. But I think it's entirely possible.

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:  Tom Carrick EMAIL: URL: DATE: 01:49 I agree up to a point. However, I don't really think how realistic the graphics are is a factor. Although it could be, since graphics these days are still far from realistic, really.

I have to admit, when I was a kid, if graphics were as realistic as they are now, playing violent games might've affected me more than it did - since when the graphics are 8 bit pixels, you really do know it isn't real.

In one of my many tetris/tetrinet phases (I'd be playing tetrinet whenever possible, or tetris when there were no players about), I'd see tetris blocks *everywhere* in real life. They'd just start appearing and filling in the space between the cupboard and the bed, the tv and the hi-fi, the fire and the fireplace, etc. And being stoned during those phases was just... incredibly weird, and strangely, really cool. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:  Jim9137 EMAIL: URL: DATE: 09:38 Once, year or two ago, I was completely excited about Day of Defeat, the Half-Life mod. I saw a review for it, and it seemed to be all I ever wanted from an FPS. Well, it turned out it wasn't but that's off-track.

So, I put in the download with my kickass 64kbs ISDN and went to bed to let it download. I dreamed of being in the game, with an MG. And bunch of other friends and chaps I knew from online. I even remember placing my MG, I've got some strange addiction here to them, into a small alley and hee.

It was all tactical and stuff, think of Paintball but with shocking reality. I woke up, but I didn't want to. Too bad I always tend to wake up then.

Knyght, that tetris thing isn't that rare. There are several reported occasions of that happening, even with solitaire. My mother's co-worker for example, had to take a sick leave because she stopped seeing the numbers she was working on. :D ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:  Anonyymi EMAIL: URL: DATE: 10:06 Nice article, Loretta. ----- --------