Mental Effects Of Extended Twitch Gaming Sessions

[Skippy B. Coyote]

I wasn't sure whether to put this in Classic Gaming General or Off Topic, but since it is gaming related I figured this was probably the best place to ask a question I've been wondering about.

 

The short version of the story is that earlier tonight I experienced something really weird and have been curious to know if anyone else has ever had something like this happen. I had been playing the Atari 7800 homebrew port of Scramble for about an hour non-stop, trying in vain to top my previous high score and staying intensely focused on the game the entire time. Eventually I decided that I just wasn't going to be able to do it tonight since I was getting a headache and feeling pretty mentally exhausted, so I decided to call it quits for the night. I put down the controller and powered off the system, then when I looked back up at the TV it appeared as if everything in my visual field was scrolling left to right at about the same speed the game I was playing scrolled at. Everything I looked around at appeared as if it was slowly moving from left to right a few inches before snapping back into place and starting to move left to right again.

 

Needless to say it seriously freaked me out, but fortunately it only lasted about 20 seconds before everything went back to looking normal and I've been totally fine since then. It did make me wonder though, has anyone else ever experienced a visual hallucination like this after a long session of twitch gaming?

 

I've heard of stuff like this happening to marathon gamers who play for 20+ hours on end trying to beat world records, but I didn't expect to experience something like that after just an hour of Scramble. Have any of you guys and gals ever had something similar happen?

[Andromeda Stardust]

Look up Tetris effect. It's not you. Intensly focus on anything long enough, and you'll start seeing it when you close your eyes, and dream it in your sleep.

 

As for the things shifting sideways bit, it's an optical illusion. When I was a boy and gas was cheap, my dad and I took long drives for father son time. Everytime we'd stop at a train track, it used to feel like the train was sitting still and we were the ones moving...

 

Finally, if you thing Scramblescrolling sideways was trippy, try watching a Mandelbrot zoom video. The whole world shrinks when you look away...

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Look up Tetris effect. It's not you. Intensly focus on anything long enough, and you'll start seeing it when you close your eyes, and dream it in your sleep.

 

As for the things shifting sideways bit, it's an optical illusion. When I was a boy and gas was cheap, my dad and I took long drives for father son time. Everytime we'd stop at a train track, it used to feel like the train was sitting still and we were the ones moving...

 

Finally, if you thing Scramble scrolling sideways was trippy, try watching a Mandelbrot zoom video. The whole world shrinks when you look away...

Huh, I think you're right! I'm guessing it was just a freaky optical illusion from staring at a screen scrolling from left to right for an hour, making it look like everything was scrolling left to right when I eventually looked away from the screen.

 

The Mandelbrot zoom video was a really good example, and here's another one that has an even faster effect. Just stare at the center of the video for about 30 seconds or so then look down at your hand.

 

https://youtu.be/yng0yZDtWxA

[Andromeda Stardust]

Huh, I think you're right! I'm guessing it was just a freaky optical illusion from staring at a screen scrolling from left to right for an hour, making it look like everything was scrolling left to right when I eventually looked away from the screen.

 

The Mandelbrot zoom video was a really good example, and here's another one that has an even faster effect. Just stare at the center of the video for about 30 seconds or so then look down at your hand.

 

https://youtu.be/yng0yZDtWxA

Shrinking AND expanding? Now that's just evil! I used to have a wooden spinning top as a child that had a spiral printed on it. I would spin it until it stopped and then watch as things shrunk or expanded. Kept me entertained for hours...

 

The Mandelbrot zooms are far more mesmerizing to watch (exploring and rendering fractals is a side hobby of mine - if you ever browse my Youtube channel, it is a mix of mostly fractal zoom videos and video game related stuff) so the effect lasts longer, but stripes do create much more pronounced effects...

 

I wonder if it's the rods or the cones picking up the illusion? Suppose one did the shrinking or expanding circles in RGB with three focal points in the shape of a triangle, if the technicolor rainbow effect would persist when you look away???

[Flojomojo]

I have a friend with an Oculus Rift VR setup. He told me about a demo game he was playing for a long time -- it's not finished so one of the bugs is that you're very close to the floor, like a kid. After taking the headset off, he found it very disorienting to be in a room where he was so much closer to the ceiling.

 

Your mind can do all kinds of crazy things to keep you sane. Ice skating or going on an ocean cruise changes my equilibrium for what feels like days.

[Reaperman]

It's not the quite the same thing, but when I play picross/nonograms, my brain gets this strange feeling.

Words really fail to describe it, but it's an anxiousness that seems to come from rapidly switching my scan between the vertical and horizontal axises of play.

This feeling lasts days after play, and always stretches into my dreams at night.

While I play, the feeling is almost pleasant, though at night it's more like a fever dream since there's no payoff.

I've always wondered if anybody else experienced similar.

Edited December 11, 2016 by Reaperman

[Atarian7]

Some people think Kaboom! is a twitch game. Personally I find it to be a rhythmic game. But anyway, I haven't had that happen even after playing 5 hours straight with occasional 10 second breaks.

And I haven't played it in my sleep.

 

I remember playing spades for 12 hours straight and for the next two nights my mind just kept playing in my sleep going over various scenarios. Also when I would go bodyboarding at the beach I would just see waves

when I closed my eyes trying to go to sleep.

[RevEng]

It's a motion aftereffect. Historically people would get the same effect by staring at a waterfall for a while, and then looking at nearby rocks.

 

The first time I experienced it strongly in a video game was after playing long sessions of Guitar Hero. The room would be moving for a few minutes afterward, in a sort of psychedelic way.

 

They should have advertised that as a feature.

[Gabriel]

The only time anything like that has happened to me after playing a videogame was the classic Tetris effect. I had been playing a lot of tetris and I started seeing everything in the world as shapes which needed to be put together with no open spaces. And even then, that only happened after I was in my 40s.

 

Kosmic Stardust's posted video doesn't do anything when I look away, but the one that Jin posted makes reality look like a liquid surface when I look away from it.

[Andromeda Stardust]

It's not the quite the same thing, but when I play picross/nonograms, my brain gets this strange feeling.

Words really fail to describe it, but it's an anxiousness that seems to come from rapidly switching my scan between the vertical and horizontal axises of play.

This feeling lasts days after play, and always stretches into my dreams at night.

While I play, the feeling is almost pleasant, though at night it's more like a fever dream since there's no payoff.

I've always wondered if anybody else experienced similar.

I was "training" to get high scores for a contest with a Nintendo homebrew "0-to-X", which is itself a clone of 2048. I looked up strategy and started getting good, achieving an actual X2 score live recorded in a youtube video.

 

Someone beat my score, and I attempted feverishly to achieve X2 again and regain my top position, but it prooved futile, despite scoring Xs on every other run. Long marathon sessions every night for an entire week actually made my brain hurt pretty bad, until I would get light-headed and dizzy. It's like the mind is a muscle and over-flexing it causes a mental lactic burn.

 

Anyway, after playing each night until my eyes glazed over, then I would go to sleep and dream of nothing but pushing 0-to-X tiles. I finally gave up the pursuit to save my sanity, but still hold the #2 slot...

http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?StartRow=1&catid=31&threadid=164522

[VectorGamer]

Here's an interview I did with Joel West. One of the things he talks about are the effects of marathon gaming:

 

https://youtu.be/oojoMAkv9KY

[HoshiChiri]

It's a motion aftereffect. Historically people would get the same effect by staring at a waterfall for a while, and then looking at nearby rocks.

 

The first time I experienced it strongly in a video game was after playing long sessions of Guitar Hero. The room would be moving for a few minutes afterward, in a sort of psychedelic way.

 

They should have advertised that as a feature.

 

Yup, Guitar Hero Vision was a frequent occurrence for me for awhile there. It's interesting, the things our brains can do.

[Austin]

For just an hour? I'd wager the effects you mentioned for this short time of gaming is not normal. I'd check your health, honestly.

[Keatah]

The effect can engage after just a couple minutes.

[+frankodragon]

I get some weird effect similar to when looking at a cassette tape in a tape player when it's off. It looks like the reel tabs are rotating very slowly.

 

[Andromeda Stardust]

Here's an interview I did with Joel West. One of the things he talks about are the effects of marathon gaming:

 

https://youtu.be/oojoMAkv9KY

I may watch this later when I have some free time. Care to make a brief summary?

[Skippy B. Coyote]

For just an hour? I'd wager the effects you mentioned for this short time of gaming is not normal. I'd check your health, honestly.

I'm quite sure it was just the specific scrolling pattern of Scramble that created the motion aftereffect for me. I've played over a dozen other games since then for half an hour to an hour at a time and never experienced anything unusual, but every time I play Scramble again for more than 15 minutes or so I get some weird visual effects for 20 or 30 seconds afterwards. I'm in fine health and recently had a full physical done by my doctor, so I'm pretty certain it's just an odd optical illusion that this one particular game creates for me.

[Austin]

I'm in fine health and recently had a full physical done by my doctor, so I'm pretty certain it's just an odd optical illusion that this one particular game creates for me.

 

OK, that's good to hear then.