Slappie 9 #1 January 13, 2005 This article has to be some sick joke.. Wired News *** After a recent three-day binge of playing the Japanese cult hit video game Katamari Damacy, Los Angeles artist Kozy Kitchens discovered that walking away from the game was not as easy as putting down her joystick. In the game, players push around what amounts to a giant tape ball, attempting to make the ball bigger by picking up any and all objects in its path. Kitchens found that her urge to keep picking things up was not so easy to shake. I was driving down Venice Boulevard," recalled her husband, Dan Kitchens, "and Kozy reached over and grabbed the steering wheel and for a moment was trying to yank it to the right.... (Then) she let go, but kept staring out her window, and then looked back at me kind of stunned and said, 'Sorry. I thought we could pick up that mailbox we just passed.'" While motorists and pedestrians shouldn't worry too much about rogue Katamari Damacy players, Kozy Kitchens' experience with having a difficult time separating her real-life consciousness from that of her game playing is all too common among hard-core gamers. It's so common, in fact, that game publishers might want to consider warning their customers that they may soon be unable to tell the difference between the game and reality. "The weird thing was that last night in my half-sleep, half-awake haze, I thought I was playing Katamari Damacy, too, and I kept trying to roll Kozy up in my ball," said Dan Kitchens. "I think I got this just from watching Kozy play the game for hours." Frequent gamer Alfred Weisberg-Roberts said he often feels lingering effects after playing games like Animal Crossing, in which the point is to collect as many animals and bugs as possible from a wide variety of locations. "Once, my girlfriend happened upon a tree ... kind of like the round, thin trees in the game, and began to shake it -- one in-game way of receiving money, goods and bees," Weisberg-Roberts said. "When nothing fell from its branches, I think she quickly realized how this must have looked to the other hundred or so people in the park." Chris Taylor, a staff writer at Time magazine and a regular game reviewer, said he thinks driving games and first-person shooters are particularly likely to make players lose track of reality. "I just knew the first time I played Burnout 2, the crash part, that I probably shouldn't get behind the wheel of a car for an hour or so afterwards," Taylor said, "because you're expending so much effort on deliberately trying to make your car crash." Taylor also said that after reviewing Quake III he had trouble getting his mind out of the game. "I'd play it, then walk out into the office corridor and realize I was looking at my co-workers as potential targets," said Taylor. "I was so used to killing anything that moved." *** I have to admit it's kinda wierd but I've actually experienced it. I play BF1942 and after an extremely long stint at sitting there killing stuff 5+ hours. I got up to go get something to eat. We walked outside and a chopper was flying over... I started looking around for it so I could use my shoulder SAMs. Very sureal... "Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nacmacfeegle 0 #2 January 13, 2005 Have you ever tried driving after a serious session on go-karts?-------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kingbunky 3 #3 January 13, 2005 go karts are bad! i left the track, jumped in my car, turned the wheel 1/4 turn left to turn onto the street and almost drove into oncoming traffic. i don't have quite that quick of a ratio in my car. the urge to just bump people out of the way and slide around corners was pretty strong as well."Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart." MB4252 TDS699 killing threads since 2001 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zenister 0 #4 January 14, 2005 i was a beta for the wing commander games... one day while driving to class a bird flew across my vision... i SWEAR a red target box tracked it as it passed... while in the army i spent ALLOT of time tracking radar targets... one night while drunk everytime i closed my eyes all i could see were target indicators and resolutions scales...____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #5 January 14, 2005 Quote was a beta for the wing commander games... one day while driving to class a bird flew across my vision... i SWEAR a red target box tracked it as it passed... while in the army i spent ALLOT of time tracking radar targets... one night while drunk everytime i closed my eyes all i could see were target indicators and resolutions scales... ___________________________________________________ Eeeesh guys... always playing with thier joysticks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slowfaller 0 #6 January 14, 2005 Read all of the reviews for this game here It actually looks like several people enjoy it, gotta see what the hype is about. Maybe blockbuster has it. Chris --"Someday you will die and somehow somethings going to steal your carbon" -MM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
