Gaming and Physiological Responses.

[Monster Dave]

Last night I re-installed Doom 3 on my PC.

First, let me say that I loved that game the first time I played it, and after a long hiatus, it's still awesome.

To set the stage for my gaming night, I played in the dark and had the sound turned up. There were no outside distractions and was so intently playing it, that I noticed that my hands were perspiring. The more I played, the more I noticed that I was practically getting stressed out about what would attack me next from the depths of the darkness...it was an amazing physiological response that I've really never experienced with any other game that I've played. In retrospect, I remember that happening when I first got the game too and it was part of the reason that I kept playing it.

Anyway, the whole experience got me wondering what other games evoke physiological responses like this to interactive environments.

I'm sure that others have shared similar experiences, but what games do you find impact you the most?

 

[jcoffman99]

The last three Spec-Ops missions of MW3 on Veteran are going to cause me to have a heart attack. I've been working on them so long that after about two times through, I'm twisting the controller, trying to break it. If my son wasn't in the house, I'd probably have broken the controller by now.

 

[Monster Dave]

Awesome! I'd say that counts as a physiological response!!

I've never played MW3. I should check that out!

 

[0neiros]

Going Old School, back in the 80s playing in the Arcades, when I passed 3rd elevators on Donkey Kong, and did my second rollover busting 1,000,000 points on Xevious, I was drenched in sweat and very light headed.

As an observation, I think gaming in the arcades, standing at a cabinet had a lot more in the way of physiological responses, compared to sitting on your butt on the couch or in front of a computer. That's why I applaud the Wii and Kinect, they've definitely boosted gaming from a less passive interaction.

We all fantasize about holodecks, but really, can you imagine doing a live FPS like that? I'd have to shout "Computer, pause program, insert EZ Chair" and rest very often. It'd be sad.

 

[Wes R]

I agree that arcades gave you a work out as you found yourself leaning into your movements as if that would help. It's the one thing I like about the Wii even though still not the same you tend to find yourself leaning into the movements on some games.

 

[Ghadrack]

A guy named Neil Manke (I still remember the guy's name) made a set of mods for the original Half-Life game called "They Hunger" it was so good that PC Gamer issued the mods on CD"s with their magazine. Anyway, they were so scary that I literally fell on the floor out of my computer chair twice from recoiling in shock when the undead snuck up on you in a dark room and attack. And I can still hear the voices saying "Why do I Hunger?" in creaky broken zombie speech well over ten years later.

My younger brother couldn't even play it through it scared him so bad and made his neck cramp from stress and he was in his 20's at the time.

 

[Monster Dave]

Going Old School, back in the 80s playing in the
We all fantasize about holodecks, but really, can you imagine doing a live FPS like that? I'd have to shout "Computer, pause program, insert EZ Chair" and rest very often. It'd be sad.

Future First Person Shooter - YouTube


:thumbsup

 

[Monster Dave]

A guy named Neil Manke (I still remember the guy's name) made a set of mods for the original Half-Life game called "They Hunger" it was so good that PC Gamer issued the mods on CD"s with their magazine. Anyway, they were so scary that I literally fell on the floor out of my computer chair twice from recoiling in shock when the undead snuck up on you in a dark room and attack. And I can still hear the voices saying "Why do I Hunger?" in creaky broken zombie speech well over ten years later.

My younger brother couldn't even play it through it scared him so bad and made his neck cramp from stress and he was in his 20's at the time.

That's sorta how I feel playing DOOM 3 - but it's addicting to feel that way from a game.

 

[jcoffman99]

I also remember playing Dune on my Genesis so long my hands cramped around the controller.

 

[infymys]

Silent Hill 2. Every strand of hair stands up when that radio starts emitting static.

 

[division 6]

Playing Bioshock in a dark cold room.
Only thing missing is the smell of low tide and rotting bodies.

The plaster covered splicers in Fort Frolic always get me to almost fall out of my seat.

 

[Solo4114]

Yeah, gaming can absolutely get your adrenaline pumping.

I remember the first time I played the original Doom, and was wandering around a dark room in the game with the chainsaw. Some monster jumped out from one side, I chainsawed them, heard another, spun around and accidentally chainsawed one of those explosive barrels. Needless to say, that did not end well in game terms, but I remember genuinely being freaked out.

I've found plenty of other games to be infuriating at times, which is usually when it's about time to turn it off and go do something productive...


I can vividly remember playing various online games and feeling thrilled and excited to do something like capture a flag in a CTF gamemode or whathaveyou.


One of the things I find interesting is how one's reflexes adjust to gaming. There are periods where, when I was in college, I was gaming a LOT more and just had insane reflexes (it helped that I was on a T1 connection, too...). But that was basically a result of practice. You'd think that it wouldn't be like, say, athletics, but the muscle memory stuff is just as relevant for gaming as it is for something like soccer or whathaveyou.

 

[Kerr Avon]

"Dead Island" had my adrenal glands running on high through each game session from constant threats of sudden, furious and brutal attack. So much that after finishing a session my fight/flight response was so peaked that I couldn't sleep for hours, and was reacting to each and every sound in the house.

 

[elro]

I agree that arcades gave you a work out as you found yourself leaning into your movements as if that would help. It's the one thing I like about the Wii even though still not the same you tend to find yourself leaning into the movements on some games.

LOL. Reminds me playing Mega Drive as a kid - Afterburner 2. Quite a fun jet game , I used to literally roll left and right while playing that game xD

In terms of sheer adrenaline and twitch based reflexes, Counterstrike : GunGame Deathmatch was probably the most into a game ive ever gotten. I used to live by myself and only played counterstrike.
GG= Gun Game , Basically you kill a person with every weapon, ending on the knife - First person to do so wins.
DM= Instant respawn = Mixed with gun game creates a very fast paced gameplay experience.

I basically would play between 6pm - 3am every night... I got quite good at the game eventually, but got tired from the constant pressure xD then I started playing Maplestory... Which is another long hour gameplay, but relaxing rpg.

 

[Werstrooper]

yeah Doom 3 was an amazing experience

played it through about 3 times, still dont know why they havent done a follow up game because I thought the Doom 3 sales were pretty good.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

STALKER scared the heck out of me. I remember having to save and almost stop because I didn't want to go in some dark area. While playing BF3 MP I've caught myself ducking my head like it would help me avoid fire in the game. :lol

 

[Lear60man]

Resident Evil 4, Dead Space ......creepy. RE4 was the first Video game I actually got into. Then I bought a PS3 and started buying anything that looked cool. I didnt find Bioshock scary as the people were a little cartoonish.

 

[Thrawn]

A guy named Neil Manke (I still remember the guy's name) made a set of mods for the original Half-Life game called "They Hunger" it was so good that PC Gamer issued the mods on CD"s with their magazine. Anyway, they were so scary that I literally fell on the floor out of my computer chair twice from recoiling in shock when the undead snuck up on you in a dark room and attack. And I can still hear the voices saying "Why do I Hunger?" in creaky broken zombie speech well over ten years later.

My younger brother couldn't even play it through it scared him so bad and made his neck cramp from stress and he was in his 20's at the time.

Ugh, you just reminded me of "Mommieeeessss..... huuuunnngggrrryyyy...."

 

[Kerr Avon]

Ugh, you just reminded me of "Mommieeeessss..... huuuunnngggrrryyyy...."

He was going to make a "They Hunger" game for the Source Engine that was used for Half Life 2 but it got cancelled.

 

[Monster Dave]

I was just playing some more Doom 3 and there was a place where this creepy voice wipers 'help me...' out of nowhere and only the one time. That ***** creeped me out!!! It's the same when there's the random sound of heavy breathing....sweaty palms an all I tell ya!!

What really got me wound up tonight was that I was playing for the longest time with only 20 health, so the heart beat sound had my own heart beating fast and every time I'd get attacked and get even lower health, I felt like it really was my own heart beating that loud!!

It's really quite amazing how our minds interpret visual and auditory stimuli.