Do you think gaming effects the imagination?

[Cardboardtubeknight]

For context, there was an article back in 2014 in regards to how pre-set commercialized Lego sets effect the imagination in a negative way from how it's already a designated property. That the original block Legos mainly composed of the things needed to make planes and buildings are favorable at least in a mentally healthy imaginative way because its something of your creation. So what about games? I was watching someone play the Oblivion remaster and in true Bethesda fashion a character was drinking while talking and drinking poorly at that. The cup barely met the npcs face. As such, it was questioned and made fun of. I however enjoy that stunted jankiness, as since I'm in a fantasy setting already I can allow my imagination to fill in whatever gaps are needed. It would seem the desire going forward would be for the character to breathe between drinks maybe becoming more incoherent over time, and while that would be cool, I really would rather not have that. And while I know they're not the same, and games do take imagination in the first place to even be conceived mostly. I'm looking at it more broadly. How do you think games effect the imagination, or will as it continues?

 

[Kamako]

Absolutely it affects your imagination, as much as all lived experience does. When I think of a gun, the first thing I picture is the SOCOM from MGS1.

But I believe gaming affects the imagination far more positively than negatively. Each game is the culmination of dozens if not hundreds of creative people's energy, and the best games can leave a lasting impression. They invigorate me to try and be more creative, because I want to make something that other people can enjoy as well. Kinda "paying it forward".

 

[fake-kun]

How is making fun of Bethesda jank related to the effect of games on imagination?

 

[Cardboardtubeknight]

How is making fun of Bethesda jank related to the effect of games on imagination?

Because with imagination that jank is accepted. You're just sitting talking to someone as they drink. Making fun of it means it's unaccepted, so the preference to that would be to breathe between the drinks, maybe even have fisheyes. There's not really a way to map how far that desire goes, and with it also goes the imagination as at that point they're doing it for you.

 

[Vexicrypt]

I think with how graphic fidelity is getting higher with time games will require less and less imagination to fill the gaps as you said. But in my opinion that was the appeal of games in the first place, your brain made them photorealistic in your head, not graphics. Same goes for animations, they can be very basic but still get the point across. Thats why I prefer to play older games, but I'm probably biased bacause I grew up with them. I think we see the similar effect with old Lara Croft model, who's triangular forms were enough for gamers at the time, and now people need realistic fluid simulation and physics

 

[Kamako]

I think that player imagination had to do more heavy lifting when the graphics were primitive, even when the scenarios were not. I find it hard to connect with some old Atari games, either because I simply lack the imagination to grasp what they were aiming for, or I can't summon the effort. Then with modern games I don't need to imagine all that much, because it's all right there in front on screen, happening in real-time, displayed in stunning resolution. There is a strong desire to blur the line between playing a game and a "real" lived experience, I guess. I like the happy medium of something like PS1, where the crunchy pixels left room for you to define character expressions.

 

[fake-kun]

Because with imagination that jank is accepted. You're just sitting talking to someone as they drink. Making fun of it means it's unaccepted, so the preference to that would be to breathe between the drinks, maybe even have fisheyes. There's not really a way to map how far that desire goes, and with it also goes the imagination as at that point they're doing it for you.

I understand even less now.

I think you're just overthinking things.

 

[Cardboardtubeknight]

Absolutely it affects your imagination, as much as all lived experience does. When I think of a gun, the first thing I picture is the SOCOM from MGS1.

But I believe gaming affects the imagination far more positively than negatively. Each game is the culmination of dozens if not hundreds of creative people's energy, and the best games can leave a lasting impression. They invigorate me to try and be more creative, because I want to make something that other people can enjoy as well. Kinda "paying it forward".

That culmination is like how I mentioned they aren't the same, so yeah positively I think is the right approach

Post automatically merged: Friday at 4:46 PM

I think that player imagination had to do more heavy lifting when the graphics were primitive, even when the scenarios were not. I find it hard to connect with some old Atari games, either because I simply lack the imagination to grasp what they were aiming for, or I can't summon the effort. Then with modern games I don't meed to imagine all that much, because it's all right there in front of you, happening in real-time, displayed in stunning resolution. There is a strong desire to blur the line between playing a game and a "real" lived experience, I guess. I like the happy medium of something like PS1, where the crunchy pixels left room for you to define character expressions.

View attachment 80411

That's where I believe that jankiness is good. It's the "in-between"

Post automatically merged: Friday at 4:54 PM

I understand even less now.

I think you're just overthinking things.

Well, that is my specialty

 

[Yousef]

I understand even less now.

I think you're just overthinking things.

I imagine he’s talking about imagination, which I imagine is imaginary. At least that’s what I’d imagine.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

Nah i imagine more now than ever before.

 

[goregoregoregoregoregore]

People always exaggerate and either think videogames affects the mind and behavior of people for too much or for too little. Everyone is different, some people will turn their life over the concept of playing videogames others will simply treat it as the funny pew pew and bing bing wahoo they do to relax after they come from work. The different cultures and ideologies around gaming have a way bigger effect on people's minds and behavior than the games by itself

 

[Graw]

I think with how graphic fidelity is getting higher with time games will require less and less imagination to fill the gaps as you said

It's not just the graphics but also the heavy insistence on coherent lore and detail filled stories. When I played Zelda as a kid, I sort of read the manual but kind of just made up my own names for the monsters and just sort of made up my own little stories about the dudes in the caves and the world. When Alttp and ocarina of time and stuff came out, I just made up my own connections between the different games. These days there's an entire book explaining every single detail about the story of all the games and how they're connected leaving nothing to the imagination.

My cousin owned Super Metroid when we were kids and we played through it together taking turns whenever one of us died. He didn't have a manual. Neither of us had played the first two games. All we had to go on as far as story went was the little intro blurb at the beginning. We just made up everything else ourselves. We called all the bosses dragons and called the statue room the dragon room. We made up some story about the wrecked ship and why it was there and little stories about the different areas in the game. We'd sit there trying to scare eachother while the other one was playing coming up with whatever we could about the enemies and what might be waiting around the corner.

I feel like modern gaming doesn't really give you that kind of experience any more. If everything isn't explained for you in game there's a million youtube videos out there showing off every single detail of the game. A lot of what actually made old nes games good was the fact that so much was left to the imagination. You didn't realize how small and limited the games were. They felt big and mysterious and like they could just be endless because you never really knew if there was more or not. Even silly nonsensical stories felt big and mysterious just because you were given very limited information and everything else was left to the imagination.

It's not just video games. I find books and tv shows suffer from it too. Especially fantasy and sci-fi. If you read fantasy from the 60's, 70's and early 80's. A lot of the stories feel more fantastical than stuff written in the 90's and later when massive glossaries explaining every detail started to become common. Too much detail takes the imagination out of things and in my opinion just makes things less fun all around.

 

[bigstinkie]

evergrace inspired me to novel write, back in those days
so i would say so

 

[Yousef]

evergrace inspired me to novel write, back in those days
so i would say so

That’s very interesting, I think I was in a similar position

 

[Samatonic]

I started finding new ways or writing new forms of game mechanics. Itch.io games give a more vast array of ideas, even I couldn't have thought of myself.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Gaming absolutely affects your imagination, but not negativity.

Most games are made with escapism in mind by letting you play through scenarios that simply do not exist in our world, allowing us to get creative in ways that cannot be replicated in our day-to-day lives. I am thankful that I have infinite "Legos" in Minecraft and that I can visit the future and the past in many other titles, for instance.

 

[LV20 Succubus]

For context, there was an article back in 2014 in regards to how pre-set commercialized Lego sets effect the imagination in a negative way from how it's already a designated property. That the original block Legos mainly composed of the things needed to make planes and buildings are favorable at least in a mentally healthy imaginative way because its something of your creation. So what about games? I was watching someone play the Oblivion remaster and in true Bethesda fashion a character was drinking while talking and drinking poorly at that. The cup barely met the npcs face. As such, it was questioned and made fun of. I however enjoy that stunted jankiness, as since I'm in a fantasy setting already I can allow my imagination to fill in whatever gaps are needed. It would seem the desire going forward would be for the character to breathe between drinks maybe becoming more incoherent over time, and while that would be cool, I really would rather not have that. And while I know they're not the same, and games do take imagination in the first place to even be conceived mostly. I'm looking at it more broadly. How do you think games effect the imagination, or will as it continues?

Much like every experience in life, it shapes the person, their thoughts and imagination. So yes, it definitely affects the imagination depending on which games you play.