We’ve all been there. You’re playing some new release that you need to concentrate on, you get to a boss, there’s no safe time to pause… and then you get an itch somewhere on your face. You finally make it stop and there it is again! There’s just no stopping it. But we don’t normally spend all day wandering around scratching our faces this much else we’d look like we’d been attacked by someone from a horror film, so what causes this strange phenomenon?
Think back to your youth (ok, this bit is obviously age dependant, if you’re a teenager now then disregard this paragraph). When Sega and Nintendo ruled the world this didn’t occur. I clearly remember the days when I would play on my Master System II all day with no breaks (naughty me for not following healthy gaming guidelines!) and this was never an issue. I’ve asked around both friends and industry members and they all agree, back in the pixelated days you could play for hours without any irritating itches.
At this point you’re probably wondering where the hell this blog is going right? Well, with all the mad experiments scientists carry out these days I figure I’m allowed to come up with one insane scientific idea without too much criticism. So onwards and upwards.
Try playing any CoD for multiple hours or fighting a Big Daddy whilst realising you have no health packs, and there it is – suddenly the urge to scratch your face is there and it takes every ounce of concentration not to take a hand off the controller and remove the annoyance. So, here comes my theory, otherwise known as the “sciency bit”. In real life whenever silence is required the body just won’t allow it. Let’s take paintball for example: you’re sneaking about, just about to brutally splatter the opponent when with no warning you sneeze. Or you’re sneaking into bed at an hour long past the time promised when suddenly, kaboom! You walk into some object that you could have sworn you moved a couple of hours ago. I could go on and on but I’m sure you all have your own examples. So, as games become more realistic, pulling us in with breathtaking graphics, real life sounds and stories that lead us to at least temporarily get completely immersed in the game, is it tricking our bodies into thinking we are in a real life situation? Go through your games library and play an old classic for 6 hours straight and I guarantee you’ll be fine, do the same on a modern day hit and they’ll be itches, sneezes and who knows what else.
So what’s to come in the future as games get bigger and better? If our bodies are already slipping into a strange reality where on some level we can connect to the game in a way we couldn’t previously then who’s to say that the future of gaming won’t hold phantom pains when a limb is blown off or other equally strange side effects?! As the gaming world becomes more of a reality in its own right, where is the line before we lose touch whilst juggling the two realities we “live” in? Is it only a matter of time before our brain becomes confused or are we already there?
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April 21st, 2009 at 10:41 am
This post made me laugh – I am the world’s biggest fidgeter when playing games, according to my mum. My whole body just breaks out in itches when I am stressed in a game. I think that’s key for me – stress, rather than silence/ tension. But still, interesting post.
April 21st, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I have never done that “crashing into something while going to bed” thing. FACT. And my room is cluttered with crap! *laughs*
Got the itchy nose during GH3 though; I have adapted to a swift scratch during some tracks and then resuming… Oh, I typically use an ordinary controller as there’s only one guitar one.
April 21st, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Guitar Hero always makes me want to push my glasses up my nose at the most tricky bits. Without fail.
April 21st, 2009 at 7:49 pm
LOL, that so scarily true. I can actually be found on my sofa swearing my head off “WHY?!?!?!, WHY am I getting an itch at the crucial moment?!”.
It varies on the level of boss too… I finished Killzone 2 the other day and you would think their primary weapon was itching powder from the number of times I paused to scratch during the final fight. Resident Evil 2? Not a thing so far.
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:01 am
I get the “itchies” when driving fast more that playing any other type of game. Driving slow, reversing, parking = nothing. Screaming down the lanes, screeching round the tracks = itch itch itch.
Craziness.
April 26th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Yes! Yes! This isn’t just my freakish body! At time I feel I have been overrun by nano-imps who are determined that my game should be destroyed when I am on the cusp of victory. The more important the moment, complex the jump, or inense the concentration, the greater the itch…there has to be a mathematical formula for it…