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"Playing games with 'YOUR' mind"

Everyone remembers things. It’s probably the most important and useful function of the brain. Memory helps us pass for GCSE’s, remember relative’s birthdays (sometimes) and even stores the data on how to breathe. So basically without it we would be dead. But sometimes there are some things that seem to stick in our head like a pencil that someone’s just rammed up their nose before smashing their head on the table. Things like your first kiss, or the time when you seriously injured yourself, they’re just a few of the things that cannot escape your memory for as long as you live. No one can ever really explain why people remember certain things, not even top psychologists. So how is it then that games producers such as Hideo Kojima can produce gaming experiences you will never forget.

So is it just accidental or do these people really know how to mess your brain up? Sometimes I would genuinely say ‘yes, they do’, because at times I have honestly felt ‘disturbed’ or at least effected in some ways by the events I have seen in video games. I’m not saying that Hideo Kojima is a mutant from Mars that wants to mangle your sanity up, but he does genuinely have an art for creating something you wont forget in a long while. And in my mind, I feel that this is definitely the sign of a good gaming experience.

So what sort of things is it that producers deploy in order to take up a couple more cells in that massive brain of yours? Is it character design? Certain events? Or just hilarious puns? What ever it is, it has to have some sort of impact to be really successful. For example, lets take a look at character creation. If I said to you now, ‘The Gift’, I bet hardly anyone would have a picture of a red alien in their head. Most likely you would be thinking about Christmas! So how is it then that when I say ‘Bandicoot’ practically everyone will have a picture of Crash Bandicoot firmly stapled in their head. I’m sure some of you can even tell me his shoes are red. So why can you remember him, but not the dude out of ‘The Gift’? Well some may say it’s down to the success of the games, but the character still has to have some sort of special effect in order for you to remember them pixel for pixel. And I base this down to good design. Crash is simple, loveable, and above all, memorable. And that goes for characters such as Sonic, Mario, and Lara Croft. Because of what they are, people remember them, and this is why such characters have become mascots of their consoles.

Many people also have a great skill in making up jokes or puns that lots of people can remember. It was only earlier today that I was reading a post on these forums. Several people were having a discussion about a certain T.V. character. They obviously enjoyed watching or listening to this character so much that they could remember an exact scene in the programme. I thought this was incredible that such thing could have been remembered. But maybe if I had seen the programme then I would too remember the scene. It had obviously had an effect on these people. This, I can relate to some of my gaming experiences. Often while playing games I sometimes pick up what some characters say. In ‘Broken Sword 2’ you meet a Jamaican boy who says ‘What you got there?’ and for some reason since hearing this I often cant help my self saying this phrase out load and chuckling to myself. It was several years ago now and I’m not sure if I will ever forget it. I’m sure the producer didn’t want this particular phrase to be imprisoned in my head, but it was. And I can’t explain it! Some phrases are deliberate though. These are greatly portrayed on the ‘UK Gold’ adverts where a particular phrase is repeated over 3 times. I, and many others I’m sure, can remember seeing these phrases when they were first aired. And 20 odd years on I can still remember them exact. Ingenious.

So what about these so-called brain effecting events? Well most people can easily remember events such as Keanu Reeves’s back braking, bullet-time scene in The Matrix. It’s one key moment that everyone who has seen the film can instantly relate to. However when ‘Max Payne’ from Rockstar tried to recreate the same kind of dramatics, it didn’t quite have as much effect as the scene from The Matrix. This was mainly down to originality. People had already seen bullet-time in The Matrix and when people saw it in Max Payne it didn’t quite ‘wow’ people so much. So if a games programmer can come up with an original event that will stick in people’s minds then they are bound to have something special under their sleeves. Take the Psycho Mantis scene in the original Metal Gear Solid. Everyone was talking for days after, about how great this was. The fake injection, the ‘ah, I see you also play ISS’ bit, and much more, was packed into one scene, a scene I will remember for a long time. And, put a whole load of these scenes together and you have one hell of a great experience. This was one of the strong points of MGS2 and the Final Fantasy series. Throughout they never managed to disappoint and the gamer was emerged in a fantastical world of their own, and I’ll say it again, ‘one they will never forget.’

However, you don’t just need to string a whole load of action packed scenes together to create a memorable experience. Take ‘Ico’. Everyone who has played this will with no doubt say that this is the most mind bending, disturbing, and engaging adventure you can ever play. It really does make you lose sleep. But how? What is it? No one can really explain. It’s mind games. In fact, Ico disturbed one gamer so much that he believed that God was using games producers to create games that portray an image of what we should expect in an afterlife. He described ‘The Third Place as being heaven’ and ‘games help us train up for what to expect in heaven’. Strange, and something I’m sure Ico’s producer Darren Yager would disagree on.

So what, why and most importantly how does this happen. What is it that captures certain things in our minds and affects us for days? Is it just pure accidental? Great imagination by developers? Or some sort of God training us up for heaven? What ever it is, whoever does it to us, no one knows. But I’m sure you will all agree it’s nice to have a personal encyclopaedia in your head of all the thrills you have experienced in your life. Computer games included.


Thanks for reading.
Nath.

Yes, and if i remember correctly the battle themes on 7 & 8 were also similar remixes to them from 6 & 9, and i think 10's the same but speeded up more. This is a brilliant example of Square using gamers memories to make new games a great experiance for them because it brings back memories. Take Snake in MGS2. Everyone loved him (u know what i mean!) so Hideo had to deploy him somewhere. But in order to get raiden in aswell he had to find a way of getting snak in a different way. So he used Pliskin. And i bet many people who didn't know Pliskin was snake found it a great emotional releif wen they realised that he was.

Plus rememver the way FInal Fantasy 9 battle theme started? Well that is exactly the same as in Final Fantasy 6. SO I guess the hardcore fans were damn happy about that

Yes...i remember that bit now!! Lol quite funny this but i forgot it was in 9 aswell. But yes. That was a good idea by sqaure because evry fan knew the song and instantly could relate to it. Good example there!!

Na†ßu© wrote:
> Interesting...big_slow
>
> Anyway....i agree with triple_h. Sound is very important in keeping
> something in your mind. Final Fantasy 7 was a great example of this.
> The Shinra marching song was one i had in head for days. Not coz it
> was good, but coz it was addictive. This also meant that the certain
> scenes that the music was in stuck in my head aswell. So yes, a good
> point Triple_h

Exactly. The marching song was brilliant. And when I first heard it in Final Fantasy 9 near the beginning of the game, I was almost reduced to tears. Sounds silly, but I was so happy to hear this in another game-it made me really really happy.Sorry....

As if you needed to tells us. So then asher, you work at konami, tell us how these people come up with maginificent ways to make people remember their games.

My mind evaporated in the bath.

Pop.....so we can see big_slows stupidity of course.

Interesting...big_slow

Anyway....i agree with triple_h. Sound is very important in keeping something in your mind. Final Fantasy 7 was a great example of this. The Shinra marching song was one i had in head for days. Not coz it was good, but coz it was addictive. This also meant that the certain scenes that the music was in stuck in my head aswell. So yes, a good point Triple_h

i dont play games with my own mind. i have trained a super intelligent monkeys to finish game for me so i dont have to do things like collect dog tags in mgs2. also while the monkey plays games for me i can spends time in the longest thread

Yes I agree, games have an ability to stay in your mind for one reaosn or another. You could say that music is one of the most important parts of a video game-it creates an atmosphere and helps to make gameplay a seamless experience. SO you could say music is what stays in my mind after playing video games-ut so do the storylines, goals I have scored and other stuff.

I think the introduction of online elements in games will help these factors to progress-people will have in mind the startegies they want to use next time they are playing with their friends, and there is going to be a whole deal more thinking involved. Its not goign to be just like "played it-forgot about it-played it etc".