Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Attention Is Everything
Human awareness and attention is a funny thing. Can you count correctly? Be sure and listen to the instructions (and take this test before reading any further):
Do The Test
I was kinda floored at the end of this, and had to re-play it to make sure they hadn't pulling a fast one on me.
Bringing this around to games... Does this apply to games? You betcha. I have noted on several occasions how completely oblivious I have been to the band's cinematic when playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I'm so focused on the notes, it took me several play-throughs before I saw the lead singer hitting the cowbell at the beginning of Don't Fear the Reaper (which cracked me up so hard I nearly failed the song).
It's target fixation. I tend to suck at shooters because I become so focused on what I'm shooting that I lose track of the cardinal rule - which is "don't get shot." Maybe I really should play some Mushihimesama Futari to correct that habit.
This makes me wonder how much of a game I miss because I'm so focused on the apparent principle task that I miss other, critical details. I know sometimes in D&D games, I drop what I think are obvious hints, only to see them completely ignored as the players focus on something else which they somehow weigh as being more important.
As a game designer - do I do a good job of highlighting what the player should be paying attention to? And does this phenomenon differ between males and females?
Very interesting things to ponder.
Hat tip to Seth Godin for this one.
(Vaguely) related stuff of marginal value at best:
* How Focus Can Ruin Your Business
* I Should Give Up Making Shooters
* City of Heroes Jargon
Labels: Game Design
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 3:12 PM (Permalink)
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I had to replay it as well. I just had a seriously thought-provoking insight into the workings of my own brain thanks to that video!
My devious side wonders how difficult it is to write a flash movie player that places a cookie and only plays one version of a video the first time, and another version on all previous views.
I first saw mention of this experiment in Daniel Goleman's Vital Lies, Simple Truths: The Psychology of Self Deception. It describes the same experiment, except that it had a guy in a gorilla suit instead of a moonwalking bear.
I have one friend who saw the bear the first time (a female - tests show women are better at multitasking while men are better at cutting through distractions and focusing). But... man. Yeah. A major mind-bender. How the heck didn't I see THAT?
Makes me wonder how my own mind works. I'm sure that if you told someone "watch out for the moonwalking bear," it would have seemed almost laughable the first time through with how obvious it was.
One experience that this reminds me of was when I was in theater in high school once upon a time. I was on the stage crew, and one of the props on stage began to smoke. We thought it came from a spark from the gun that had been fired on-stage, but later we believed that someone had changed the stage lights with their bare hands. The oil from their hands came down and acted like a magnifying glass, and the couch was at JUST the right range and position to catch fire.
The girl playing the maid in the show quickly asked for some water. One of the stage crew had a can of Mountain Dew. She took it, and walked over to the couch, and poured it onto the tiny spot that was catching fire - in full view of the audience. Then she walked offstage.
Almost nobody that we had talked to from the audience had noticed what she had done. I think even the director hadn't noticed at first.
Makes me wonder how my own mind works. I'm sure that if you told someone "watch out for the moonwalking bear," it would have seemed almost laughable the first time through with how obvious it was.
One experience that this reminds me of was when I was in theater in high school once upon a time. I was on the stage crew, and one of the props on stage began to smoke. We thought it came from a spark from the gun that had been fired on-stage, but later we believed that someone had changed the stage lights with their bare hands. The oil from their hands came down and acted like a magnifying glass, and the couch was at JUST the right range and position to catch fire.
The girl playing the maid in the show quickly asked for some water. One of the stage crew had a can of Mountain Dew. She took it, and walked over to the couch, and poured it onto the tiny spot that was catching fire - in full view of the audience. Then she walked offstage.
Almost nobody that we had talked to from the audience had noticed what she had done. I think even the director hadn't noticed at first.
I'm sure that if you told someone "watch out for the moonwalking bear," it would have seemed almost laughable the first time through with how obvious it was.
True, but how many of them would get the right number of passes?
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True, but how many of them would get the right number of passes?
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