# Video games that change how you see the world **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 24, 2010, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253 "2010-08-24T04:53:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/1 "2010-08-24T04:53:12Z")
Just finished playing through Mirror’s Edge, which I bought on sale. It’s a pretty disappointing game, but nonetheless I found when I went outside I really noticed any structure that was in a uniform, saturated colour. Especially red. And I also noticed I was looking at things like pipework for places to climb up. In a similar vein, thanks to assassin’s creed, I can’t look at a church spire any more without looking for handholds. Finally, this one’s a single episode. During a night while playing silent hill, I went outside and didn’t hear any cars or see any people, and I felt like I was in the game. All I could hear was a distant fire alarm, that I’d heard while playing, and had believed was an ambient noise in the game. I was a bit shaken by it. Others? ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/2 "2010-08-24T04:58:53Z")
The Sims made me think about how perhaps I’m living in a simulated world and my every move is being controlled and aaaaaaarrrgh _brain explodes_. Then I wrote a half-serious sci-fi story-song about it and moved on. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/3 "2010-08-24T05:00:45Z")
I recall hearing several people say things like "you know that you’ve been playing too much Oblivion when you pass some flowers and think to yourself ‘I’d better harvest those.’ " On a less specific note, I have once or twice after accomplishing a real world task caught myself thinking “I’d better save.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/4 "2010-08-24T05:01:59Z")
Playing Metal Gear Solid 2 made me paranoid that the La-Le-Lu-Le-Lo was out to get me. Lamest secret society name ever, though! ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/5 "2010-08-24T05:02:43Z")
One of the Fallout games, but not the most recent. I got hooked, and stayed up until 5am or so playing, despite the fact that I had some pressing business the next day. Nonetheless, I got up on time, but while in the shower, I had the distinct thought that what I had done was a bad idea, and I should quit and reload. Yup, I briefly considered quitting and reloading real life for a sec, but then I had coffee. Ahh, coffee! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/6 "2010-08-24T05:11:01Z")
> [@](#): > > I recall hearing several people say things like "you know that you’ve been playing too much Oblivion when you pass some flowers and think to yourself ‘I’d better harvest those.’ " In a similar vein, I’ve been playing a lot of Fable, and recently saw a roughly circular clump of clover flowers in a grassy field, and thought “I bet there’s a Silver Key hidden in the middle of that”. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/7 "2010-08-24T05:42:03Z")
Back in the early 90’s I was really into Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar. After playing that game several times, I carefully considered my actions and wondered if I wasn’t following every virtue from the game. I also memorized the lettering system used in-game. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/8 "2010-08-24T08:39:17Z")
> [@kasuo](#): > > Back in the early 90’s I was really into Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar. […] I also memorized the lettering system used in-game. I think it might have been even earlier than that for me, but I did the same thing. I bought it at close out sometime in junior high, which would have been 1986 or so, and ended up not only learning the runic system from the game, but teaching it to friends so that we could pass notes. I’m one of the millions who has, at some point, played Tetris so much that you get the “Tetris effect” when not playing. Similarly with playing Word Whomp on Pogo… nothing seeing a road sign, and instead of immediately complying, churning through all of the possible word-scramble permutations of the letters in the sign. “Stop? STOP POTS TOPS OPTS SPOT POT T… oh, crap, I think I just blew a stop sign.” I played Hard Drivin’ a _lot_ in the years leading up to getting my driver’s license… so when I finally did get it, and began driving on things like interstate on ramps, the urge to see what would happen if I sped off the side of a banked curve was pretty strong. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/9 "2010-08-24T09:03:28Z")
A couple of times after playing GTA, I’ve got in my car, and for a few seconds until I snapped out of it, driven on the right. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/10 "2010-08-24T09:24:36Z")
_Civilization III_ has convinced me that wars of conquest are sometimes the best solution. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/11 "2010-08-24T09:48:30Z")
Civ4 has taught me never to trust the Aztecs. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/12 "2010-08-24T11:26:50Z")
After a playing a lot of Far Cry, I went for a walk in the country, and while trying to see something in the distance, wondered why I couldn’t get the zoom function working on my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Khaki\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Khaki\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khaki_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/13 "2010-08-24T12:17:09Z")
Tetris, for cleaning the apartment. ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/14 "2010-08-24T12:56:09Z")
After playing the first few Splinter Cell games, my wife and I point out security cameras to each other; in case we have to take one out. A couple of years ago, when we were still playing WoW, we were driving someplace, I pointed to a cemetery and said, “There’s the rez point.” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/15 "2010-08-24T13:06:08Z")
After playing Gran Turismo 2 for awhile, I used to find myself analyzing every curve for the best way to take the turn. When my brother and I played Gold Rush, we got so used to waiting for it to load the next screen that we found ourselves expecting real life to take a few seconds to load every few moments. It was weird. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/16 "2010-08-24T13:35:51Z")
After playing Elite Beat Agents, music became an exercise in designing beatmaps in my brain. And choreographing the Agents’ routines. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/17 "2010-08-24T13:40:15Z")
Developed a serious history kick after getting into _Civilization_ back in 1991. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/18 "2010-08-24T13:42:54Z")
> [@Daddypants](#): > > After playing the first few Splinter Cell games, my wife and I point out security cameras to each other; in case we have to take one out. Yea, I was walking around a College campus at night after playing this game for a few hours, and had to resist the weird temptation to try and stay away from lights and stick to the shadows. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/19 "2010-08-24T14:01:02Z")
After playing online MMORPGs like EverQuest/World of Warcraft, I have to resist the urge to try to “mouse-over” a distant object to see if its name will pop up, like a car down the road that has a similar silhouette to a cop car. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253/20 "2010-08-24T14:05:27Z")
Oh god, I thought i was the only one. I am glad to see I’m not. We just came back from Toronto, and there were lots of churches, and now I am replaying Assassin’s Creed II. Coincidence? I think not. And I do the Oblivion flowers thing, too. And the save! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-that-change-how-you-see-the-world/551253.md?page=2)