A virtual body for the paralyzed
In the last month I've written articles about two seemingly disparate topics: Online multiplayer games, and "brain-computer interfaces", devices that allow paralyzed patients to control computers. That got me thinking: Wouldn't it be cool to merge the two? Why not take one of the brain-computer interfaces and hook it up to a 3D online world, so that a paralyzed person can walk around in the game?
As the old joke goes, on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog -- and that's even more true in online games, where you mostly care about someone's avatar, not their actual identity. While recently playing World of Warcraft, I spent an evening killing thieves, tarantulas and monsters with a powerful magician, only to discover at the end of the evening that the player was a 13-year-old girl in Ohio. (She was even more freaked out to discover she'd been playing alongside a 36-year-old journalist.) But the point is, once you're inside the game, everyone's equal. If a paralyzed person could successfully control an avatar, their online "body" would be precisely as fully-abled as that of any other player.
So I opened up the latest Wired and discovered that, yep, some brain-computer interface people have indeed been wiring quadriplegic patients up so they can successfully play video games and use remote controls. Richard Martin writes about the case of Matt Nagle, a 25-year-old who's been paralyzed from the neck down, but who can kick your ass at Pong:
Nagle turned the TV on and off and switched channels (trapped in his hospital room, he's become a daytime-TV addict). Then he opened and read the messages in his dummy email program. "Now I'm at the point where I can bring the cursor just about anywhere," he said. "I can make it hover off to the side, not doing anything. When I first realized I could control it I said, 'Holy shit! I like this.'"
What are you thinking about when you move the cursor? I asked.
"For a while I was thinking about moving the mouse with my hand," Nagle replied. "Now, I just imagine moving the cursor from place to place." In other words, Nagle's brain has assimilated the system. The cursor is as much a part of his self as his arms and legs were.
Posted by Clive Thompson at March 13, 2005 04:45 PM
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A bit off topic, but I wonder why no one has developed video games for the elderly. I would be willing to wager that such games could help with improving manual dexterity, recall, even self-worth. As the boomers approach retirement, I predict that this will be a huge potential market.
Posted by: daniel luke at March 13, 2005 10:57 PM
On-topic: Matrix, anyone?
Posted by: Martin at March 14, 2005 8:32 AM
Heh, yes.
Daniel, great point -- I wonder if anyone is exploring that market?
Posted by: Clive at March 14, 2005 10:13 AM
I don't think anyone is exploring it, but it is something I thought about all the time when I worked with the elderly.
The one observation that I've made over the years at various jobs is that people are very passionate about video games. Just yesterday a colleague was relating how he'd stayed up until 3am playing Warcraft. After his quotidian game-playing marathon was over, he had a very vivid and terrifying dream about being attacked by creatures with which the game is associated. And I've heard one version or another of this story at least once at least one worker. At 8am, needless to say, he looked a little worse for wear. What else could one conclude? This guy's life is about this game for the moment. He lives for playing it.
The observation I've made about the elderly over the years is that they often feel that they have nothing to live for, so it seems clear to me that if they have even a tenth the appeal to the elderly that they seem to have to everyone else, it could be a very beneficial thing.
This is not to say, however, that I think any of the games currently on the market would necessarily by suitable (with the possible exception of various traditional games such as poker, for instance). I can't see granny becoming a warcraft devotee. Then again, who knows. But I can see granny grabbing a specially designed controller and playing a game for half an hour each day if she thought it would help her arthritis. And it doesn't take much imagination to see how it really might help her arthritis. The idea that it might brighten her social prospects, and engage her mind might also be stongly inducing.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know anyone over 65 who likes to play video games?
Posted by: daniel luke at March 14, 2005 11:39 AM
Instead of guiding an avatar in a networked virtual world, how about strapping a remote video feed onto someone and guiding them around the physical world...?
Posted by: Matt at March 14, 2005 8:50 PM
Robot: the local news down here in Orlando had a variation on that story. There's a website (in Texas, Birthing Land of Bad Ideas) where people can control guns remotely and fire them at targets. The proprietor is thinking about having live animals as targets.
So far, so weird, so waiting for a PETA march. But then the news report added a filip, that one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the idea is a quadrapeligic who used to be a hunter. He can relive his hunting glories through the website, and feel more connected to the world.
I wonder what Dave Grossman would think of THAT?
Posted by: Mo at March 16, 2005 12:46 AM
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A bit off topic, but I wonder why no one has developed video games for the elderly. I would be willing to wager that such games could help with improving manual dexterity, recall, even self-worth. As the boomers approach retirement, I predict that this will be a huge potential market.
Posted by: daniel luke at March 13, 2005 10:57 PM
On-topic: Matrix, anyone?
Posted by: Martin at March 14, 2005 8:32 AM
Heh, yes.
Daniel, great point -- I wonder if anyone is exploring that market?
Posted by: Clive at March 14, 2005 10:13 AM
I don't think anyone is exploring it, but it is something I thought about all the time when I worked with the elderly.
The one observation that I've made over the years at various jobs is that people are very passionate about video games. Just yesterday a colleague was relating how he'd stayed up until 3am playing Warcraft. After his quotidian game-playing marathon was over, he had a very vivid and terrifying dream about being attacked by creatures with which the game is associated. And I've heard one version or another of this story at least once at least one worker. At 8am, needless to say, he looked a little worse for wear. What else could one conclude? This guy's life is about this game for the moment. He lives for playing it.
The observation I've made about the elderly over the years is that they often feel that they have nothing to live for, so it seems clear to me that if they have even a tenth the appeal to the elderly that they seem to have to everyone else, it could be a very beneficial thing.
This is not to say, however, that I think any of the games currently on the market would necessarily by suitable (with the possible exception of various traditional games such as poker, for instance). I can't see granny becoming a warcraft devotee. Then again, who knows. But I can see granny grabbing a specially designed controller and playing a game for half an hour each day if she thought it would help her arthritis. And it doesn't take much imagination to see how it really might help her arthritis. The idea that it might brighten her social prospects, and engage her mind might also be stongly inducing.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know anyone over 65 who likes to play video games?
Posted by: daniel luke at March 14, 2005 11:39 AM
Instead of guiding an avatar in a networked virtual world, how about strapping a remote video feed onto someone and guiding them around the physical world...?
Posted by: Matt at March 14, 2005 8:50 PM
Robot: the local news down here in Orlando had a variation on that story. There's a website (in Texas, Birthing Land of Bad Ideas) where people can control guns remotely and fire them at targets. The proprietor is thinking about having live animals as targets.
So far, so weird, so waiting for a PETA march. But then the news report added a filip, that one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the idea is a quadrapeligic who used to be a hunter. He can relive his hunting glories through the website, and feel more connected to the world.
I wonder what Dave Grossman would think of THAT?
Posted by: Mo at March 16, 2005 12:46 AM