The Laws of Required Change - Games Studies Week 2

Unchanging Restlessness

Talked to Jordan this week regarding what I’ve got written up so for, having read over my intro felt It was a weak start and that it needed a lot more work. Advised was to avoid doing the introduction and start working on the body of the essay. I did some more research this week and found some pretty interesting information. While not directly linked to directly linked to colour it was an interesting insight into how not having a change of environment could affect you psychologically. Here's a quote I found in an article, by Faber Birren:

"In The Psychology of perception M.D Vernon describes research and clinical studies having to do with sensory deprivation. In one investigation of the effects of a monotonous environment, persons were voluntarily and individually confined to small rooms for periods up to five dates. There was little sound; their eyes were covered with translucent goggles to cloud the or view; and long cuffs were put over their hands to limit the sense of touch. Not all could endure the isolation for the full five days. All became bored or restless. Most significant, they suffered visual and auditory hallucinations. When they emerged objects appear blurred, distorted. They experienced dizziness and when their intelligence was tested it was found to have deteriorated." (Birren, 1969)

Its an interesting thought to ponder. If anything I thought it placed more of an importance on ensuring game's flow well and that colour doesn't become an obstacle to that. For instance ever thought how annoying it becomes when you’re playing a game but when you get to a portion where you get stuck?, staring at the same wall trying to get past? I thought that by contrast of how useful colour is in these situations. It was very interesting to note that they had hallucinations after note experiencing in change in environment. Some other research I found talked about how people would say that this colour for example white means purity. But the issue with this would be that how do we know what white means purity? Because in some asian countries white is their colour for mourning and the dead. It was at this point that I thought about how am I going to be able to back up any of what I have to say with any proof.