How has gaming warped your perception of the world?

[SimuLord]

Besides the obvious "I played Grand Theft Auto and even though I know better I still can't see a pedestrian without getting the urge to run them down in my car---thankfully I resist" forms of mind warping, how has gaming subtly altered your perception of the world?

Personally, I saw a brick lying on the sidewalk near my apartment and thought "Great, just 300 more and I can upgrade my palace, but will the jeweler take bread in exchange?" (thanks to Nile Online)

Any time I see blocks, Legos, Jenga bricks, or anything of the sort I immediately think of Tetris and how I could stack them together so a really tall one could go in vertically and knock off four rows of them.

Thanks to Gran Turismo I have trouble seeing cars without thinking "if I dropped in a sport transmission and upgraded the tires I could probably get that thing to do 90 around a corner, and a little engine tweaking could get it up to 170 on the freeway."

And finally, the NHL 2K series has me unable to watch hockey without thinking every one-timer shot and wraparound is supposed to go in the net and I'm surprised and disappointed when it doesn't.

 

[Erana]

I feel like I should be able to levitate and have a small degree of telekenesis.
Somehow, I feel like that stems from a certain few Valve games...

 

[xitel]

After playing Oblivion as a Marksman, I started to think a bow is easy to fire. WRONG.

 

[Riceman]

Cod4 for making me think Shooting is easy its not oh and making me feel that getting shot doesnt hurt a few seconds and ill be right... No paintbally to the thoart and i was on red HP rolling on the ground...

 

[vid20]

*eagerly awaiting a Zombie apocalypse*

 

[The Mad Prophet]

My perception isn't all that altered, though lately I've been making a lot of silly WoW references in my daily travels; 'Hhm, I wonder how much mana this smoothie recovers?'.
We have these diamond shaped paper weights at my job and my immediate thought when I saw them was "Chaos Emeralds?" I keep imagining that if I held them all at once I could be invincible but, alas, we don't have all seven colors.
It comes and goes. D&D references are more common.

 

[AngloDoom]

I can't help but wonder if I'm just being a coward every time I see a near-impossible edifice to climb, distance to jump, or height to fall and decide that it's not safe.

 

[meatloaf231]

After playing Oblivion as a Marksman, I started to think a bow is easy to fire. WRONG.

Crossbows, on the other hand...

I sometimes start conversations by walking up to someone and saying "rumors."

 

[vid20]

I sometimes start conversations by walking up to someone and saying "rumors."

lol

 

[Omnidum]

I keep thinking my leather armband increases my strength.

 

[coldfrog]

I always wonder if my car is big enough to roll up the pedestrians into a ball big enough to make a star. I'm usually wrong

 

[Yegargeburble]

One way games have warped my perspective: Every time I see a 2x4, I look around to make sure no crazy people are going to leap out of the shadows and beat me with a pipe or other random object (Thanks, Condemned...)

Other than that, some D&D references and the occasional thought that if I punch enough people, I will grow horns. The latter only happens when I haven't slept in a while, though.

 

[Higurashi]

One way games have warped my perspective: Every time I see a 2x4, I look around to make sure no crazy people are going to leap out of the shadows and beat me with a pipe or other random object (Thanks, Condemned...)

Other than that, some D&D references and the occasional thought that if I punch enough people, I will grow horns. The latter only happens when I haven't slept in a while, though.

Damn, I could easily acquire that Condemned quirk, though I'd be more scared of those crawling, frail guys. If I go to London again and see a hobo sleeping under a out-folded cardboard box, I might panic.

My most obvious anomaly brought on by video games were slight OCD in my childhood years, where everything I stepped on gave different amounts of points, and my right foot had to have more, preferably twice as much, when I died. Most often, dark points subtracted points, so I always stepped on such things with my left foot. This would normally be carpets, versus the floor and/or thresholds, as well as any metal details on the floor and colour changes in different floors. Same thing outside, naturally, with the pavement and leafs and... yeah, you get the picture. It was rather extreme at one point.. and you know what they say about OCD.

And no, I had not played Super Mario. My first console was the Sega Mega Drive, with James Pond III. EPIC game.
Second game would come to be Shining in the Darkness. MEGA-EPIC game.

I'm sure I can think of more recent deviations in time, apart from the obvious RPG/DnD-lingo/behaviour.

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

I forget that drivers in cars are not the same as AI drivers and won't try to run me over.

its sad that the drivers here Actually dont pay attention enough and have nearly run people over

 

[sheic99]

None for me. I have always had destructive urges that I suppressed down.

 

[Fightgarr]

I often feel that I need to save before doing anything important. Then I remember that there is not save/load in real life.

 

[DWing]

Silent Hill 2 & 3 have forever tainted how I feel when in hospitals and schools.

 

[The Great Fa]

After playing the Thief and Hitman series, I'm always staring at people's houses wondering how I can break in without being seen.

Also, when I'm riding in a car, I always look out the window and pretend everything I'm seeing is an extended level in a platforming game. Then I try to jump over everything with my eyes. Then my eyes hurt.

 

[Erana]

Games, or rather, the communities around them, make men seem safe and approchable.
There are so damn many creepers out there!