The Tetris Effect

[Bon_Clay]

I've had this happen with Tetris and things like DDR/Stepmania/Guitar Hero. I've also had similar remaining game immersion from Portal and Minecraft, where I kept thinking I could shoot portals or that the world was made of blocks.

And the strangest was after pulling an all-nighter playing GTA then going outside. I kept thinking about which car I should steal since walking was too slow...

I'd post the TV ropes article for this, but that would be evil

Ugh, someone else did in another thread like an hour ago, I've got 4 tabs open at the moment. Been trying to close them off without opening more, making some progress but god damn this site is evil.

 

[chukrum47]

Yep, absolutely. Quicksave/quickload to be the one that happens most frequently for me. I'll go to talk to someone, and instinctively try to quicksave before hand so I try again if/when I royally screw up. Though Mirror's Edge and Assassin's Creed both did wonders to my parkour vision

 

[Klagermeister]

Though Mirror's Edge and Assassin's Creed both did wonders to my parkour vision

Same for me. No joke, things will turn red or have white glowy outlines whenever I notice they're optimal for freerunning.
Well, in my head of course, but sometimes it happens without me thinking about it. Sometimes it feels cool, other times I'm like "WTF?".

Also, whenever I'm about to get in a fight (karate class or otherwise), I go through a process much like VATS, sizing up attacks for success.

 

[Ceil-Sama]

My dreams tend to be influenced by whatever I play/read/watch, and I keep thinking back on the game quite a bit and [color= #F7F7F7]I just lost the game[/color]. But I have never had anything stamped on the back of my eyelids.

And after watching Watchmen, I noticed I tended to type like Rorschach talked. Tried actively avoiding that. Doesn't always work.

 

[zfactor]

Actually quite a bit... I find myself wishing for a save/load function in real life often...

 

[Reaper195]

Not really since I never played Tetris that often. In a similarity, I have always thought with Portals, of what I could do if I had Jedi/Infamous/Prototype powers.

 

[CoverYourHead]

Yep. Although interestingly, I had this effect strongest with Meteos. I played so much of that game...

 

[LoFr3Eq]

Yes, very yes.

But not with video games ever I think, maybe a few times, but mostly with Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic: The Gathering. I spend alot of my day thinking about card interactions and metagame choices etc. when I come home from work I will have 3 or more new deckslists for whatever format I am currently playing in.

 

[CupboardNinja]

I've had that after I spent a lot of time building houses in the Sims 2. I'd look at houses while I was driving down the street and imagine moving the windows around and stuff.

 

[Cool Welshy]

I remember the first time I played Team Fortress 2. In my sleep I saw the achievements popping up like popcorn.

 

[Akytalusia]

yes, i've currently been experiencing this for the last few days due to puzzle quest 2... it's damned annoying. i don't even play it that much, but i see it everywhere.

 

[crudus]

Yes, I played DMC 3 for so long that every slightly movement had be jumping back 5 feet or trying to mash the jump button.

Also, after a Mario Kart bender I get terrible road road and throw turtles and bananas at the other people driving.

 

[Popadoo]

Sometimes if I see a sign out the corner of my eye it looks like a spell icon from WoW. It worries me.

 

[Janktrio]

I've experienced it. Mostly just with Portal though. Even now, after not having played Portal for a while, I still keep thinking about where I could place portals and how I would use them in my everyday environment. I really like it. It's really cool to see the real world through the filter of a game.

 

[Layz92]

I have, but I had eaten this little piece of paper so it wasn't a legit experience. I mean I also saw a bunch of little goblins dancing in the oven and the pots and pans turn into pinwheels and I don't think that had anything to do with playing video games.

As a fun middle ground between the thread and what you are saying there was a plume of smoke coming up from the city across the bay from us and we made a joke about it being a creeper from minecraft... the smoke turned green and formed the letters SSSSSSSSSSSSS... I was sufficiently amused.

OT: Yes I got it with minesweeper at one point (jeez a very miney post) and vaguely with BFBC2 and Farcry 2.

 

[MintyNinja]

Throughout most of my life. Tetris is kind of an old game now. What sucks is not being allowed to drive after a couple hours on Burnout: Paradise... or Blur... or trying to quicksave before doing something stupid... or looking for a Pip-Boy 3000 and realizing that I don't even own a normal watch... I need a new hobby.

 

[Psycho Cat Industries]

Yeah,hearing the Pokemon theme song or the Empire Earth play song as I type this is not so fun.Wishing I could order others around to kill people on the other hand is quite fun.Which game am I talking about?

 

[Jeremy Elloitt]

portal or minecraft...

how would you make a computer... why are my hands so bloody, all i wanted was some wood...

SO MANY BLOCKS...

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I dream about Freelancer very regularly and I don't even play it as much as I did when I had the time too...

 

[Wuggy]

Yes, after I played through Portal 2 twice + the co-op I started to look for white portal surfaces everywhere. I also saw a lot of Portal-themed dreams during that time.

Prolonged exposure to the English language in forums, irc or skype makes me think in English instead of my native language. I'm not sure if this is a valid form of this effect though.