Braining: Playing Games with Your Brain
Braining: Playing Games with Your Brain
BY : Menno van Doorn
You never know where this is heading, so I thought of coining a new word: braining. Playing games in a virtual world with using only your brain as an instrument. As computer-brain interfaces are starting to get off, we’ll need new words to describe the new media usage. Neurable is one of the new companies, that explores this new field. They’ve just launched the world’s first brain controlled VR game. The small game is expected to form part of a larger one, that is set to be launched for the growing VR arcade scene in 2018.
The new Game
“In the game, you’re a child, you wake up inside a cell, and you’re trying to escape a government lab,” explains Neurable CEO, Ramses Alcaide. “You actively pick up objects with your mind, you stop lasers with your mind, you turn a robot dog into a balloon animal. It’s a completely hands-free experience, you don’t use any controllers.”
Etymology of the brain
If these things start to become more popular, we’re uncovering a new brain activity -ing. Maybe there are better words than braining. Like in this game you’re moving objects with your brain in a virtual space. For doing things with your physical body it is obvious. You are walking, eating, or you might be lifting something. Do you have a better idea? Better word(s)?
About Menno van Doorn
Menno is Director of the Sogeti Research Institute for the Analysis of New Technology (VINT). He mixes personal life experiences with the findings of the 19 years of research done at the VINT Research Institute.
More on Menno van Doorn.
hello Menno. Really impressive. I am sure that as for other usage, this application mixing Virtual Reality and Brain monitoring could be used for disabled people, Trainng and so on. impressive
Nice food for thought, Menno! Let’s think with you:
That we control things with our brain is nothing special. That’s how we live (at least, most of us do, I hope). Also in “old fashioned computergames” we are playing with our brain; our body is just in between to translate the signals.
So the essence of this brain controlled VR game, is not that we control it with our brain. The essence is that we control it without using our body. That should be reflected in the name.
I would go for:
“bodyless gaming” => blaming
In the end our body may turn out as being just something very unhandy which is between our brain and the world. Let’s avoid using our body where we can!
Bodyless talking => blalking
Bodyless writing => bliting
Bodyless eating => bleating
Bodyless travelling => blaveling
etc etc
Which may end up in:
Bodyless living => bliving
Or am I exaggerating now?
@Pierre: This all started with working on disabilities, as you probably know Pierre. Interesting to see these kind of spin-offs.
@Andre: No No No, you’re not exaggerating. Bodyless living, of course. Sure. No big deal.