Hi, my dog sends you a lick back. When I am going to the table
at the office I’m normally
walking pretty slowly so it doesn’t hurt when I run into it.
Also the desk is pretty big and heavy
so I don’t think there is any chance of me moving it when I run
into it. As for putting things on it
like my drink I make sure I can feel it has hit the table before
I let go of it. Most of the time I
don’t have any issues because I have learnt where things are it
is just the desk that I have
problems with. If I am out of the house or at someone’s place I
don’t know then I use the white
cane which stops me from running into things.
I have a friend who is totally blind and he is always doing an
injury to himself. I think the
problem is he walks too fast so before his white cane tells him
there is something there he has
walked into it. Unfortunately this also goes for people, I can’t
tell you how many times we have
been going somewhere together and he almost walks into me. I
have gotten to the stage where
I make sure I know where he is and make sure either I am walking
on a different side of the path
or he is in front of me. Even when I am following a wall and
making noise with my cane he still
doesn’t realise I am there. I think he would benefit with a dog
so he could keep up the fast pace
and not run into everything or everyone, but he isn’t
interested.
Well it is way past my bedtime so I better put the computer down
and try and get some sleep. I
only picked it up to start a download, if I have a bit to
download I like to do it during our off peak
hours which starts after midnight. If I do my downloading of
books and stuff during the off peak
when no one else in the family is using it then it works out for
us all. We have download limits
on how much we can download per month and we have one limit for
off peak and one for peak
time. So if I do all my downloading during the off peak it
leaves the download during the peak
time to my parents to do what they want. So far this has worked
quite well, well at least we
have never gone over our limit with the off-peak downloads where
we have with the peak time.
We are lucky because if we go over we don’t get charged extra
they just slow down our internet
speed. This can get frustrating but most of the time we have
gone over have been only a few
days before it resets.
Well I really should go now.
From Shaz.
Canberra, Australia.
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf
Of Chris Norman via
groups.io
Sent: Tuesday, 4 August 2020 11:50 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [blind-gamers] Explaining the compass, any ideas?
Hi mate,
Not sure anyone can know where north is, unless they're really
good at reading the sun (thinking
that excludes most of us), or they've got a finely-tuned magnet
embedded somewhere on their
person that they can feel the pull of. Thinking of it, that
would be pretty cool, just sayin'!
Yes, depth perception is a pain! My wife's is pretty rubbish,
and she actually injures herself far
more than I do. I would even go so far as to say that people
with partial vision probably have a
harder time than those of us with none, because we don't try and
use what we don't got, and
we don't get harried for looking like we can see stuff, when
that's not the case.
How do you manage with your lack of depth? I'm guessing you take
steps to ensure your desk
or the floor around it aren't swimming with drinks, or your
stuff is all over the floor because you
booted your desk too hard?
Also, give your doggy a stroke from me! :)
Take care,
Chris Norman
On Tue, 4 Aug 2020 at 04:27, Sharon S <[email protected]>
wrote:
Hi all, I’ve been reading this topic with interest. I’m only
new to this list so haven’t posted
before. I joined the list to find out more about accessible
games. I have had vision
problems since I was six and it has slowly gone down hill from
there. Now I’m getting close
to forty and I have very little sight. On a good day I can see
shapes but no real detail. Most
of the time I am fine with my directions, that is unless I stop
where I was going to talk to
someone and turn around a bit then it takes me a bit to work
out in which direction I should
be going. This has been helped with the assistance of a seeing
eye dog. At the moment I
am between dogs and because of the virus I’m not going out
much. I am also pretty
confident with my white cane in areas I know well but put me on
a new route and there
will be trouble.
One thing I have noticed lately is my depth perception is
totally gone. For example at the
office where I volunteer the desk is big and white. I can see
the desk as I walk up to it but I
can’t judge how far away it is so I either run into it or
totally miss putting things on it. I
don’t recall having this problem when I was younger however I
was always short sighted so
don’t know if that has anything to do with it.
Now for the original topic, I have no idea about the directions
of a compass when out and
about. Once I came out of a shopping mall a different way then
I went in so had no idea
where I should be going and neither did my dog. So I put my GPS
on for help, I put in where
I wanted to be and it then told me to walk a certain distance
north. I had no idea at all
which way was North so I ended up just having to pick a
direction and go. Once I was on
my way the GPS then gave me directions as turn left or turn
right which helped me allot
more.
At my scout hall however I could tell you which way was North
because we worked it out
years ago with a compass and each point is directed towards a
wall of the hall. For
example, North is the lake side of the hall, East is the
kitchen, South is the road side and
west is the cupboards. However, that only works while we are in
the hall, take me outside
and turn me slightly and I will give you the wrong direction.
Well better go now. I have heaps of emails to catch up on and
my tummy is saying it is
time for lunch.
Talk later.
From Shaz.
Canberra, Australia.
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf
Of Chris Norman
via groups.io
Sent: Monday, 3 August 2020 12:43 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [blind-gamers] Explaining the compass, any ideas?
Yeah, it's changed my outlook too.
I've been sending the odd message from this thread onto my wife
as well. She's partial in
one eye, and has recently gotten dead interested in all this
stuff, since Google Maps took
us alongside a canal late at night, and she suddenly realised
her lovely vision she'd relied
and prided herself on wasn't worth squat when faced with
darkness she couldn't penetrate,
near water she couldn't swim in, with nobody she could rely on,
other than a husband she
wasn't entirely happy with relinquishing navigational control
to.
Needless to say, she's now had cane training under blindfold.
Take care,
Chris Norman
On Sun, 2 Aug 2020 at 05:06, Christy S <[email protected]>
wrote:
From a purely analytical standpoint I'm fascinated too.
I think the main point though is, if someone's brain doesn't
know how to grasp a
concept due to wiring from very early on for whatever reason,
it can't just be taught.
This is important, because if more people understood this, I
think there would be a lot
less judgmental attitudes in the blind community toward those
who can't do spatial
concepts. I point at myself saying this, because I've at least
thought similar things like
sheesh, didn't get you good training? Or WTF, how do you get
lost in a kitchen? With a
better understanding now I know better. So while games or other
software might very
well help with things like say, being able to memorize turns
for those who have a hard
time mapping something in their brain, it's not going to be
able to just fix the issue.
Now of course, if the real issue actually was a lack of
training, or severe sheltering to
the point of never being able to learn something and I know
these things do happen,
then you've got a completely different thing going on.
I do love this discussion, though.
On 8/1/2020 5:41 PM, Chris Norman via groups.io wrote:
That's really interesting!
It's challenged my - admittedly narrow-minded - way of seeing
things. A
developmental psychologist I am not, but I find this stuff so
damn fascinating! I'd
love to sit and have a drink with you, and hear about your
experiences with
things.
As a point of personal interest (and feel free to reply
privately if you feel this is
getting too off-topic), how's your grasp of material
recognition? I mean, when you
had to hide, did you know what it was safe to hide behind,
without casting a
shadow, or being seen through glass?
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day, who has never
met another blind
person other than me. I was telling her about a case I'd heard
of where a blind
couple got done for having sex in a phone box in broad
daylight, because they
didn't realise the walls of said phone box were transparent.
She thought it was
hilarious, and couldn't grasp why you wouldn't know glass was
transparent. That
got me wondering how anyone who can't see would know that
stuff. Obviously
you pick up in the end, but it strikes me that an avid hide and
seek player would
probably know that instinctively, because kids are obviously
going to tell you how
they caught you.
Also, with the routes thing, do you mean you have no concept of
going back on
yourself, block routes, and reverse direction of travel? I
think it was you who said
they coudln't reverse routes in your head.
To bring this whole thing back to games somewhat, I wonder if
there is any way
that a game system could be developed to help blind people get
a handle on this
sort of thing, or whether tactile maps or german film are the
answer.
What Do you feel would help you? It would be fairly trivial to
produce a system
where a mobility instructor could create a to-scale virtual map
of a given route,
that you could scrutinise at your leisure on your computer, but
would that even
help? Or would that just over complicate things?
The system could be extended to introduce certain variables,
like heavy traffic,
or road works making a ton of noise, low-flying helicopters,
high winds, that kind
of thing.
MMM, the mind races!
Take care,
Chris Norman
On Fri, 31 Jul 2020 at 15:55, Jessica Hodges
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hello.
I would challenge, a little, the notion that mental mapping is
tied to
how much activity someone has had growing up. My mother
encouraged me
to
wander, to play outside, sledding, etc. If I wanted to do
something, she
didn't tell me no, and she frequently pushed me to do things
even when I
didn't want to. Hide and seek was one of my favorite childhood
games,
because I've always liked small places and I liked finding
unusual spots
for me and my three brothers, (two more would come later) to
hide. I
would often wrestle with them, slide down the stairs with them
on my
back, and other assorted things, so I think its safe to say
that, while
I tended towards staying in and reading books, that I was not
cut off
from physical activity and exploration. And yet, when I was
younger, I'd
get lost even on my own block. My mother says, when I was
really small,
I even had trouble with getting off the porch. Thankfully by
now I have
progressed, (mostly,) to the point that, a lot of the time,
unless I'm
really confused, that wouldn't be an issue, but I still, for
example,
don't understand how going around a block gets you to the same
point you
started from because you turned and had to walk along streets
in the
process, and I did, just the other week, get lost going to a
diner just
a block away where I needed to cross nothing, (don't ask me how
I
managed to do that, :() Anyhow all that to say, I don't think
that's
quite where the connection is. If I had to hazard a guess, I
think it
has to do, more than anything, with how the brain is wired.
Coddling or
the lack thereof, frankly, won't fix that.
I hope this ramble of a message has made sense, and beg pardon
if it
didn't, it has been written before breakfast by a very sleepy
person. :)
Jessica.
On 7/31/2020 5:16 AM, Damien Garwood wrote:
> Hi Chris,
> People who have the skill of echo location are lucky - I
> could never
> grasp that!
> As for competence versus safety: If you don't use the tools
> you have
> then you're not going to look competent if you end up hurting
> yourself. Think about it, those who are prejudiced will judge
> you
> regardless of how you get around, so you may as well just
> bite the
> bullet. It's sad when having a disability and being able to
> adapt life
> so you can attempt to live (so-called) normally, is
> prejudiced by
> others, even in the 21st century. In short, it makes me sick
> to think
> that a blind person doesn't want to seem or look blind
> because of
> society's expectations.
> As for physical activities, you could well be right. I wasn't
> really
> the physical type of child. Even if we went out for a walk my
> legs
> would hurt (but then Mum recently discovered that's likely
> because I'm
> actually walking wrong). As for sports? Forget it. Put me
> near a gun,
> I might be able to shoot a few rounds (yes, I did do acoustic
> shooting
> a long time ago, but that was it). Put me in a swimming pool,
> you
> might get thrown around and splashed a lot, but there'll be
> no swimming!
> My mum didn't mollycoddle me. If anything, I don't think she
> ever
> quite knew what to do with me (she was very young when I was
> born). My
> mum has difficulties showing and explaining things to me even
> now, so
> you can imagine how much she struggled even more so when I
> was a kid.
> In fact, I always remember there were arguments between the
> school and
> my mum as to who should be teaching me basic practical skills
> (like
> dealing with different types of fastenings, using hooks,
> working out
> which is the right way to put clothes on, handling money and
> so on).
> I wouldn't agree with letting kids get cut and burned...That
> seems a
> bit harsh to me. But I do agree that they should at least be
> allowed
> to have a go. It doesn't help that UK's health and safety
> regulations
> have gone to the dogs - soon they probably won't even let us
> sit on
> chairs due to the risk that they'll snap from underneath us!
> Now even I didn't realise hide and seek was a game that blind
> people
> could play. Then again, I never had brothers or sisters until
> I went
> to boarding school, and I never had friends as a young child,
> so that
> would have been out of the question anyway.
> Sounds like you had a lot of fun. All those games actually
> sound
> really awesome, and are games that I would have never even
> dreamt of
> doing. Just goes to show what's possible with the right
> support
> network! Bet you're going to tell me you even had a go at
> writing and
> drawing and painting next!
> As for the last part of your message, yup, I fit all three of
> those
> brackets, unfortunately. It took me seven years (yes, you
> read that
> correctly, seven) to learn how to use a touchscreen phone
> because of
> my fine motor skills (or lack thereof).
> Cheers,
> Damien.
>
> On 31/07/2020 09:31 am, Chris Norman via groups.io wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I hear what you're saying about your friend who couldn't
>> find stuff
>> too well. I used to laugh at blind folks using echo
>> location. Now I'm
>> a bit older, and don't care as much what people think of me,
>> I
>> cheerily exchange looking competent for feeling safer.
>>
>> In my experience - both through people I know, and people I
>> work with
>> - the main difference between people who can mental map
>> "well", and
>> those who can "not so well", seems to be the level and
>> complexities
>> of physical activities they performed when younger.
>>
>> For adults, this seems to be more how bloody minded they
>> are: Those
>> who approach their new found blindness as a challenge tend
>> to get out
>> there fairly quickly, and take the knocks while they haven't
>> had the
>> chance to think through how awful things could be. Those who
>> sit back
>> and worry about it tend to have worried themselves into a
>> frenzy by
>> the time it becomes necessary to get up and actually do
>> something. In
>> my experience, it's that latter group who struggle.
>>
>> If any of you have kids, I beg you to not be like the
>> parents I have
>> to work with, who mollycoddle their kids. Be that parent who
>> lets
>> their kids climb trees, build fires, and run around with
>> their mates.
>> Show them how to use tools like knives and drills. Let them
>> get cut,
>> and burnt and gather blisters. Seriously, so many people
>> tell me how
>> amazing I am. I don't see it personally, I just think I had
>> normal
>> parents who weren't afraid to let me take the knocks, but
>> it's a
>> parenting style I see less and less these days.
>>
>> When I was younger, I used to play hide and seek with my
>> sighted
>> sister and her friends. The learning went both ways: I
>> learnt that I
>> couldn't just stand quietly in the centre of a room, and
>> they learnt
>> that they couldn't just stand in front of me and stay still.
>> Mutual
>> respect earnt and gained.
>>
>> If you want games, hide and seek has to be natures best way
>> of
>> teaching blind and sighted kids a whole multitude of stuff:
>> How to
>> move quietly, what materials are transparent, and which ones
>> only
>> show shadows, how much noise a still body makes, how big a
>> space you
>> can fit your body in.
>>
>> Sadly, I think in this modern world of liability, correct
>> speaking,
>> and buck-passing, it's far easier to shove kids into a
>> corner and let
>> them play a computer game than to invent something amazing.
>>
>> If you're looking for an amazing experience that doesn't
>> involve
>> spacial awareness, shut down your computer, get yourself a
>> tambourine, and fill it with crap. Pass it round a circle
>> without
>> making a noise. Every time it goes around the circle, remove
>> a piece
>> of stuff from it... Make sure there's balls, and pens, and
>> anything
>> else that will roll inside it. That will teach you to hold
>> stuff
>> level. A few rounds of that, and you'll not be confused as
>> to which
>> way you're holding your cup of tea.
>>
>> Seriously, kids learn from play! It's our job as gamers to
>> make sure
>> as many of the next generation of blind folks as possible
>> get the
>> best input when it really counts, before they get old enough
>> to
>> realise their fine motor skills are shot because they always
>> had the
>> more delicate things done for them, they can't find anything
>> because
>> they were always guided, and they have their own
>> deficiencies lodged
>> in their brains because everyone said "Oh, you can't do
>> that".
>>
>> There endeth today's sirman! :P
>>
>> Take care,
>>
>> Chris Norman
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, 31 Jul 2020 at 05:53, Christy S
>> <[email protected]
>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>>
>> Damien and others,
>>
>>
>> I know I'm behind on this. I tend to skip over a lot of
>> posts
>> depending
>> on subject, but a conversation or two over the last few
>> days got me
>> thinking about this.
>>
>>
>> First thing's first. The reason the game you mentioned
>> said 6:00 is
>> that
>> many people refer to directions using the face of a
>> clock. Not a
>> digital
>> one that flashes numbers, but an analog clock that has
>> an hour and
>> minute hand that goes around a circle. Without going
>> into a lot of
>> detail that will probably just confuse you, no insult at
>> all
>> intended
>> there, saying an enemy is at 6:00 probably means behind
>> you.
>>
>>
>> I wanted to touch on the more generalized concept of
>> spatial
>> awareness,
>> however. Many, though not all, audio games use spatial
>> awareness
>> as a
>> foundation of playing the game. It wasn't until more
>> recently that I
>> realized this isn't always practical for some. In the
>> past, the
>> people I
>> had run into who had poor spatial concepts or skills
>> also had other
>> cognitive issues and I suppose, without even realizing
>> it, I
>> lumped the
>> two together in my mind.
>>
>>
>> I'm one of those who have always had decent spatial
>> awareness, or
>> mental
>> mapping as Damien said. In fact, I used the term mental
>> mapping
>> before I
>> knew a more correct term. I've always thought the reason
>> I could do
>> this
>> so well had to do with having a little sight when I was
>> younger,
>> thus
>> helping my brain to develop decently in that area. But
>> really,
>> when I
>> map something in my head, it's more like picturing a
>> miniature
>> version
>> of the space as I understand it. For example, I can sit
>> here on
>> my bed
>> in the bedroom and picture the entire layout of this
>> apartment,
>> including where furniture and other large items are. I
>> can even
>> picture
>> the basic layout of a house I lived in over 15 years
>> ago, and using
>> that
>> mentally plan how I could get from any one point to any
>> second
>> point, in
>> either place.
>>
>>
>> Anyway, I've recently been talking to someone I now
>> consider a good
>> friend, and this person struggles a lot with any kind of
>> spatial
>> awareness. Their general intelligence, though, is
>> totally fine,
>> with no
>> other cognitive difficulties that I'm aware of.
>> Likewise, reading
>> Damien's message here, I don't see any hint of cognitive
>> delays and
>> that
>> just confirms to me that I need to very much rethink
>> that
>> subconscious
>> connection my mind has made. Unfortunately, this is
>> common in the
>> blind
>> community. If a blind person isn't out walking
>> everywhere, taking
>> public
>> transit all the time etc, they tend to be seen as either
>> dumb or
>> lazy.
>> If a person admits they can't figure out on their own
>> how to get
>> to a
>> place two blocks away, they're often met with shocked
>> disapproval or
>> worse. I mentioned to this friend that the house I used
>> to live in
>> had a
>> very large, wide open kitchen as the center of the house
>> and they
>> just
>> groaned. In fact, a different friend who sadly has since
>> passed
>> who had
>> similar struggles and would get utterly disoriented in
>> that kitchen.
>> She
>> could be standing by the fridge, and no matter how many
>> times we
had
>> shown her before, could not figure out how to get to a
>> bedroom
>> that was
>> probably 10 or 15 feet away. Looking back now, my then
>> roommate
>> and I
>> could have handled that situation very differently and
>> more
>> gracefully.
>> We just could not understand why she wasn't getting it.
>>
>>
>> The fact is, for whatever reason, there are those who,
>> in addition
>> to or
>> because of blindness, literally don't have the mental
>> ability to
>> understand spatial concepts. It's not that they don't
>> want to, or
>> that
>> they just haven't been taught right, but their brain
>> quite literally
>> can't process that kind of information. I think there
>> might be some
>> connection between that and never having sight, but it
>> also seems
>> to be
>> a lot more complicated than that with certain eye
>> conditions
>> playing a
>> part. The best parallel I can think of us for those of
>> us who
>> have no
>> memory of sight, having someone try to explain colors to
>> us. We can
>> memorize certain things, red is hot for example, but our
>> brains
>> don't
>> have the ability to bring what that color looks like
>> into our minds
>> because there's no concept of vision or varying colors
>> to build on.
>>
>>
>> This sounds very similar to what you're dealing with
>> Damien. I would
>> never discourage attempting to learn, and if you can
>> find a way that
>> works for you, that is totally awesome. If you can't,
>> though, please
>> don't think that it means you are stupid or any other
>> negative
>> thing. It
>> could simply be that your brain isn't wired to be able
>> to process
>> spatial concepts for whatever reason, and you should
>> stick with
>> whatever
>> methods work for you.
>>
>>
>> For those of us who do have that kind of spatial
>> awareness, I really
>> hope we can all be understanding and not wave off these
>> types of
>> limitations as stupidity or laziness or anything of the
>> sort. I'm
>> talking to myself here too. As for those that find these
>> 3d or 2d
>> audio
>> games overwhelming and confusing, I hope you can find
>> others that
>> work
>> for you. Side scrollers come to mind, as those generally
>> only have
>> forward and backward, sometimes up and down. This entire
>> thing
>> has me
>> pondering ideas for emersive audio games with excellent
>> storylines that
>> don't require the ability to navigate as a primary skill
>> for
>> gameplay.
>>
>>
>> Christy
>>
>>
>>
>> On 7/27/2020 1:15 PM, Damien Garwood wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> > This will be quite a long message, because I'm
>> > starting to
>> realise
>> > just how complicated spatial awareness can actually
>> > be.
>> > This is a thing I've been struggling with for years.
>> > I only
>> managed A
>> > Hero's Call because following a beacon is like
>> > playing a reflex
>> game.
>> > It says north, you turn around until it says north.
>> > Even then
>> though,
>> > someone had to tell me that. I have no real
>> > understanding as
>> to what
>> > that means or where I'm going. In fact, during times
>> > when you
>> can't
>> > rely on beacons to get you places (like the goblin
>> > campsites
>> and so
>> > on), someone actually had to do that for me!
>> > As for Tank Commander, if it weren't for Raul's
>> > playthrough, I
>> would
>> > have never beaten it.
>> > Same in the real world, I always struggled with
>> > mobility. When I
>> > learned a route it was a case of remembering a set of
>> instructions.
>> > That's why I often call it the "Bop-it dance" or the
>> > "Robot's
>> dance".
>> > Think about it...Walk 20, turn right, walk 10...Just
>> > a glorified
>> > algorithm.
>> > If someone tells me to try and do the route in
>> > reverse, I
>> wouldn't
>> > have a clue.
>> > You tell me to turn right, and I can do it. You ask
>> > me what's
>> to the
>> > left of me, or what direction are the stairs from my
>> > front
>> door, I'd
>> > have no idea, without physically going there. When my
>> > mum used
to
>> tell
>> > me to get out of the car and walk round the back, I
>> > wouldn't know
>> what
>> > direction that was, because once I'm out of the car
>> > my
>> direction has
>> > changed. And then there's the big one. If cars are
>> > moving
>> forwards
>> > then why do they pan left to right? Or, if I'm sat in
>> > a vehicle
>> that's
>> > reversing, why does it feel like it's moving
>> > forwards? What am I
>> told?
>> > Surprise surprise, it's to do with directions again.
>> > And they all
>> have
>> > one thing in common - it's the direction your facing.
>> > I always thought that, although I could move in a
>> > given
>> direction, I
>> > always struggled when I faced a different direction
>> > to what I'm
>> used to.
>> > My mum disagrees, and puts it like this: I don't have
>> > any "mental
>> > mapping skills". Thinking about it, I guess I can say
>> > that's
>> accurate.
>> > I never know where I am relative to other things, or
>> > where
>> they are
>> > relative to me (Unless of course I can reach out and
>> > physically
>> touch
>> > it).
>> > I guess that's why I wasn't taught other forms of
>> > navigation.
>> compass
>> > directions are just a series of meaningless words to
>> > me. All I
>> know is
>> > that the compass has something to do with the sun.
>> > And don't even get me started on the clockface...When
>> > I tried 3d
>> > Velocity and it told me there was an enemy at 06:00,
>> > I
>> actually went
>> > looking in the manual for a way to check the
>> > gametime! Of course
>> > there's nothing in there, then someone corrected me
>> > and said, no,
>> it's
>> > referencing direction, not time. As far as I know, I
>> > hit a
>> button on
>> > my clock or computer and it tells me the time. What
>> > on earth has
>> that
>> > got to do with directions? I guess the only thing I
>> > can think
>> of is
>> > that they say the past is behind you and the future
>> > is in
>> > front...Headache tablets anyone?
>> > I've also seen things like turning to 90 or 160 (they
>> > just sound
>> like
>> > arbitrary numbers to me). Eurofly deals with latitude
>> longitude and
>> > altitude. There just seems to be so much to consider
>> > with space.
>> > I'd just say give me an x and a y coordinate. But
>> > then I've seen
>> that
>> > in different ways (0 0 being bottom left in some
>> > cases, and
>> top left
>> > in others, and then someone told me that could also
>> > refer to the
>> > centre under some circumstances as well). Also I've
>> > had
>> disputes in
>> > the past as to whether the Y coordinate represents
>> > forwards and
>> > backwards, or up and down. I always thought z was up
>> > and down,
>> but
>> > they'd argue that when you're talking 2d, y is up and
>> > down. But I
>> > thought if you're working with 2d, you're talking
>> > about something
>> > that's flat (unless of course you're playing BK3!)
>> > Then, as if that wasn't enough, even my certainty
>> > about up and
>> down
>> > came into question a few months ago when I learned
>> > that the
world
>> was
>> > just a big ball. In that case, people on the other
>> > side of the
>> ball
>> > would say that their up was our down...And then they
>> > told me the
>> earth
>> > is spinning, so our directions are always changing
>> anyway...Sheesh!
>> > Thank goodness we don't have that level of complexity
>> > in games!
>> > Honestly. Sometimes I think I ought to have a physics
>> > degree
>> if I'm
>> > going to understand all this! And there was me
>> > thinking that
>> spatial
>> > awareness was meant to be a basic skill.
>> > As it is, I'm determined to learn this. I've gone six
>> > or seven
>> years
>> > without any mobility training now because I just
>> > can't get my
>> head
>> > around it. Now I'm trying again, and I thought that
>> > if I can
>> > understand how these games work, maybe it will
>> > improve my
mental
>> > mapping skills and thus my mobility training, and
>> > stop everyone
>> > getting impatient with me and telling me what an
>> > idiot or slow
>> learner
>> > I am.
>> > Cheers,
>> > Damien.
>> >
>> > On 27/07/2020 04:08 pm, Luke Hewitt wrote:
>> >> I've found myself, that practicing has actually
>> >> improved my
>> ability
>> >> to navigate in games.
>> >>
>> >> When I started with shades of doom and gma tank
>> >> commander, I
was
>> >> having trouble, and it wasn't until I thought out
>> >> the physical
>> >> spacial awareness test myself that I managed to get
>> >> my head
>> around
>> >> the idea, since my own comprehension of space is
>> >> actually pretty
>> crappy.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> What I do do though, both in games and rl, is to
>> >> use
>> landmarks as
>> >> guides, sound sources, smells, and working out what
>> >> direction I
>> have
>> >> to go from such and such is often a good way around.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> A hero's call I can't speak about as I've yet to get
>> >> into that
>> game,
>> >> but I know in shades of doom, using the sound
>> >> sources of the
>> >> corridors and many of the tools already provided
>> >> like
>> coordinates and
>> >> the reminders of where I've gone before, helped
>> >> considerably.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> All the best,
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Dark.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
