Hi Dakotah, I had sight growing up, but lost it as a teenager. I'm not sure where that puts me in the adaptation to blindness argument, but I'm sure I was able to adapt quicker and easier than someone twice my age.However, as you say there have been some studies that the brain is able to adapt to the lack of sight at a younger age than at an older age and as a result there may be a wide degree of interpretation of what is and isn't accessible for that person. It sounds to me there needs to be more study on this subject.
Cheers! On 7/25/12, Dakotah Rickard <dakotah.rick...@gmail.com> wrote: > I want to include some experiences and information. > > First of all, I have sparred with my sighted friend. He and I are both > pretty good, and by sparring, I mean we actually came away with > bruises from the various weapons we used. It is not difficult, given > the right situation and environment, to actually note the stance of > your opponent and the position fo their weapon and block and attack. > Many martial arts include a blind fighting test as part of their > mastery testing. > > Also, I think that there is a big difference between those who have > lost their sight and those who never had it to begin with. If I had to > guess, Tom, you either never had sight or lost it a long time ago. > Dark, you had sight, were familiar with that perspective, then lost > it. > > The reason that this is different is that I can relate to the > guesswork thing as a blind person who never had sight. All the > mainstream games I've ever played involved some level of guesswork. I > remember playing dark forces, the star wars game. I could shoot storm > troopers and such, but I couldn't do more without a lot of painstaking > effort and some guesswork. I had to use the infinite ammo cheat so I > could shoot at walls with my gun like a sort of zappy sonar. I played > other games like that too, but I doubt anyone ever heard of take no > prisoners, even if it rocked. > > I think that there are some experiences, backed up by physiology and > psychology that blind persons who have been blind from or from near > birth, will have differently than will their sighted counterparts. It > is documented fact that the auditory and visual cortecies in the brain > are similarly structured and proximal to one another. If the visual > cortex is unused, the auditory cortex will spread into it and use it > for extra processing power, and vice versa. Basically, I thought the > thing about blind people having better hearing and such was bull, but > then I learned that it isn't necessarily tripe after all, it just > depends on how plastic, that is how changeable, the brain is and in > what stage blindness occurs. > > This doesn't mean that blind people can't unite in a common goal, or > that sighted and blind people will necessarily play their games > separately forever, but there is a difference in perspective. I'll use > the very gap-bridging game of Swamp, briefly. > > I play like a typical blind person, because I am. I shoot from afar or > close up with sound. My wife tries to use both, and she usually > spazzes when a zombie is close up, and she's getting better, > therefore, at aiming by sound. My friend, however, uses his assault > rifle to attract a hoarde of zombies close enough to see, then blasts > them all with pinpoint accuracy because he can see. A very accessible > game, played with three different perspectives. > > The fact is that we all bring different abilities and disabilities to > the table. My wife's spazzing at zombies is her disability. My > friend's inability to aim with sound is his. My blindness and lack of > quick visual accuracy is mine. That, in my oppinion, is the way life > works. > > Signed: > Dakotah Rickard > --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
