No Motion Sensors Here

When people play video games, they can really get into it. They get engrossed in the game, completely immersed in the alternate reality of the moment. They get warm. They push the buttons real hard. They get frantic with the joystick.

I mean, the general mechanics of the game controller are quite simple. There's typically a button for each function -- one to shoot, one to jump, directions for turning / looking, whatever. And sometimes one of things that vibrates when you crash your racecar. But that's about it.

So I get a kick out of watching people play and expect other magical things to happen when they use the controller. Like when they're turning left around a hairpin turn, and their whole bodies lean left, their controllers are way left, and tilted almost sideways.

You know what I'm talking about. Heck, you've probably done it before too. Like when you need your superhero character to leap higher than they've ever leapt before. And with every press of that jump button, you "jump" your controller.

As if the controller could secretly feel that motion you're doing. "Jump. Like this. No, higher, you stupid controller! Like this!" Maybe it's some kind of tension measurement in the wire -- it can feel your controller cord looping and swinging or something. Either way, the magic kicks in.

"Oh, I see. They want to turn left. I can tell by the angle they're holding the controller at, that they want to turn a little harder. Even harder left turn?? Okay!"

And then some people take their physical involvement to the extremes -- I can't tell you how many times I've seen people turning videogame racetrack corners, only to fall over on their sides ... and still try to recover.