It is a common phenomenon and is called GTP

Do you remember when, years ago, stories circulated that used to consider urban legends – until it experienced them – about dreams in which we played tetris or doom, and that were so real that, sometimes, they got to be confused with the periods of vigil? A name came to be given, The tetris effectand the new generations of games and apps, more and more sophisticated and realistic, have taken that phenomenon one step further: after the Tetris effect, the GTP arrives.

What is the GTP. Are the acronym for Game Transfer Phenomenathat is, phenomenon of game transfer, and consists of a series of involuntary experiences that players have after intense game sessions, where elements of video games (from images and specific sounds to such concrete aspects as object inventories) are overlap with our real life perceptions. Its characteristics were described for the first time about a decade ago by Angelica Ortiz de Gortari In a doctoral thesis.

His inspiration was his own experience: visualize products in a supermarket as if he were using a video game telescopic sight

Some of his symptoms. They are very varied: visual perceptions (see life bars or the game of the game) and auditory (soundtrack, special effects), automatic impulses (executing conditioned movements, such as pressing buttons), recurring thoughts and behaviors inspired by video games (speaking involuntarily with concrete games), tactile or kinesthetic sensations (perceive the control in the hands when there is not there) … player can see health bars on people’s heads, or feel the need to grab everyday objects as if they were Power-ups.

A frequent experience. It is not about An isolated or unusual phenomenon. Studies in which More than 6,000 players have participated They indicate that most have experienced GTP at least once. And in Another analysis that was carried out in Chinabetween 82 % and 96 % of participants in a survey reported that they had experienced some form of GTP. This BBC article Check the phenomenon and mention Ortiz de Gortari, which describes that, for those who experience it, the GTP can be “disconcerting and potentially dangerous”, although, being relatively natural and simple to explain, most of the time it is passenger and has no greater significance.

But why does it happen? On the one hand, video games demand automatic and conditioned responses, which can then be repeated in real life. And of course, the very high immersive capacity of modern games multiplies this possibility of transfer. It is a phenomenon comparable to catchy songsthat we repeat in our head without being able to forget them, but the GTP has a plus of intensity because the brain areas that manage it are linked to action and impulses, not to passive attitudes.

It will go to more. Experts such as Ortiz de Gortari affirm that with devices such as virtual reality helmets, phenomena such as GTP could increase exponentially in the future. Without a doubt, it is an area that Science considers that it should be examined thoroughly: Not only because video games are the main form of entertainment globally, but because it delegates, to a large extent, to what extent our minds are vulnerable to increasingly aggressive technological advances.

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