Tetris effect analysis (Playstation VR)

Without the need for presentations, we will remember the unforgettable Tetris: the father of all the games of opportunity, based on simple rules of physics and who became viral even before the Internet and the viral term to use.

Now, after more than 4 decades (and as reported by Pplware here), here is where Tetris comes back and titled Virtual Reality. Tetris Effect is already available on the Sony console and Pplware has already had the opportunity to try it.

It was in the 1980s that Alexey Pajitnov, a 29-year-old Russian scientist, had created a very simple game on a computer that could only present text in which small pieces fell and formed lines who disappeared and marked the match.

He immediately realized that he could not stop playing. The development was carried out on a machine called Elektronika 60, located in a building called Soviet Academy of Sciences. The way the game has moved from this moment to the Nintendo gameboy, where it has become the main game to sell the console, is a confusing, complicated, full of struggles between the millionaire Maxwell, Atari and Nintendo. This involves Michael Gorbachev himself and even interrogations at the KGB. In the end, the game has evolved, has been adapted and released for PC, Arcade and countless consoles.

It was an overwhelming success. In the early 90's, there was no arcade room without at least one Tetris machine. And it was also probably the most successful arcade for the female audience that did not find such a joke in other arcade games that always involved some kind of violence or sports competition. It was the game of conviviality, hypnotic and addictive. The music that accompanied it has remained forever etched in our memories and today, it brings a nice touch of mobile phone, because it always arouses smiles.

There have been great competitions and the world champion was one of the first to be invited to test this new version of Tetris.

And it is at this point that you start to get an idea of ​​the effect Tetris. Some players describe a symptom after playing Tetris for a prolonged period, which they called the Tetris effect or Tetris syndrome. They explained that they were beginning to see works in the real world, others were dreaming of colorful objects while they slept. These effects were harmless and some scientists claimed that playing Tetris to recover from post-traumatic stress was even beneficial, and that Tetris strengthened the cerebral cortex and spatial orientation.

But then what is the secret? Why does the game create an addiction? In 1930, a psychologist named Bluma Zeigarnik described what should be called the Zeigarnik effect.

He noticed that a waitress could remember a dozen requests, but that she could no longer remember it since these requests had been served. He has come to the conclusion that the human brain is designed to remember incomplete tasks and to dismiss that information as soon as it is done and that it is no longer needed. Tetris provides us with a continuous list of incomplete tasks to complete and, as they disappear, create new tasks. There is a chain of partial solutions and new tasks of the same type that give us a satisfaction to conclude and, at the same time, the need to continue as a task to scratch.

It is precisely this hypnotic side that we see amplified in this new version of Tetris. It's hard to describe … Imagine we fall asleep and start dreaming. And in this dream, we are in the middle of a psychedelic lake or in the middle of the space, with the planet Earth there. On the front is our famous Tetris, in a stylized version.

At each level, this style changes. And when we begin to move the pieces, there is music and sounds that respond to our commands. As our orders pick up speed, music comes along, new unexpected effects occur and when we are already in a high concentration level, it is the area. In this, the visual effects become more tunnel and we suddenly forget that we are in a dream and that we want to continue these sequences of stimuli. It seems that we could invite all our friends to this party.

Thus, a game completely redone while remaining Tetris. We continue to consider the game as traditionally, that is to say without 3D parts or odd angles. We see that everything is suspended in the middle of a hypnotic environment.

This is a very interesting proposition, for those who have played and even for those who have never experienced 90s fever.

At PSVR, I think that could be a little painful after the novelty effect. However, it's a timely title, because early 2019, will appear simpler installation platforms that will facilitate the start of a fast game and that may be ideally suited to this game. We refer to the project of Oculus GO and other projects that will not depend on a PC or a smartphone, totally independent, could be the perfect platforms for this game and the like.

The most social aspect is lacking here, and other platforms will enjoy it more willingly.

Tetris effect

The pros

• Addictive gameplay
• Polished visions
• Art and music very well done

The inconvenients

• Improve the social aspect