Imagine pong, the classic video game,
modified to have a very slow moving
ball. Now imagine that you move
the paddle up by increasing your
blood pressure, and down by decreasing it. So does the other player. Both of you are wearing
biofeedback devices that make your
blood pressure an input device
to the game.
Play ball.
Other biofeedback measurements could
be used as well:
heart rate, EEG ("brain waves"),
GSR, whatever.
And of course other video games
could be used too; they just have
to be multiplayer and not require
too many inputs.
May the best controller of his or
her blood pressure win.
My google search reveals that others
have come shockingly close to this
idea, but always stop short of it.
There are video games that reward ADHD kids for paying attention.
There's a game for an individual
player that uses a biofeedback input
device for the player to do certain
things in the game (Wild Divine).
There are also video games as part
of biofeedback systems, to make the
biofeedback training process more fun.
There is a multplayer game designed to make
the most relaxed player win,
using biofeedback (Brainball).
There is even a proposal
(Brainathlon) for a multiplayer
game limited to EEG input,
basically racing for ability to
sustain certain EEG activity.
And yes, there are hints of this
in William Gibson and friends.
But somehow no one has come up with
the idea of a sport based on precise
control of physiology. Competition
not for more or less activity,
but in which the amount of activity
at any given moment is the game
control. Game in which the skill
is control of the nervous system
itself.
I see this as highly popular as a
video arcade game at bars.
"50 bucks says I can whip you
at GSR pong, dude"
Naturally, as this spreads out
and becomes national and then
international, it will become
an Olympic sport as well. GSR
events. Alpha wave events.
Performance enhancing drugs will
be an issue.