Poll of the Day > You ever struggled with a game then played it later and owned it?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Like, why does this happen? I've had about 3 or 4 times now in my life where I've gone back and played games I had previously quit to play something else or whatever the reason was and suddenly it's like my brain works better the second day time around. I guess the opposite has happened too, but I can't remember those times as well.

It's called muscle memory bro. And it happens all the time. Like with Rogue Legacy 2 for me

When it happens to me, I usually attribute it to my brain subconsciously reprocessing and learning the mechanics of the game while I am taking a break from playing it. The frustration I feel might be related to how well my brain "learns" the game. A similar sort of thing happens to me when I'm struggling with schoolwork. I'm not sure if this makes me an ideal student, though, which worries me sometimes. In any case, this is my theory on the matter.

there was one time that I played Geometry Wars and I had like a nirvana moment and it just clicked. it was like I could see that the enemies were really just points and the gun was a tool to gather the points. they weren't something to fear they were something to welcome. I could only barely hang on to that feeling and it never happened again, but that was the one time that I scored over 1 million.

for the stuck -> wait a few days -> try again and pwn thing, yes, that is your subconscious processing the problem in the background. basically, the information you take in consciously has to be processed and stored and that takes time. in the short term there's only so much progress you can make consciously.

conscious processes are slower, subconscious processes are much faster. this is partly because the conscious part is way up at the front rather than near your brain stem. conscious processes have to go through most of your brain to get down to your spine, but subconscious processes are right next to the spine somewhere around the brainstem. (not 100% on the details.)

actually it's worse than that, your vision is at the back. your consciousness is at the front, and your spine is at the bottom. so conscious hand-eye-coordination, the signal goes eyes -> back of brain (visual processing) -> front of brain (conscious processing) -> spine (motor control).

whereas subconscious processing goes more like eyes -> back of brain -> (bottom middle of brain somewhere (subconscious processing) -> spine which is way faster.

EclairReturns posted...

When it happens to me, I usually attribute it to my brain subconsciously reprocessing and learning the mechanics of the game while I am taking a break from playing it. The frustration I feel might be related to how well my brain "learns" the game. A similar sort of thing happens to me when I'm struggling with schoolwork. I'm not sure if this makes me an ideal student, though, which worries me sometimes. In any case, this is my theory on the matter.

It's basically this. I remember learning about some psychological theories in an Educational Psychology course I took many years ago that said something like that.

It helps explain why cramming at the last minute isn't generally as effective for long term knowledge acquisition compared to staggered studying. Or why even if you haven't done something in a very long time, you can relearn it much more quickly than you originally learned it.

The subconscious mind is not very well understood, but it's a powerful thing.

No, I usually purchase the games before I struggle with them.

Xenosaga 1
Final Fantasy Tactics
River City Girls

These are three I remember starting and moving to another game and coming back with a completely different ability to play them.

It's like the season of my mind just was more into what I was participating in. Sometimes I'm apt, other times I'm all thumbs.

Yeah; but usually due to lack of motivation rather than skill.

Fallout: New Vegas, Skyrim, GTA V, and Far Cry 4 were this way.

Any game I played as a child sure, other than that not really, my ability level is both consistent and well above average.

Sometimes you need to take a step back for awhile. When you keep dying on the same part or something, you start to tense up and make even more mistakes out of frustration. Going back in with a clear mind can work wonders.