I keep telling people that AI will atrophy their brain the same way that tools like Google Maps did. We can’t navigate for shit now unless a piece of software tells us the route. The same thing is going to happen, but to really important judgment and thinking skills.
I’ve restored my navigation skills by playing through the Dark Souls trilogy. No map, no objective markers, just you and the slightly janky third person camera.
Damn, you just clicked for me why I have a pretty good sense of direction. I’ve occasionally impressed myself and others for years, with “do you not know how we got here?” or “well we came from that direction” in spite of a generally terrible memory and a passionate dislike of geography and learning street names, etc.
But you’re absolutely right, it’s video games: puzzle dungeons, huge open worlds, metroidvanias, I even prefer playing with the UI and maps off whenever possible, and somehow I’ve never made this connection before. Incredible.
This worked for me too but I still have trouble navigating landmarks that aren’t flaming wolfmen nailed to a cross, or colossal castles by the sea guarded by a dragon skeleton
2023 is when I first got a vehicle with a nav display, and that definitely dulled the more detailed navigation senses.
Cardinal directions still solid but the take a left on Y after X street info I had been cataloging in the back of my mind fell off quickly once I started turn by turn directions all the time.
I keep telling people that AI will atrophy their brain the same way that tools like Google Maps did. We can’t navigate for shit now unless a piece of software tells us the route. The same thing is going to happen, but to really important judgment and thinking skills.
I’ve restored my navigation skills by playing through the Dark Souls trilogy. No map, no objective markers, just you and the slightly janky third person camera.
Damn, you just clicked for me why I have a pretty good sense of direction. I’ve occasionally impressed myself and others for years, with “do you not know how we got here?” or “well we came from that direction” in spite of a generally terrible memory and a passionate dislike of geography and learning street names, etc.
But you’re absolutely right, it’s video games: puzzle dungeons, huge open worlds, metroidvanias, I even prefer playing with the UI and maps off whenever possible, and somehow I’ve never made this connection before. Incredible.
As someone with nearly 500 hours into Elden Ring, this tracks lol.
This worked for me too but I still have trouble navigating landmarks that aren’t flaming wolfmen nailed to a cross, or colossal castles by the sea guarded by a dragon skeleton
2023 is when I first got a vehicle with a nav display, and that definitely dulled the more detailed navigation senses.
Cardinal directions still solid but the take a left on Y after X street info I had been cataloging in the back of my mind fell off quickly once I started turn by turn directions all the time.
I stopped using navigation for the most part. Mind you, I grew up using maps but it only took a couple months for my navigation skills to cone back.