Cognitive+Mapping

Cognitive Mapping

When starting the game, the introduction scene gives you a pan shot of the area you start in, immediately giving the player an immediate mental image of the area. In reality, one only knows a new area based on their first experience and what they see themselves from hearsay from others; there is no complete view of an area like in WoW.

In the image below, instructions were given to our WoW player as we attempted to attack a wolf; it provides players with feedback and advice on how to properly play the game. If we attempt to attack a player or an animal from a distance, an automatic text appears saying //“you are too far away”.// In actual reality, individuals do not rely on text as a guide. The two snapshots below show the immediate disappearance of the footprints from our WoW player. The first image shows the footprints clearly visible, while the second image that was taken a few seconds after the first, shows very little or no visible footprints. In reality, one’s footprints will remain visible until a natural change occurs. On the other hand, players’ footprints automatically disappear after a few seconds. This creates a difference in reliance between actual reality and virtual world, as players cannot rely on their own footprints to refer back to their original path.