Hi Dark,
I think that I do my visualizing sort of like you. I never was good with
maps. I associate things with other things. For instance, I know that I go
north to get out of the building in the Colossal Cave adventure game and
that I need to go west to get into the cave once I get into the first
passage.
Paulette
-----Original Message-----
From: gamers-boun...@audyssey.org [mailto:gamers-boun...@audyssey.org] On
Behalf Of dark
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2012 12:59 PM
To: Gamers Discussion list
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] LWorks
Hi Damien.
it's not association, it's just memory. I don't remember say for instance
gr
first letters of grass so I go right, I just remember that on that
particular route grass is where I turn right, that is it.
Some landmarks I use are visual, like the low white wall, some are tactile
like crossings, ---- heck some are even smell, it's just a technique I've
built up over several years.
It actually used to really piss me off when mobility trainers used to try
and force me to mental map, and asked me things like "which direction are
you going now" ---- heck, I don't know! indeed the best person for
mobility
was my mum since she is A, visually impared and B, quite totally aware of
the way I do things.
These days though, as happened when I went to egypt last year, i find I
can
pretty much select and learn my own landmarks just by following someone
the
first, and occasionally the second or third time. This helps hugely on
stage, since I know if I need to be to the right of and slightly behind
someone else, say the king, I can get there, without needing to worry
about
what else is on the stage or where.
Like everything else though, this is all about practice and training, and
there's really no way to improve at it other than try, try, try again!
I'd actually suggest perhaps you could download a game like shades or
terraformers, try it with this idea in mind and practice until you have
the
memorization of directions down, then maybe try a short journey, say a
basic
left right.
Actually, this could be a very short example game, giving you random
objects
and associating them with three directions, and asking you to memorize
simon
style, ---- say right train, left bench etc.
I'd always say that whether it's music, getting around, cooking or just
about anything else, the best asset a visually impared person has is their
memory, ----- indeed I'm actually quite amazed sometimes when I find for
instance that my friends, who are a long way from stupid, can't for
instance
remember a ten digit phone number without having to write it down.
Beware the Grue!
Dark.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Damien Pendleton" <dam...@blunderfield.plus.com>
To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2012 5:43 PM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] LWorks
Hi Dark,
You sound a bit like me, though even that long list of directions to your
school you posted I wouldn't be able to remember all that in a matter of
months. It was a similarly short route if not shorter to the bus stop and
I couldn't remember that for the life of me. It doesn't help that I'm not
good with association either, so I can't exactly associate, say a bench
to
the fact that there'll be a road in 30 seconds, so I always end up
getting
lost anyway.
Regards,
Damien.
----- Original Message -----
From: "dark" <d...@xgam.org>
To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2012 5:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] LWorks
Hi Tom.
I disagree on visualization or spacial awareness, since that is a skill
i
just do not have. This is why I find a game like battleships,
patience/solitare, mine sweeper, chess, or even draughts/checkers nearly
impossible to play unless the board is in front of me in either a visual
or tactile form for me to get that sort of overview, since I just cannot
maintain the memory of where each object is after the audio view of it
has moved on.
That being said, i do find gma tank commander and shades of doom
possible, but my mental way of playing is probably different from other
peoples, since instead of attempting to build up a larger, mental map of
the entire location, I simply work by memorizing the relations betwene
landmarks, and the directions provided by the coordinates system.
For example, I know in the first level of shades of doom, that you
follow
the corridors until you get to the end of one with two doors, one
leading
to a radio room, the other up a corridor to the fan room.
once in the fan room, you can go left into another passage then right
into another large room, with a door leading to a passage going out of
it
to the left, and in that passage is the false wall where the message is
(and usually a monster with a gun).
I have no practical idea where that room is in comparison to the rest of
the stage at all, but by memorizing the landmarks and directions I know
just where to find it with respect to the rest of the stage.
I actually believe it was playing massive, exploration games like
Turrican and Metroid that really improved my memory skills for
landmarks,
since there I'd often have to spend a fair amount of time wandering
around an area looking for a specific configuration of ledges or a
specific landmark that I know leads to where I'm going, and this skill
in
fact has stood me in very good stead.
For example, last weekend I was in brightan at the mini aims music
school
and auditions, and since I know I'll be back there perminantly I
determined to learn the 10 minute or so walk from my hotel to the music
school.
I have no idea where practically in directional terms this went, but I
know it's right, streight on, through a style, cross one road, walk
until
i find the grass verge, cross again, right, then up a very long road to
a
white wall, cross on the right, streight on up to a main road, follow
the
railings right again, and left to the entrance.
My parents were staying with me at the time (they wanted a holiday), and
it just took one run there and back with them for reever and I to get
the
route, ---- and in fact having a dog really help with that since I could
concentrate upon my land marks instead of worrying about what rubbish
people stuck on the pavement (indeed, she remembered it as well if not
better than I did).
So the point of all this is that mental overview of space is actually
unnecessary if you are sufficiently used to working with an alternative
set of skills.
I'm always frankly amazed at the mental mapping skills some blind people
have, ----- I just realized it's not something my mind will do, ----
indeed there is probably a physiological explanation for this, since
when
i was born I apparently suffered mild brain damage, and though we can't
determine anything wrong with other mental areas, my spacial perception
really isn't what it should be.
Fortunately, my memory is more than up to the task.
Beware the grue!
Dark.
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