Arm Control

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the game mechanic of being required to selectively control the arms of B.U.D. in Grow Home.

Computer game players control the actions of their avatars during the gameplay of a computer game. In most of the cases, the avatars can walk, run, jump, croach, climb, carry around objects or activate switches in the game world. Instead of being required to control the avatar’s limbs, the players just have to press the respective key in order to perform these actions with the own avatar.

Although the avatar control is not a full body control, it never felt strange to me. The reason for this could be that all of these activities are daily life activities and they are normally performed without a conscious effort. Our own decision to perform one of these activities subconsciously triggers the execution of it. Controlling an avatar in a virtual world shares similarities with our own natural way of moving through the world.

Recently, I discovered the computer game „Grow Home“ and started playing it. In Grow Home, the player takes control over a droid called B.U.D. which has the task to grow a plant to a certain height by connecting its shoots with energy sources. The game is played from a third person perspective and follows to a certain degree the usual control standards. However, Grow Home introduces a new way of controlling the arms of B.U.D.. Players are required to selectively use the left or the right arm in order to climb up high walls or to carry around an item.

B.U.D.

Depending on the used peripherals, the player has to select the arm by pressing the respective key. In the case of playing the game with a keyboard and a mouse, the player has to press the left mouse button to activate the left arm and the right mouse button to activate the right arm. If the player likes to grab an item with B.U.D.’s left arm, he has to approach this item (pressing „W“ lets B.U.D. move forward) and then press the left mouse button in order to finally grab the item.

Climbing up a wall requires the timed combination of both armes while performing a forward motion which is initiated by keeping the W key pressed. Furthermore, the player has to make sure that B.U.D. has always a firm grip at the wall. In order to climb up a wall, the player starts with pressing the left mouse button when B.U.D. stands in front of a wall in order to grab it with the left arm. Subsequently, he starts to move upward by pressing the W key and finally he has to press the right mouse button in order to grab the wall at a higher position with the right arm. After having a firm grip with the right hand, the player can release B.U.D.’s left arm, move upward a bit and finally grab the wall with the left arm again. In summary, the activity of climbing upwards is performed by keeping the forward button pressed and alternating between the two arm control buttons. This special way of controlling B.U.D. can even allow the players to get into a state of „flow“.

Climbing in Grow Home.

At first, this new game mechanic of controlling B.U.D.’s arms felt a bit strange, but over time I got used to this mechanic and it even enhanced my experience of controlling an avatar in a computer game. Being required to actively alternate between B.U.D.’s two arms resulted in a completely new dimension of interacting with the virtual game world.