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This is your brain on KSP


orosee

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Just a thought on (Korean) Memorial Day holiday which I'll spend mostly with KSP...

Am I the only one who, when seeing a screenshot of a KSP scene (VAB or in space - from my own screenshots or those posted on this forum) automatically tries to adjust the view angle by holding the right mouse button and wobbling the mouse around?

Always takes me a few seconds before I realize that I'm not achieving anything... :huh:

All fun aside, I'm slightly worried that my brain has been conditioned by countless hours of KSP to go full automatic... like a grey fleshy Mechjeb in my head.

Would be happy not to be alone with this problem, perhaps time to found a KA group (Kerboholics Anonymous)?

Never mind, away I am, I've got a new 300 ton launcher to develop and fly.

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Get a second hobby, preferably a physical one and outside.

No, I am not 60 years old, but there is scientific proof all around that physical activities are good for our body and mind, also the sight of open land soothes us.

So, free your mind - and body - for a few hours. :wink:

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Same here. Only its now creeping into work-life... yesterday running a powerpoint presentation and realising I was trying to use the middle mouse button to rotate a 3d text object in front of everyone - OMG - I just said, "ignore that, not sure what I was doing there..." Also, I finally removed the KSP shortcut from my task bar/dock because someone asked about the cartoon character. Small problems make for huge laughs.

Edited by Wallygator
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Man, you are not alone.

You are posessed with KSP quite a lot. I am not saying this is bad that you have interest in aerospace industry now.

It is not so good to spend hours and hours playing KSP without a break.

And this does not mean you need to switch off KSP and go to forums to have "rest".

No. Just grab the music player, a bag, put there some hot chocolate or tea in thermos, make a couple of sandwiches, take the notebook (Paper one I mean, and obviously a pencil), go outdoors, take a park or some place where it is comfortable for you and just let your mind do the rest. Draw something, write something, plan something. You will not leave the KSP world, you will just let your mind and body rest from PC.

What can you write:

To do list when you will be back at KSP.

Checklist for building a rocket for another mission to not forget to put a pair of RTGs or something.

Mission checklist (takeoff, circularize, OPEN GODDAMN SOLAR PANELS, wait transfer window, burn, wait, aerobrake... etc...) to cross out what is done during a mission.

Some story behind your latest mission to post it later somewhere or just for you to remember later.

What you can draw:

Sketches for landers, rovers, rockets, planes, ballistas, flying fridges, flying coaches etc.

Paintings of your latest impressions while on mission. (Screenshot says a lot, but a drawing is far more impressive, and it will train your brain to remember details. Check if you can draw a kerbal with all that small details they have on their suits just by memory.)

Of course, you can do anything else, but this is what you can do to stay with KSP in your mind.

P.S. I personally prefer doing military-style training from time to time. Good ol' days in army. I like the feeling that I can do something with my body alone, without all these tools humanity made.

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Been there done it.

KSP is a race, not a space race, but a race to which break first, the physics engine or your sanity. :-)

Regards.

Now that, my friend, is a close one.

On a related note, yes you are not alone; I do this all the time, and not just in KSP videos.

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Guilty of trying to rotate photos or videos...

The thing that makes me worry is I often have dreams about KSP now. Never anything specific or worthy of a story, but things like launching a rocket, rendezvous and docking procedures, landings gone wrong, etc.

Then there's the fact that I often come into work with 3-4 hours of sleep chugging coffee because I was just right in the middle of something in the game that I didn't want to put off. Shame.

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Hahaha, thank you guys for the great replies, I'm feeling much more "normal" now. I totally forgot the YouTube videos, it happens there too.

Special thanks to the posters who gave some advice on how to grab hold of real life outside KSP - some good thoughts and fortunately I've still got plenty of opportunity to do something away from keyboard, although sometimes I find myself watching KSP videos end on end, but at least for now I can do without re-runs of "Interstellar Quest" or "Space Tourism".

Great community! :)

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Get a second hobby, preferably a physical one and outside.

No, I am not 60 years old, but there is scientific proof all around that physical activities are good for our body and mind, also the sight of open land soothes us.

So, free your mind - and body - for a few hours. :wink:

60 is not even that far out of sight for me (I catch myself saying that I'm "40-ish" more often than not) and fortunately I've got a baby on the way due to arrive in 6 weeks, so from then until the boy is old enough to use a maneuver node to circularize an orbit I'll definitely be able to follow your good advice.

I wonder if KSP will be at a 1.x release by then. We'll probably fly gestures with Oculus Rift support by then.

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Same here. Only its now creeping into work-life... yesterday running a powerpoint presentation and realising I was trying to use the middle mouse button to rotate a 3d text object in front of everyone - OMG - I just said, "ignore that, not sure what I was doing there..." Also, I finally removed the KSP shortcut from my task bar/dock because someone asked about the cartoon character. Small problems make for huge laughs.

Oh wow, that reminds me of a time when I had a PowerPoint presentation of a web site (non-interactive) and I kept clicking the "buttons" and "links" to no avail.

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;1198104']Man' date=' you are not alone.

You are posessed with KSP quite a lot. I am not saying this is bad that you have interest in aerospace industry now.

It is not so good to spend hours and hours playing KSP without a break.

And this does not mean you need to switch off KSP and go to forums to have "rest".

No. Just grab the music player, a bag, put there some hot chocolate or tea in thermos, make a couple of sandwiches, take the notebook (Paper one I mean, and obviously a pencil), go outdoors, take a park or some place where it is comfortable for you and just let your mind do the rest. Draw something, write something, plan something. You will not leave the KSP world, you will just let your mind and body rest from PC.

What can you write:

To do list when you will be back at KSP.

Checklist for building a rocket for another mission to not forget to put a pair of RTGs or something.

Mission checklist (takeoff, circularize, OPEN GODDAMN SOLAR PANELS, wait transfer window, burn, wait, aerobrake... etc...) to cross out what is done during a mission.

Some story behind your latest mission to post it later somewhere or just for you to remember later.

What you can draw:

Sketches for landers, rovers, rockets, planes, ballistas, flying fridges, flying coaches etc.

Paintings of your latest impressions while on mission. (Screenshot says a lot, but a drawing is far more impressive, and it will train your brain to remember details. Check if you can draw a kerbal with all that small details they have on their suits just by memory.)

Of course, you can do anything else, but this is what you can do to stay with KSP in your mind.

P.S. I personally prefer doing military-style training from time to time. Good ol' days in army. I like the feeling that I can do something with my body alone, without all these tools humanity made.[/quote']

Good ideas! I'm actually an aerospace engineer by education but haven't been in the industry for a very long time; KSP is a great game to satisfy both the constructive engineer and the destructive child in me. Too much KSP design work makes my eyes hurt (not to mention my back) so I'm all in for the music breaks (I got loads of audio books which are a really great way to rest those weary eyes). Technology aside, I'm very interested in how the human mind works, that's why I noticed myself becoming conditioned Pavlov-style through repetition.

As I mentioned above, a baby's on the way so I got my motivation to spend a little less time with KSP soon.

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Guilty of trying to rotate photos or videos...

The thing that makes me worry is I often have dreams about KSP now. Never anything specific or worthy of a story, but things like launching a rocket, rendezvous and docking procedures, landings gone wrong, etc.

Then there's the fact that I often come into work with 3-4 hours of sleep chugging coffee because I was just right in the middle of something in the game that I didn't want to put off. Shame.

Same thing here - dreams, sleep deprivation because of "one more launch".

Just imagine how NASA people feel without 100,000x time acceleration...

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