Can animals play video games?
Researchers at MIT have been creating computer software for parrots for a long time. Their African greys enjoy viewing videos and listening to music on
their "InterPet Explorer" program, and even have a specialized interface for accessing different sites. Well, I've got an African grey as well (see Fig. 1), and he's a smart little bugger. He spends more time on his own than I'd like, and it's hard to keep up with his appetite for destroying his toys. So I'm giving him my old computer.
Rather: I'm hooking up my old computer to the big screen in the family room, and letting him control a joystick to see if he enjoys it. I know he loves moving pictures: he adores watching movies or video games, and often talks to the images he sees, or even goes up to the screen to try to touch them. At first I was just planning on giving him access to simple flash games, things like
this or
this. Then I thought, "What about The Endless Forest? It has joystick controls ..."
I've never used the joystick controls, though. Mine is a two-button, the simplest I could find (I mostly expect him to press the main button, not the trigger). Can I set those two buttons to do actions? Dance and Roar, perhaps? What do you guys think of this idea? Is it crazy? Would you like playing TEF with a parrot?
OMFG YES
I WILL BE YOUR PARROTS BESTEST FRIEND EVER OWO
YES. LET THE PARROT PLAY TEF.
YESSSSS. DO EEEET. YEEEEES
EPIIIC ♥
OMG You gotta film him
I know that crows are capable of using foreign tools to solve tasks... Hmm, I'd love to see a parrot do this! XD
This just sounds like so much
I wanna know the result. 8D (And of course be around Forest-wise to see what happens.)
Yes! Hehehe sounds so awesome
I'm glad you guys don't think
It will be at least a couple weeks before I get the joystick hooked up: for one thing, we're moving to a new house, and I won't have the TV connected for about a week. For another: he's really super destructive (one of his favorite hobbies is taking apart the thermostat and turning on the heat), so I need to devise a way to keep him from taking apart the joystick casing--I'm thinking I may need to put it in a plexiglass box with a hole in the top. Once I get moved in I'll get the ball rolling there.
Here's the pictogram I'll surrender to him, I never use that one anymore!
BEST IDEA EVER. I WANT TO
I WANT TO PLAY TEF WITH A PARROT. I LOVE PARROTS <33
ZOMG. This would be so
That is just AMAZING. I'm
I'll be sure to run around in
I love this idea, it's a great thing to keep him busy while you're gone!
I have an African Gray, too.
That's a really neat idea.
Parrot+playing TEF=Epic
I'd do that, but I dun have a parrot. ;_;
But either way, this ish the BESTEST idea I've heard today. OwO
PARROT+TEF=FTW!
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Signature/avatar are WIP.
This sounds SO epic. =O Such
Such a wonderful idea! I hope he enjoys playing.... and I´d be very curious to see how he would interact or how he figures out the game. <3
Will you announce us when he gets on-line, or just let him play randomly?
DEFINITELY If my parrot was
If my parrot was bigger, and wasn't so interested in tearing keys out of keyboards, I'd totally let her play as well! xD
Just a suggestion...
You should set your bird up with a peacock or magpie deer. :B
This is awesome!