A
guide to prevention, so you can better enjoy the game.
Returning
home from a year of school overseas, this being before I began my
work here at The Comic Book Bin, I was distraught to see a new
addition to my family's console collection. One of my brothers had
purchased a Playstation 2 while I was away. While I am not hateful
Sony's Playstation line, I am also not a fan, though I have grown
accustomed to its presence in our house (there wasn't much I could do
about it anyway) and have come to find that there are things I like
about it. In particular a game titled Guitar Hero, developed by
Harmonix and published by RedOctane.
For
those of you not familiar with the game, a quick intro, though please
be aware that this is not a review. Guitar Hero is a music game that
gives many the chance to, even if not in the real world, live out
their dreams of becoming a rock star. The special controller, which
comes in the game box, is a mock electric guitar with five coloured
buttons, a strumming switch, a whammy bar and a shoulder strap. The
player uses the strumming bar and buttons in sequence with the
colours shown on the screen, playing to the music of popular rock
songs.
I've
been having a lot of fun going through all the songs in the game and
increasing the level of difficulty as I get better and faster with
hitting the notes. Unfortunately, I've begun to notice pain in the
knuckles and wrist of my left hand during and after playing Guitar
Hero. This has also happened to one of my brothers. I have come to
the realization that playing the game is causing this condition,
resulting in me coining the term Guitar Hero-itis.
Please
understand, while my writing this is meant to inform readers of the
danger they can potentially face by playing the game, it is not meant
to be a biting article against the game, its developers, publishers
or the video game industry. First, not everyone is susceptible to the
condition. Second, it is mostly caused by overplaying the game,
something I am quite guilty of. Finally, it is preventable and
curable, so please don't freak out and try to start a media frenzy.
I contacted Harmonix and RedOctane for comments and, while RedOctane
did not get back to me, the team at Harmonix was kind enough to speak
and correspond with me. “We get hundreds of
emails (maybe thousands) from players,”, they told me,”and no one
has reported this”. They were so surprised by me contacting them
about the problem that they asked me questions about how players were
sustaining the injury, such as if the players were standing or
sitting or the level of difficulty they were playing at the time.
They finished by mentioning that their testing team was playing the
game up to 60 hours a week during the testing schedule and found that
during the first week they would experience “some muscle aches due
to using muscles that aren't normally exercised”, but there have
been no reports of this particular problem. They also said that
moderation is important while playing and that players need to take
breaks occasionally.
So
here is a quick guide to help ease, stop and prevent the pain of
Guitar Hero-itis. Please do note, before you read the guide, that I
am not a
licensed chiropractor and this
method is what I've personally found to work. You should consult a
professional about serious symptoms:
The
first thing you need to do if you already have Guitar Hero-itis is to
stop playing for the moment. Put the controller down man, it's not
going to kill you. Let your hands get some rest and they should start
to feel better. Try not to do anything that will stress them further.
Once
your hands are relaxed enough, you should be able to lift things
either without feeling pain or with little pain, thus allowing you to
exercise your wrists. (What I've found, personally, from the problem
is that the pain appears to root from the wrist area, so lightly
exercising my wrist after playing takes the rest of the pain away.)
Take a hockey stick, or other pole like object (e.g. a broom), in the
affected hand and hold it from the handle side. Move your wrist up
and down slowly. Your hand should start to feel better within a few
lifts. Another way to do this exercise is by making your hand into a
fist and lifting the object by rotating your wrist left and right. Do
these exercises until the affected hand feels better.
If
you don't have Guitar Hero-itis, but are worried about getting it,
these exercises should do the trick, thus preventing you from having
any problems.
I
hope this guide has helped all of you out there reclaim your status
as Rock G-d and taken the pain away from playing. If you have a PS2
and haven't checked out Guitar Hero yet, pick it up and give it a
try. Keep on rocking.