Explanation: Seeing arrows after playing

ddr_dragon · Basic Member Joined: 23 Jun 2003 Location: Dallas, TX

Someone a long time ago posted asking why you see arrows when you close your eyes after playing or even during playing. Two days of library research and finally asking an optometrists opinion finally explains why it happens.

Basically, you're eye has two parts, a front and back cavity. The front cavity has your stuff like your pupil, iris, eyelid, sclera, blah blah blah...

The back cavity has your retina, and that's what makes you see it. The retinas job is to take in light photons, and send it to your optical nerve. In the retina, there are these things called photoreceptors that absorb the light photons you see. They come in two categories, rods and cones. We are concerned with cones, beacause it is with cones you see color.

Now, have you ever been blinded by sudden flashes of light? Well the arrows is kind of the same concept. After playing DDR for so long, especially with that bright screen, your photoreceptor cones get saturated with the images of arrows. So even after the initial image is gone, your eye still sees it because their is a molecule in your eye that has to rebuild itself from seeing the image over and over again. That process can take time. Mostly, it takes several seconds, but depending on the amount of saturation (about 13 - 15 games) that process of rebuilding can take minutes, a fair amount of time in which to see arrows across your eyes.

This process of image blindness is caleld bleaching

And please, don't tell me I have too much time on my hands, I'm well aware.

yum · Basic Member Joined: 15 Aug 2003 Location: Toronto Ontario

Okay, after I play DDR, I see arrows for a veery looong tiiime. Or wait.. actually, I see arrows all the time.

*closes eyes* I see arrows! must.. play.... ddr.......

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Mark · Trick Member Joined: 03 Jun 2002 Location: San Diego, CA

I've been playing DDR for well over 2 years now, and I go to the arcade once a week for about 5-8 hours.

Not once have I ever seen a DDR arrow while closing my eyes, or any other time for that matter besides when I'm actually playing the game.

Personally, I think people just like to say they see arrows so they can say stuff like "I see arrows when I close my eyes, so I'm more hardcore than you".

Sure it's normal to have memories of DDR(and anything else you see for that matter), but seeing arrows when you close your eyes is a bit farfetched.

Mark · Trick Member Joined: 03 Jun 2002 Location: San Diego, CA

Collector · Trick Member Joined: 24 Jan 2002 Location: Canada

I don't see arrows anymore but when i started out, i probably saw more than any of you.

Max's Period · Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2003 2:22 am Post subject:

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Max's Period · Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2003 2:37 am Post subject:

Seroiusly, is that like seeing anything when you turn off the lights for a second or twoah?
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TheFanboy · Trick Member Joined: 26 May 2003 Location: Wellington, NZ

I see arrows, but not as much as I used to when I first started...this was before i even heared of DDR freak/saw or heared about this...was frikken wiered...and other peopl mentioed it to me as well that they get it...

Ross-
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ddr_dragon · Basic Member Joined: 23 Jun 2003 Location: Dallas, TX

yeah, it could be like turning the light off for a second or two.

And not everyone has to see the arrows, not everyone is built the same, so it doesn't happen to everyone, it used to happen to me, and another friend of mine said it happened to him, but our best player in our group said he's never seen it.

Simply put, it happens to some and it doesn't happen to others.

orangecow · Trick Member Joined: 21 Apr 2003 Location: houston, tx

it happened a lot when i used to play at home, but never at the arcade.

also, when a song stops(so fabulous so fierce, ecstasy..) my vision goes all crazy. like everything stretches. i was playin and i was like holyshit everything's melting! this also comes from me playing at home a lot.
i swear, one of these days i'm gonna go blind in the middle of song.

altinure · Trick Member Joined: 29 Jun 2002 Location: wisconsin

Anyone who has taken a high school Physics class can explain this. I remember specifically covering this when studying light.

JSON Road · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2003 11:12 am Post subject:

I used to see arrows for the first few weeks after i started, but that was on the home version only. Never at the arcade. Is that the same concept as when you look at the swirly thing for a minute and then look away and still see it?
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Robert H. Magnusson · Trick Member Joined: 18 Jan 2003

One interesting, quite almost relating thing: I tried watching (not playing, hee) Max 300 Heavy in Training mode on the PS2 game just to see what the arrows looked like... once it reached that freeze in the middle, during the freeze, it looked like the arrows onscreen were slowly moving backwards...

Clover · Trick Member Joined: 29 Jul 2003 Location: Denver

Yeah, I'll see arrows when I close my eyes too, but I don't recall it ever happening at the arcade, only when I play at home for prolonged periods of time. It's sort of like when you look at the sun and then close your eyes, you still see the ring and that funky green light, yeah, its the same way for me when it comes to the arrows.
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Murffle · Trick Member Joined: 26 Nov 2002 Location: Tualatin, OR

Seeing the arrows when my eyes were closed was the weirdest thing...I used to see them when my eyes were closed as I was trying to go to sleep...it always gave me this feeling like I was gonna have a DDR nightmare and kept me up.

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Max's Period · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 6:06 am Post subject:

okay, i just played 71 songs, about an hour and a half, and i tryed closing my eyes. nuffin...

Must see arrows... Grr...
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thefrenchinhale · Trick Member Joined: 04 Mar 2002 Location: gainesville

before you could explain it, did you think you were going insane?

you'll also notice the same sort of thing after playing inordinate amounts of tetris. i rather like it.
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Max's Period · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 7:21 am Post subject:

I was goin' to play more, but the dumb-assed thing crapped out. so... probably, yeah. I was REDICULOUSLY bored, a side note. I don't think it even saved, so yeah, i'm pissed now.
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Live in St. Johns? Love DDR? Have access to the Avalon mall? Mabye we could get together sometime and show each other our moves! PM me!