blaiz3

This would work except there is little understanding of how a coma affects the brain (at least from the last I've read about it). The machine may be able to transmit information to the brain but there is no way for the person's brain to interpret these signals. Usually the brain has undergone some form of damaging trauma that completely shut's down a majority of the brains functions and leaves the person near death because of the essential "shutdown" of the entire body. The only functions the brain is able to carry out are its vital commands (keeping the cardiovascular and respiratory systems running) in most coma cases. With that being said it has been a couple of years since the last time that I've read anything about how coma's affect cognitive function and general brain function so I could be off on some of this. I may go and read up on it tomorrow so I can be sure on what I'm saying and to correct myself if need be.

I have one problem with your talk about coma. In a coma the person does not show any signs of cognitive functions. For the person to be able to interact with the world they have to know what they are doing and what they want to do. Sure, it is an interesting idea but that is just what I see that is a major flaw with the ability to use this in a coma. NotBrad: You have a good point there. The machine would have to analyze the player's movement patterns and other things, as well as be able to gather information for the game to render a "life-like" version of the person. This could be optional for each person. If they want to create their own avatar they could easily do that but would take a longer time to get used to the body and be able to effectively use it in the "world" they are in.

TheOriginalKirito Are you an expert in playing mmo games? Or are you an expert in the technology behind them? If it is the fore then that does not give you the ability to make those predictions without outward support. Sure, in 5-7 years we could have a very stable machine that does everything we want it to but it will not be the machine that we are aiming for nor would it be able to pass any government inspections. Anything dealing with the brain MUST be done either 100% non-invasive or be in a clinical environment. If this machine is to work and be available to the public then it has to be non-invasive. Writing to the brain is easy with direct access to the brain, or in short commands, but a continuous and reliable stream of information flowing to and from the brain is harder than even I imagined.

True, and a lot of games could be revived using the "NerveGear" by giving them new perspectives and new ways to play and interact with the characters they already love.

I cant post this in the forum i want, but this place will do. EEG and other forms of brain scans make a picture of the brain by showing the portions of the brain that are "firing" at that moment. That being said, there is extensive research going on using this technology that may be used to "cure" paralysis. This is done by surgically implanting wiring the bypasses the severed nerves and allows for the electrochemical interaction to continue where it normally would have terminated. This research can be used to create Full Dive VR by mapping the brain while someone is doing different actions and during different moods (anger, fright, happiness, etc). There are many problems with this though. The equipment is extremely expensive and consumes a lot of power. You could have a helmet that saves the images of the brain so you can analyze them later. After analyzing the data, it can be turned into coding that is then used in the game to control your character. This would save some processing power as the computer has the images paired with a certain set of code, but you would need a massive amount of bandwidth and RAM to be able to run that system, and lots of cooling so it doesnt fry. As of right now, this tech is a long way off without proper funding and research. Once it does hit the market it will be an expensive way to game.