FFXIV played with only brain implants

I’m Nathan and I'm 33 years old. After a car accident in 2004, I was left paralyzed from the chest down. For the last four years, I've been part of a brain computer interface study through the University of Pittsburgh. I had surgery to implant 4 micro-electrode arrays in my brain that I can use to control a robotic arm, and receive sensation back from it. I am the first human to ever have electrodes implanted in the sensory cortex.

After almost 5 years, I got to play Final Fantasy XIV using my brain implants. My brain signals are being sent to a computer that is running a keyboard emulator. Since this was our first time attempting it I only have control of movement, interact, and 1. Hopefully next time we can add a couple more things that I can do. The only thing that kind of bummed me out was the fact that my preexisting account wasn't active, so I had to play as a gladiator that the lab had started while they were testing things out. I have enough arm movement left that I can play with a keyboard, although major neck/shoulder pain is part of the reason I haven't played much in a while. I originally played in the ARR beta and a while after release. That day was a surprise so I wasn't prepared at all. I don't get to play games often so I'm looking forward to the next time I can, and I will be ready with my own character. CAT GIRL BARDS FTW!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjNH...R&index=2&t=0s

If you want to know more about this or the study these are good places to start. The comments here have a bunch of questions answered, https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...s_video_of_me/

My playlist has a lot of info too https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...yMtmz8X0mwgLhR

Wow. Technology is so cool... If the FFXIV dev team doesn't know about this already I bet it would interest them, just to know the story going on with their game, that someone played it like this- at least personally I'd find it fascinating.

Sorry if these are considered rude but I'm very curious: When you want to move and such do you have to think move really hard or like.. is it a switch? [Mooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvee] vs [move. stop.], if I had to guess I was thinking the first one. Or like if someone is talking to you, can you play the game effectively at the same time or is it really hard to do so? Hope you get to play again!

Wish you the best and most freeing cyborg journey :)

I don't usually need to think very hard to control anything with the system (robot arm, cursor, game). I can usually have a basic conversation, but the more I can pay attention the better performance will be.

This is amazing. I can only hope technology continues to advance even further and faster in this field.

I remember seeing your post on reddit and the video. It's absolutely amazing how far technology has come and what volunteers like you are able to help science accomplish!
It may just be basic movement, interact and the 1 key, but Rome wasn't built in a day :) I hope you'll be able to take control of more keys and enjoy FF14 when you can!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crossbred900

I don't usually need to think very hard to control anything with the system (robot arm, cursor, game). I can usually have a basic conversation, but the more I can pay attention the better performance will be.

---

That's awesome! Even better to use then I thought. I was under the impression it was like a concerted effort. You know like first learning how to do a Jedi mind trick or something lol. The fact you can even talk and drive (at a slight performance cost) is incredible.

No pressure to respond if you're like "nah you already had your question" lol, but another thing I've wondered is if you feel you think about some things differently after being joined with a computer for a while (or in general). Like when I used to spend way too much time playing warcraft 3, back when sleep wasn't important xD, I accidentally said lol instead of laughing. . . . in the real world. I was like . . . oof I guess I need to go outside for a bit, here is my sign time to go play a game off the computer. So just a vague question like.. do you ever think as if you were talking to the machine when doing something else, especially when you're not connected at the moment or at least just feel a change because of it? Like how some people feel like they actually have a bit of a different personality depending on which language they're talking in. Just wondering if you ever get that moment where the lines become blurred and you were like "woah".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shougun

That's awesome! Even better to use then I thought. I was under the impression it was like a concerted effort. You know like first learning how to do a Jedi mind trick or something lol. The fact you can even talk and drive (at a slight performance cost) is incredible.

---

I know other interfaces can require a lot of effort, like EEG, but with the implants robot control is very intuitive and easy. But that isn't to say that controlling other things is always intuitive and easy. I did get to try a different decoder to play this week, 3D arm with wrist roll and grasp vs. 2D cursor and a "click" dimension in the video. It was a mess. That gives about 6 buttons to push. Control was bad partly because we didn't have much time to adjust all the settings and which arm dimension was which button, and partly because I was too ambitious and underestimated the mental gymnastics required to control that many dimensions. Next time I'll try to practice with a few less buttons to "push" it's not like i'm raiding and will get kicked or something for not doing my song rotation and keeping all my DoTs up lol. I reactivated my subscription so I'm playing my capped level 60 Bard with Garo gear and can kill a lot of things even while playing sub-optimally.

Quote:

---

So just a vague question like.. do you ever think as if you were talking to the machine when doing something else, especially when you're not connected at the moment or at least just feel a change because of it?

---

I get asked questions like this a lot actually, and the similar "does it feel like the robot is part of you?". I've always seen it as an external tool. While control is easy and can feel as if I'm just moving my own arm, I've never felt "like it WAS me". I've also never had the feeling of "talking" to it while not connected.

Technology is absolutely amazing. Thank you for sharing this with us. :)

Oh wow this is incredible, thanks for sharing your story. I've always found the concept of BCI absolutely fascinating. I'll go check out those links you posted, and I'll try to keep an eye out for if I ever happen across you in game!

This is amazing, and I hope the dev's see it and are able to give us their thoughts. It's things like this that I hope make people realize that video games aren't a hindrance or "just a game" as some still think they are.

My question though, if I may, why XIV of all games? My guess is a combination of the game interface, console vs pc, and the games complexity, to try and "push" the limits of the system in question. But have they tried to hook it up to other games? While a game like XIV would be great for advancement, I'm sure it would be nice to play a nice simple game like Mario or Sonic every now and again.

I played FFXIV before I joined this study. I saw a video of someone playing WoW with EEG and thought I wanted to play a better game with a better BCI. I did want to push the limits of what is possible. The first game I used to play was Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+, there's a video on my playlist, then I played a bunch of Sonic 2, and Super Bomberman 4 a bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GARm...&index=11&t=3s

Very awesome! Thank you for sharing!

This is amazing thanks for sharing!

OMG! This so cool, the possibilities you are creating are exciting in and of itself. Thank you for working with science as they advance further in this field. What you are doing is so super cool and amazing. Thanks for sharing!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crossbred900

I’m Nathan and I'm 33 years old. After a car accident in 2004, I was left paralyzed from the chest down. For the last four years, I've been part of a brain computer interface study through the University of Pittsburgh. I had surgery to implant 4 micro-electrode arrays in my brain that I can use to control a robotic arm, and receive sensation back from it. I am the first human to ever have electrodes implanted in the sensory cortex.

After almost 5 years, I got to play Final Fantasy XIV using my brain implants. My brain signals are being sent to a computer that is running a keyboard emulator. Since this was our first time attempting it I only have control of movement, interact, and 1. Hopefully next time we can add a couple more things that I can do. The only thing that kind of bummed me out was the fact that my preexisting account wasn't active, so I had to play as a gladiator that the lab had started while they were testing things out. I have enough arm movement left that I can play with a keyboard, although major neck/shoulder pain is part of the reason I haven't played much in a while. I originally played in the ARR beta and a while after release. That day was a surprise so I wasn't prepared at all. I don't get to play games often so I'm looking forward to the next time I can, and I will be ready with my own character. CAT GIRL BARDS FTW!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjNH...R&index=2&t=0s

If you want to know more about this or the study these are good places to start. The comments here have a bunch of questions answered, https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...s_video_of_me/

My playlist has a lot of info too https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...yMtmz8X0mwgLhR

---

Oh wow! I am sorry to hear you are paralyzed. But, it must be incredibly exciting to be part of this brain computer interface study and be the first to have electrodes implanted in your sensory cortex.

Going to watch the youtube video right now!

I hope the devs see it and help your lab! Maybe they could help speed development of this technology along for you and others in the same boat. Welcome to Eorzea friend. :3