A BZFlag Ghost Story
Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 7:35 pm
A month or so ago MadCity appeared on a server, and as it is one of my all-time favorites I'd often go to it, even when no one was playing, hoping to attract players. It could often be a bit of a wait.
One late evening I was alone on that server, driving in the open area on the south end of the map. I was shooting at pyramids or something, watching the ricochets, when I glanced up as I was backing up, and I clearly saw the barrel of a tank up on the nearby building - it was moving out of sight as I moved.
I again checked the scoreboard, and indeed I was alone; and I began to contemplate the possibility of ghosts in this virtual world. I drove around a while to see if I could spot whatever it was, but had no luck.
Finally I went back to the spot I'd been in (which I'd lost precise track of in the excitement of the moment), and I spotted my ghost tank again. It turns out that what I had *thought* was a barrel was the top of a flag (with the flag angling away), on a platform further back than the block I'd thought it was on. When I moved, this created an apparent motion of the flag on the nearby block, a quite compelling illusion even after I'd figured out what it was.
Of course now some inspired developer could code a "Flying Dutchman" tank that appears very rarely on servers, ghost-like, just for fun... it really was startling to see what looked very much like an unexpected presence.
One late evening I was alone on that server, driving in the open area on the south end of the map. I was shooting at pyramids or something, watching the ricochets, when I glanced up as I was backing up, and I clearly saw the barrel of a tank up on the nearby building - it was moving out of sight as I moved.
I again checked the scoreboard, and indeed I was alone; and I began to contemplate the possibility of ghosts in this virtual world. I drove around a while to see if I could spot whatever it was, but had no luck.
Finally I went back to the spot I'd been in (which I'd lost precise track of in the excitement of the moment), and I spotted my ghost tank again. It turns out that what I had *thought* was a barrel was the top of a flag (with the flag angling away), on a platform further back than the block I'd thought it was on. When I moved, this created an apparent motion of the flag on the nearby block, a quite compelling illusion even after I'd figured out what it was.
Of course now some inspired developer could code a "Flying Dutchman" tank that appears very rarely on servers, ghost-like, just for fun... it really was startling to see what looked very much like an unexpected presence.
Reminds me when a stealth tank pops out in front of me. 
Some of the ideas listed above sound similar to my thoughts in another thread of mine.