Classical Conditioning of ED players What is Conditioning? According to Brittanica.com, "Conditioning is a form of learning in which either (1) a given stimulus (or signal) becomes increasingly effective in evoking a response or (2) a response occurs with increasing regularity in a well-specified and stable environment. The type of reinforcement used will determine the outcome. When two stimuli are presented in an appropriate time, and intensity relationship, one of them will eventually induce a response resembling that of the other. The process can be described as one of stimulus substitution. This procedure is called classical (or respondent) conditioning. Instrumental, or operant, conditioning differs from classical conditioning in that reinforcement occurs after the organism executes a predesignated behavioral act. When no US is used to initiate the specific actions to be conditioned, the required behavior is known as an operant; once it occurs with regularity, it is also regarded as a conditioned response (to correspond to its counterpart in classical conditioning). American psychologist B.F. Skinner studied spontaneous (or operant) behavior through the use of rewards (reinforcement) or punishment. For example, a hungry animal will respond to a situation in a way that is most natural for that animal. One response leads to the reward of food; the specific response which led to the food reward will likely be repeated and thus learned. The behavior instrumental in obtaining the reward becomes especially important to the animal. The same type of conditioning can also be applied to an action that allows the animal to escape from or avoid painful or noxious stimuli." Thesis This experiment aims to see if ED players can evolve in their gameplay and response to psychological challenges. This was to see if we could evoke crazy things like "brain activity" in the form of basic pattern recognition within ED players. This experiment is like giving a monkey a banana but stealing it away immediately and seeing the reaction. Could monkeys and mutts reach beyond subpar intelligence? That is the question of this experiment that we will be answering today. Phase 1: Before conditioning This conditioning was achieved by trolling players in eldewrito many times. I would target certain players near the edge of a map with a hammer, and the hammer would push them off. For this, I chose certain players based on specific criteria. Like actually playing the game and being decent. These prerequisites were needed, so these players typically go near the edge to shoot zombies on Fat Kid or Juggling Flag on Castle Wars. So after choosing the criteria, I decided which victims to test. Canadiator and Tatsume, buckaroo, tpf, Donut, and Bone Purse were the test subjects for this. Devoid is the main fat-kid map for these tests since the door closes at 6:30, forcing players to either camp near the lift or come up through the lift. Castle wars for players who juggle the flag to get back to base faster. Phase 2: During conditioning I would grab a hammer and hammer different subjects off the map or steal the flag multiple times per game or many rounds. This was through many, many games, probably around 40+ and more. After trolling them for many games, they eventually went from Neutral Stimulus (NS) to Conditioned Stimulus (CS). During NS they would get annoyed and complain. During CS, they would avoid the edge or attempt to kick me. This became the Conditioned Response, a learned response created from when no response existed before. After conditioning, the stimulus evokes a response, as seen above in my experiment. The reaction from these test subjects varies from time to time. Still, I mostly used Instrumental Conditioning (extensive for Classical Conditioning) for Castle Wars. These different troll types for behaviors. For this, I'm going by my types of trolling for this experiment. So here's where I steal the flag myself, messing up their usual juggling patterns, and they would act like NPCs that didn't know any better. I would steal the flag and cap it for myself for this one. Side one would be stealing the flag and not dying with it on purpose, so my team couldn't cap it, or I would let the enemy team get it themselves. The Main one would be stealing the flag and throwing it off the map. This would evoke different responses of their knowledge in each troll situation increasing or decreasing. Grabbing the flag would make them juggle it less often or not at all, which increased their troll information but decreased the enemy information, causing them to fail to reach the base in time. Stealing the flag from my teammates would be an annoyance because I would go slower or fight with it in the middle, so they would trust me less. Which would decrease teammate trust but increase enemy information. Throwing the flag off the map would reduce a teammate's trust and enemy information but supplement troll information. This eventually made them respond with different stimulus reactions going from neutral to conditioned fairly quickly since anger would make them act irrationally and therefore become a conditioned response. Phase 3: After Conditioning After conditioning ED players, I began to see different behaviors depending if we were in the lobby or not or had hammered in fat-kid. If I had a hammer in fat-kid, players like Tatsume would not even consider the idea of going outside to the edge. Buckaroo would look at me constantly if I hammer and would not go fully close to the edge just in case I did something. Bone Purse would try to kick me or check for me if I did it. Canadiator would either rage quit the game, get very annoyed, and check me out to see if I had a hammer or not to see if he could farm zombies. Donut and Bonepurse would stop juggling the flag overall if we were in the game and would instead take the risky way of getting a warthog to take them. Tpf would evoke responses that all these players did for Castle wars and Fatkid equally. These players were conditioned into these stimuli and responses through many trolling successions and attempts. The sole purpose of this was to see if an ED player could learn or not. These players were chosen based on their sheer stupidity and ability to adapt to situations. And adapt they did slowly over time, like Canadiator and tpf trying to hammer me off the map with success or attempts. Donut refrained from juggling the flag when we were near but juggled it at a medium distance. Buck and Tatsume paid more attention to their surroundings overall. Even Bonepurse showed some signs of brain activity during this. It showed that eldewrito players aren't monkeys in a jungle doing anything and not using their brains but are dogs that learn slowly through conditioned stimuli and reactions. So yes, a monkey and a dog can become one with enough learning. At the end of the day, they are still mutts. Monkeys might have more raw intelligence than dogs, but dogs have better social cognition. However, monkeys are still monkeys, and dogs are still dogs. As such, you can only expect so little from subhuman filth. Phase 4: Process of These Steps for Conditioning Acquisition is the learning period where you break them out of their habits and evoke neutral stimuli. Extinction is weakening their conditioned and unconditioned responses throughout time and not allowing them to get into a natural habit. Spontaneous Recovery is a return to origins and natural habits after a few days of not experiencing them. Showing regression overall through this state. Generalization is overall them responding in the same way for similar stimulus but in different responses but not the same as the original condition. Discrimination is the phase where they start adapting to various stimuli and conditions. Each acts differently from one other and learns the difference. Thank you to Kryptick, Matt and Tiny for helping me clean up this research paper. Sources: https://www.verywellmind.com/classical-conditioning-2794859 https://www.simplypsychology.org/classical-conditioning.html https://www.britannica.com/science/conditioning
