Ghosts are non-corporeal and cannot interact with the physical world directly, but they can manipulate and produce energy. This energy can create sound waves, temperature changes, as well as elicit feelings and sensations in humans and animals. Poltergeists in particular are capable of possessing other entities and objects to varying effect, which they use as a vessel for their energy.
So you might be thinking: a poltergeist can just possess an arcade cabinet or a controller and play a game that way. I can see why you would draw this conclusion, but this is not the solution it seems. When a poltergeist possesses an object it becomes that object. Nobody could be expected to to win a Street Fighter II tournament from inside the cabinet. So while it may technically allow control of the machinery, it's not really akin to playing the game normally.
But controllers and input devices all work by sending electrical signals from the device itself to the system, which produces results in the game. A ghost could easily manipulate these electrical signals to replicate the function of the controller and produce the desired input in the game itself. The question is whether a ghost could produce the thousands of electrical signals necessary, and with the required accuracy, to play all kinds of games. But a ghost could probably play an NES game, right? Could a ghost play Minecraft? How much energy does it take to produce these electrical signals? The strength of the entity would need to be taken into account. Fortnite probably takes way more energy than playing Super Mario Bros on an NES or something.
It's also possible that a poltergeist possess a human and play video games this way, but I don't think a ghost would want to be reliant on a human host unless it wanted to have a public competitive presence. Like if it needed to go to EVO or something.
There are also some ethical concerns to take into account. If a ghost can freely manipulate electrical signals required to play a game, this means they could also alter data. They could probably circumvent trophy and achievement requirements, which is cheap. They also may not be qualified for speedrunning. But as long as they adhere to the category rules they might be able to be ranked.
Why don't more ghosts and spirits play video games? What's your plan to continue gaming when you're dead?
So you might be thinking: a poltergeist can just possess an arcade cabinet or a controller and play a game that way. I can see why you would draw this conclusion, but this is not the solution it seems. When a poltergeist possesses an object it becomes that object. Nobody could be expected to to win a Street Fighter II tournament from inside the cabinet. So while it may technically allow control of the machinery, it's not really akin to playing the game normally.
But controllers and input devices all work by sending electrical signals from the device itself to the system, which produces results in the game. A ghost could easily manipulate these electrical signals to replicate the function of the controller and produce the desired input in the game itself. The question is whether a ghost could produce the thousands of electrical signals necessary, and with the required accuracy, to play all kinds of games. But a ghost could probably play an NES game, right? Could a ghost play Minecraft? How much energy does it take to produce these electrical signals? The strength of the entity would need to be taken into account. Fortnite probably takes way more energy than playing Super Mario Bros on an NES or something.
It's also possible that a poltergeist possess a human and play video games this way, but I don't think a ghost would want to be reliant on a human host unless it wanted to have a public competitive presence. Like if it needed to go to EVO or something.
There are also some ethical concerns to take into account. If a ghost can freely manipulate electrical signals required to play a game, this means they could also alter data. They could probably circumvent trophy and achievement requirements, which is cheap. They also may not be qualified for speedrunning. But as long as they adhere to the category rules they might be able to be ranked.
Why don't more ghosts and spirits play video games? What's your plan to continue gaming when you're dead?
