Man trains rats to game - they love to shoot demons in Doom and get sweet treats

dailystar.co.uk:

Netflix, and games consoles. It's a quiet health crisis that's damaging the nations' eye sight, posture, and waistlines.But why let humans have all the fun?

One Hungarian neuroscientist agreed, and decided to build a gaming system especially for rats so they too can get in on some of the high-octane virtual action that's been ruining our lives.Viktok Tóth spent months building a 'VR system' for rats that allowed them to play the classic shoot-em-up game Doom II and showed off his handiwork on YouTube.Using a 3D printer, a curved monitor, and lots of syrup, Tóth was able to give three rats the experience of a lifetime: bumping into virtual walls while rolling around on a big polystyrene ball and drinking syrup.The three rats, John Romero, John Carmack, and Tom Hall were named after the creators of Doom II, which Tóth used to make specific levels that rats could wander around in and shoot imps. "I chose rats because they have an instinct for moving around in small spaces and learn contact specific actions," Tóth told VICE."They're also smaller than pigs, and easier to handle and access than monkeys." The rats run around in a harness on top of a ball covered in sensors, which controls their movement in-game.

Whenever the rats move in the right direction, they're fed some delicious sugar syrup through a tube. If they hit into a wall, they're blasted with a puff of air in the face.""The dosage of this sugar water was essential, since if I gave them too much, they might get fed up and stop playing," said Tóth.Once the rats worked out how to run, the next challenge was teaching them to shoot imps with a shotgun."Romero was the thrill seeker, while Carmack and Tom were more chill and shy," he said. "Romero got the highest score.