The first person to ever receive a Neuralink brain implant used it to do something every gamer can understand: he used it to play Civilization 6.
Back in January, Elon Musk took to Twitter to announce that Neuralink had successfully implanted its first brain implant in a human patient. Now, two months later, we are hearing from that person, 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh.
The quadriplegic, while joining a livestream on Twitter, talked about getting the device implanted while using it to play chess on his computer.
“One of the first times y’all gave me complete control over this, I actually stayed up until, like jeez, I don’t know, like 6am playing Civilization 6,” Arbaugh said. “It was worth it, I think is the best way to put it, it was awesome. I basically had given up on playing that game.”
As far as why he was never able to play the game before the implant, Arbaugh said that the depth of the game required help from someone, making any long sessions nearly impossible.
“Now I can literally just lie in bed and play to my heart’s content,” he said. “Honestly the biggest restriction at this point was having to wait for the implant to charge once I had used all of it. So, play for eight hours, have to get off and let it charge for a while, and then hopefully be able to play some more.”
Arbaugh became a quadriplegic eight years ago after a diving accident left him paralyzed below his shoulders. On top of being able to play games, the Neuralink is expected to help him have more freedom thanks to an app that will take what the implant records and transmits and interpret it’s intended movement.
What do you think of the first human Neuralink patient using his new freedom to play Civilization 6? For more Insider Gaming, read about the first major update that’s been released for Enshrouded.
