The Fog of War

If you have ever played a videogame that deals with war or fighting against a bunch of guys, you may know of a little feature called "Fog of War." Basically this is a thick fog that appears, limiting your view to only a close proximity to yourself. It's based off of the actual term "fog of war" which is used to describe the thick fog of soot and gunpowder that fills the air after an intense battle. In videogames, it's used so you don't watch every move the enemy makes, hence creating a little surprise and challenge. I was thinking about this odd concept the other day, and I was wondering what would happen if everyone had "fog of war" in real life.

No matter what time of day it is, no matter how good your glasses are, you can only see four feet in any one direction. Everything else just looks like a gray haze. Driving would be insane. I'm sure I would run over all sorts of animals, people, and rubber sports equipment that happens to wander in front of my Cougar. Parking would also be quite the bear, as my keen "empty-spot-spotting eye" would be totally useless. As would my "hidden police officer spotting eye." That's two eyes that are gone with the wind! Then again, losing the cops would be a little easier (although I'm sure their range of sight would be a little longer than mine... law enforcement bonus).

Walking around the mall would be a tad more enjoyable, since I wouldn't have to try as hard to avoid people I don't like. I only really have to panic when they get within a few feet of me. Muggers and Jehovah's Witnesses would be harder spot and defend against, on the other hand.

But if you are going to go the way of these videogames (the ones I have in mind are Age of Empires and Dynasty Warriors) then you could also employ some scouts. Get the shmuck on a horse to go ahead and see if they have any ripe bananas at Giant Eagle. He will come back with the word, or he would even distract the Jehovah's long enough for me to run in there and get the delicious yellow fruits.

Now that I think about it a bit, I'm glad that God turned off "fog of war" in the options menu when he was creating the world... well, you can probably see that my summer has been pretty boring thus far. I've got nothing better to do than think about videogames and watch MacGyver (who is freaking awesome, by the way.)