This article is kind of a joke... (Gaming)

by Malagate , Sea of Tranquility, Monday, December 02, 2013, 14:19 (4012 days ago) @ RC

Video games are explicitly designed to illicit flow states. To say the researchers are 'discovering' a link between them only reveals the harrowing depths of their previous ignorance.

Jaime "30 seconds of fun" Griesemer‎ has referred directly to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book 'Flow' as a source he used in designing Halo. In fact he is the reason I bought and read that book and have it sitting next to me right now.

I've found flow to be a very flexible and powerful theory with great explanatory power. It's a very useful framework to generate ideas for changing systems to make them more conducive to producing flow states.

The book is definitely worth a read, but for reference, the 'Elements of Enjoyment' as listed in the book are:

• A challenging activity that requires skills (challenge-level appropriate to the person)
  
• The merging of action and awareness (no room left to think about anything else)
  
• Clear goals and feedback (and immediate feedback at that)
  
• Concentration on the task at hand (able to block out or have no distractions)
  
• The paradox of control (feeling of exercising control on their 'world' (whether they really are or not))
  
• The loss of self-consciousness
  
• The transformation of time (the activity has it's own rhythm so things seem to go faster or slower than usual)

One might conjecture that a first person perspective can help with a loss of self since one has less on-screen reminder of a 'self' (in the form of an avatar).

However, it is absolutely a mistake to suggest that FPSes are better at inducing flow inherently because you have to get so many other things right as well. The study they referenced was a joke too: comparing one of the best games ever to one that wasn't very well received and another I've never even heard of. Sheesh.

The 'escape from the reality' applies to many games and most flow-inducing activities. A gun in the context of flow provides control and very clear, immediate feedback (pull trigger, gun fires, bullet hits enemy, enemy dies). Bad shooters, bad games and poor elements of otherwise good games can often be explained in terms of failures on one or more of the above points.

e.g. prometheans aren't as fun to fight as covenant because the feedback of dealing damage to them isn't as clear (among other things)

I think the reason FPS games are focused on here is because they are the easiest for many people to relate to. The perspective and general modes of agency are ones that most people, gamers or not, can understand on a very basic level through their real-world experiences. With pretty much any other method of presentation, you have to work a little harder to map your perceptions.

~m