Well, for me Flow has variously been found in karate, city centre bicycle couriering, trail-less hill walking, programming, writing papers, and games. Computer, team, physical, mental, solitary or social, competitive or cooperative. Games are just a great way to achieve a state of highly optimal psycho-physiological being. Not all games, maybe not even most games. Well, maybe most games, for me. Maybe most because I only play the ones that survive the critical weeding out of mass-consumption. But in any event, they seem to me to belong to a class of activity that almost singularly well enables Flow. Whatever the bounds of this class of activity (and I don't think I'll attempt a definition of those bounds any time soon), games fall within it unless their design is broken. And falling within it, they provide a 'shortcut' to Flow that is a pointer to a revolution of the self for every individual that can see the path. For as Csikszentmihalyi says, "those who are in Flow most often tend to have more positive experiences in the rest of their lives".
Why does this class of activity more easily lead to a Flow experience? If Flow, as its primogenitor claims, is a "panhuman phenomenon" recognised the world over and found in almost any activity, then surely no single type of activity will facilitate Flow more easily than another? Well, it is this very universality that allows me to reason that Flow must be a part of our evolutionary heritage, and thus its manifestation will be a uniform cognitive event, no matter the individual or activity. Csiks' even posits something similar, when he says "the universality of Flow might be accounted for by the fact that it is a connection that evolution has built into our nervous system".
If this is the case, then it is logical that the 'connection in the nervous system' - which I would describe as a cognitive/emotional state - can be approached more quickly by pursuing an activty that requires a similar cognitive state to be assumed. Games require this from the player, they incorporate an element of the imperative in that they force the participant to follow certain rules, to observe certain formalities and ultimately assume a certain state of mind.
This may not be a mind-blowing observation to anyone who's read enough on the topic to follow the implicit references, but it's the why of it thats really interesting. What could it be about games that incites Flow - structure, mechanics, constituative/operational/implicit rules, cute graphics? Any takers on a complete explanation or dire refutation, please - talk to me baby :D
13 comments:
I've raised a somewhat similar question on this post entitled Games to switch off your mind. you miht want to check it out. It goes like this:
"What gaming experiences feel like entering alpha state of mind? What games make you not think, but meditate?
As a player, two distinct approaches can do the trick for me (...) The first one are hand-eye coordination games (...) The other category that has a similar effect on me are more free-style games..."
Interestingly, I did not use originally the term "Flow", which only appeared later on the user comments.
Best
I think we're wired to excel. Everything _can_ bring that on, but not everything will. I for one do not believe in a constant state of flow.... goodness knows any programmer knows how drained one can be after a week or two...:)
Sometimes I wonder if it's linked to ease. But with games, and moreso programming on my behalf, there's an addictive quality. Perhaps it's the measureable success which makes it appealing. Perhaps a lack of risk beyond loosing time as well... Few things in life are as clear cut as our interactions with machines, and when they are it tends to feel damn good, no? :)
I do wonder though to what extent we can reap the reward of playing... how much do certain skills transfer, are they domain specific, and will we ever know?
Chico...thanks for the pointer, there was a rich vein of discussion there that I only caught some of when it actually happened. I still don't think anyone has looked at the whole issue, the relationship between Flow and games, in enough detail. Unfortunately I'm not at liberty to spare the time, and I suppose that's the case with a lot of the people who are interested and qualified.
Nomad...only today did I actually make the connection between the nomad who occasionally comments on my posts, and your own fair self (from your superblog) :D Guess I'm a bit slow...
On of the transfer of skills learnt while gaming, I think there's a misconception that learning should always be something one can measure - there is also the learning that repositions the mind in relation to its environment. I believe games accomplish this a lot more than we realise, because play keeps the mind limber and more open to accepting alternative analogues for experiential phenomenon, rather than suffering the ill effects of cognitive dissonance. So games are not always teaching us new skills, but quite simply teaching us to be new.
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