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Gaming Zone?
texchanchan writes "The BBC reports on a study by Dr. Costas Karageorghis, Brunel University (London): 'Recent research has suggested that it could be possible for a person immersed in a computer game to achieve the same level of meditative concentration' usually found in religious contemplatives and athletes in 'The Zone.' The article also quotes Dr. Karageorghis as saying 'It's a deeply pleasurable experience and it's something that's not very often experienced by people, rather it's something that often represents people's peak experiences in a particular area.'"
I am terribly sorry for that outburst. I have apparently left the duck key pressed on my computer. Please excuse me for a moment while I correct this.
funny seeing this after waking up at 1 PM due to a 12 hour marathon nethack session last night...
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
Some of my friends play console games, like Frequency, where you have to move your fingers in complex patterns of complex rhythms at a mindnumbing speed. When playing the hardest boards in these games, my friends will often enter a trance-like state. You can yell at them or cut off your own arm, and they will still finish the board.
I've found a swift blow to the stomach or saying, "Oh shit, the pizza's here, dude. Gimmme your money," are the best ways to pull them out of it.
Alric.
Is it just me, or is the "gamer" test subject pictured Rowan Atkinson? (Mr. Bean, Black Adder)
Wow, you seem to reach the so called "zone" a lot there dude. Are you sure that you're reaching this "zone", or just feeling really good. "hey I was just walking down the street, and it put me in the zone!" "funny you should say that, while getting my haircut, I too was in the zone!" *high fives*
"You unlock this door with the key of imagination. "
./quake3.x86 +set fs_game osp +connect door 27960 +password imagination
:opening /dev/dsp
:...loading libGL.so: Initializing OpenGL display
:self.fetch_coffee.drink
:-)
*check*
"Beyond it is another dimension. A dimension of sound."
*check*
"A dimension of sight."
*check*
"A dimension of mind..."
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuh *check*
"... You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone"
why yes indeed
I experience this most often when some friends and I engage in hours of play of The Next Tetris for N64. I'll be able to glance quickly up at the next 3 pieces and instantly recognize the best places to put them down. Once the pieces start coming down to the point where you get about .25 seconds to place them, you better be in the zone or you're screwed. Also, after playing the game for a few hours, I can still close my eyes and see the pieces falling into place, forming the ultimate, holeless tower - it seems the zone never wants to let go of me once I leave.
Though nothing can rip you out of the zone faster than seeing the exact piece you needed finally arrive after just giving up on it ever coming. That takes me out of "The Gaming Zone" and into "The Smash The Controller Into The Wall Zone". DAMN YOU STRAIGHT LINES!
Does anyone here ever *think* they achieve this Flow State while coding?
No man, I take a potty break every couple hours to make sure this doesn't happen.
I wonder if reserarchers ever go into the zone while researching the zone? Would this be a meta-zone perhaps? Did these scientists reach that meta-zone? We should get some people on this quick!
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