Slashdot Mirror
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.'"
Did we really need a study to confirm this? Just like in zen, sports, or whatever else, there exists a 'zone' for gamers.
Exactly what they're talking about. I remember playing CS and getting ripped on because everyone was absolutely sure I was using an aim/wall hack; when in reality it was me on a gaming "high" being able to loose a bullet with the hairs on someone's head within a half second of seeing an opponent.
It's rather hard to explain, but sometimes someone's level of interactivity with the game seems to put the person in their avatar's shoes. If this level of interactivity and concentration can be achieved in other environments (say, a car), you end up with prodigies and "l33ts".
Nothing new, really, just scientists noticing an ongoing phenomena.
Of all the Universal Constants, here's one I know: Nice guys finish last
In my experience, yes there is a "zone" when everything seems to work and I totally wipe the walls with anyone nearby.
:-)
However, what about the losing streaks? There seems to be another level where everything seems to go wrong, and I have to quit and try later.
I find it hard to believe anyone would be surprised by this article, though; it's the same for any activity that involves quick thinking and hand-eye coordination. Sometimes the neurotransmitters are extra zippy
...
Some stimulant drugs (coke, meth) do seem to have a very similar though not identical effect, which is a big part of the reason people take them -- all the fun, no effort.
... ;) Hell, I used to sometimes get that same feeling back when I was an ER medic -- a busy night shift in the ER is no one's idea of fun, but there's a definite flow to it, a rhythm, and when you really get into it, when you're triaging mass casualty victims or running a code and everything is going just right, it's a powerful experience.
But yes, I strongly suspect that just about any activity you enjoy, practice a lot, and are good at can put you "in the zone." I've experienced it while running, while coding, while writing, while having sex (okay, lately I haven't been practicing that last as much as I'd like, though things do show signs of turning around soon
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Why shouldn't gamers be able to enter "The Zone" if sportsmen and the religious can? It's not as if gamers are greatly different, and gaming often requires the same sort of concentration as any sport; gamers do often have the same sort of traits as the religious, such as devotion (must login to Everquest/Planetarion/whatever soon!) and rote memorisation of concepts important to their game/religion (ooh, hit points, defence points, attack points!).
Note to M1-ers: a curt but otherwise insightful message is not "Flamebait" or "Troll".
When i am in the thick of action - fragging opponents in Unreal Tournament at a mad pace and protecting the flag at my teams base - or crouching down with the German machine gun in MOHAA to take out the Allies coming towards me in a multiplayer game and crouching in a dark corner to reload - my reflexes are sharp - they better be or i am dead meat.
Also when playing UT for long periods(~2hrs+) or looking around in eerie corners of System Shock2, my hands become cold and almost the darkest shade of red and my face becomes so hot and to me the world ends and starts with the game in front of me - phone calls are ignored - door rings are ignored when i am in a clan battle - the PC is checked and double checked before those crucial games - and the reflexes have helped me in real life (trust me)...ok back to GTA3.
Atari
I think it's down to a combination of concentration and pleasure.
If you are doing somthing you like, this is where my biology lets me down, you produce 'happy' chemicals, possabley also an adrenalin rush.
This probably combines with the chemicals produced by your brain when you concentrate to get you into 'the zone'.
How ever, just to piss on the BBC's bonfire. This artical looks more like a puff pice for one of their 'science' programs, as I'd hardly call a recerach sample of 2 with no control a representitve sample.
Wouldn't it be nice if schools got all the money they wanted and the army had to hold jumble sales for guns
quote source
Tastes Like Chicken
While I find the research quite interesting, as most of the posts on this thread have pointed out, this isn't particularly uncommon. Certain individuals have the ability to narrow-focus in the extreme when presented with the correct stimulus.
All of the individuals described (athletes, strongly religious people, and of course coders/gamers) are inclined towards extreme focus, high levels of motivation, and activities that lend themselves to those traits.
It would be interesting to see reseatch done to determine if there was any neurochemical basis for this type of hyper-focus. Do certain brains, when presented with a particular stimulus, produce certain chemicals/neurotransmitters that lead to this heightened awareness and performance?
Also, are there any side-effects? People have described elation, ecstacy, etc. Is this purely mental or is there a biological basis for it?
"Be proud to be a fighter" - Martial Arts Adage
For one thing, people who have experienced it know that there is no longer any difference between themselves and their character.
According to Zen buddhism and Taoism, it doesn't matter how strongly you concentrate, it's how few distractions you have from whatever you're doing. Atheletes learn as part of their conditioning to push themselves by ignoring fatigue. Monks learn to ignore hunger, fatigue, pain, sorrow, joy, anger, the release of Warcraft III, the temptation of money. Gamers ignore, well, everything. This allows their minds to be wielded completely. No piece of their minds stays behind to remind them to cook dinner or walk the dog. Every ounce of their being is playing the game.
Of course, ignoring something so completely that it doesn't even enter your mind isn't something that happens in everyday experience. Usually we just "push it to the side" or "put it on the back burner". That's not enough. It has to evaporate from your reality.
Buddhists, by the way, say there is a significant difference in how it feels to be "the Zone"(the Buddhist word is Satori), when one achieves it without an aid, such as a game or a sport, as opposed to without an aid(the goal of meditation).
Not only is "the Zone" quite real in programming, one of the most importent aspects of being a great programmer is being able to acheive this state with reasonable reliability. (Nobody can do it all the time.) In fact, smart managers use that to their advantage when figuring out how to organize and manage their programmers.
IMHO, it's nothing mystical, and treating it as such as some people do, while possibly fun, is counterproductive in the end. You can't guarentee entrance, but there are definate concrete steps you can take to get there.