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.'"

Comments

programming zone?

[Eil]

Does anyone here ever *think* they achieve this Flow State while coding? I can definitely see the common ground between sports and video games... both require strong mental agility, the constant evaluation of possible strategies and split-second decisions and whatnot.

And, in light of that, I guess I answered my own question. Programming is more about careful thinking than quick thinking. But then if the key element to being in "The Zone" is concentration, the perhaps coding would apply. Definitely something for me to ponder sometime.

Oh yeah, and while I do agree with their thesis, that article (not to mention their hideous "cutting edge" methods) sounded just a bit hokey, don't you think?

Re:programming zone?

[martyb]

Does anyone here ever *think* they achieve this Flow State while coding?

Most definitely... often 2 or 3 times in a day. Never before thought to associate it with meditation, but I can see similarities.

My own experience has been that when I am in the zone, there's a certain balance:

• I know [most of] the subject matter. There's only so much "new stuff" that I can squeeze into my head in a given period of time. There's a discomfort for me as I approach that limit (think cramming for final exams). The less knew stuff I have to learn along the way, the more room I have available in my short-term memory to keep track of the programming details.
• There's the right amoung of challenge. There's enough of a challenge so that I'm not bored, yet not so much that I'm overwhelmed. At either of those extremes, there's a feeling of discomfort.
• I'm making steady progress. When trying to develop a piece of code, there's a whole slew of decisions that need to be made each second. Variable names, language constructs (syntax), algorithms, interfaces, exception handling, etc. When I try something, and keep getting compiler errors, that'll zap me out of the zone pretty quickly. There's an element of risk-taking and success, time-after-time. Confidence builds. Anxieties fade and ultimately disappear.
• I'm free from interruptions and distractions.. One phone call or someone popping their head into my office for a "quick question" can blow it all away. It's KNOWING that I won't be interrupted that allows me to put my "guard" down and apply a bit more of my mind into it. I can stay focused.
• I'm physically comfortable. Not too hot or too cold. Not hungry. Helps to not be sick, too. When any of those are operative, it's a distraction from my concentration. The less intrusion from the "outside (physical) world" the better for me to focus on my "intellectual world".
• I want to do it! There's a hunger, a wanting, a desire... an openness and receptivity. There's a sense of hope and joy and happiness. When I feel FORCED to do something, there's generally a displeasure, resentment, anger, and probably some fear, too.

By no means is this an exhaustive list; it's just my own experience. Yet, I suspect many of these factors are true for others. Through it all is a sense that things are within my "comfort zone"; neither too much nor too little. There's also a sense of continuity whereby each small success builds on the next until there's a sense that the next challenge can be readily solved, too. When that happens, I have no sense of the passing of time, I can see the minute details along with the big picture and all the levels in between.

In short, I'm receptive to what's coming in, I'm experiencing pleasure in what I'm doing, and I'm successful in what I'm producing.

The psychology of optimal experience

[ascii]

FYI - what Dr. Karageorghis is referring to is Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi's work on "Flow - The psychology of optimal experience" in which he describes the characteristics of enjoyable experiences. The following is an excerpt from the book, describing these characteristics:

1. the experience usually occurs when we confront tasks we have a chance of completing.
2. we must be able to concentrate on what we are doing.
3. - 4. concentration is usually possible because the task undertaken has clear goals and provides immediate feedback.
5. one acts with a deep but effortless involvement that removes from awareness the worries and frustrations of everyday life.
6. enjoyable experiences allow people to exercise a sense of control over their actions.
7. concern for the self disappears yet paradoxically the sense of self emerges stronger after the flow experience is over.
8. the sense of the duration of time is altered.
(Csikszentmihalyi; p49)

What's interesting is the similarity of these characteristics to some works done on computergames by Greg Costikyan ("I have no words and I must design"), Chris Crawford ("The Art of Computer Game Design") as well as works on games in general, such as Avedon & Sutton-Smiths "The study of games".

Csikszentmihalyi's work is !very! interesting if you're into the epistemology of computergaming, which - humbly - happens to be the topic of my graduate thesis ;)