How useful is the concept of flow to our

understanding of the Pleasures of Games?

By Tom Bolton

Introduction

“We have all experienced times when, instead of being buffeted by anonymous

forces, we do feel in control of our actions, masters of our own fate...” observes

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi about the concept of flow. He continues: “…on the rare

occasions that it happens, we feel a sense of exhilaration, a deep sense of enjoyment

that is long cherished and that becomes a landmark in memory for what life should

be like.”1

The concept of flow that Csikszentmihalyi is referring to is a state of consciousness

during the optimum experience of practically any activity. Like most gamers, I can

identify with being in this pleasurable state, brought about when being subjected to

the optimum gaming experience. I would describe my personal experiences with

flow in games as being so totally focussed on the game that nothing else matters;

becoming so fluent in the game that I no longer have to consciously think about

controlling it. My mind is free from worry, and it is all about being ‘in the zone’.

As an academic and freelance game designer I am interested in exploring to

what extent, if at all, the concept of flow can be applied to enhance our

understanding of pleasure in games. As a result I am hoping to develop a greater

understanding of the relationship between two concepts, and use this knowledge to

allow me to make more informed decisions on my game designs; ultimately making

these more pleasurable experiences.

In this paper I will start by examining what is meant by pleasure in the

context of games, and explore the components of flow, and how these relate to the

game Explodemon! I am currently working on. I shall examine the strengths and

weakness of the concept of flow, before investigating its potential limitations. Finally

I will attempt to reach a conclusion on how useful the concept of flow is to our

understanding of the pleasure of games.

1 Csikszentmihalyi (2002, 3)

Pleasure In order to determine how useful the concept of flow is in relation to our

understanding of pleasure in games, we first need to explore the concept of

pleasure. A good place to start may be the top 100 games of all time (according to

IGN)2. Although susceptible to manipulation and bias, for now let’s assume that

significant amounts of players associate high levels of pleasure with these games in

order to make the list. When browsing through the list, it becomes apparent that

there are a vast range of genres on offer, without one genre clearly dominating. Each

genre, subgenre, and sometimes each individual game seems to offer a significantly

different play experience and targets a different audience. Whilst they would

probably all be described as pleasurable, or fun, it becomes apparent that there is a

need to differentiate between specific types of pleasure or fun.

There are many theories relating to the concept of pleasure in the field of

ludology, all keen to tackle this problem and split game pleasure into different

sections. For example, Roger Caillois suggests a system whereby a game can include

just one or all of the following experiences: competition, chance, vertigo, make-

believe3. Game designer Mark LeBlanc’s division of pleasure in games includes

sensation, fantasy, narrative, challenge, fellowship, discovery, expression and

submission4. What this highlights is the fact that there are many facets to game

pleasure, including physical, emotional, cognitive, aesthetic (visual/aural), sensory

and propositional5. These different facets of pleasure, or components, are present at

varying levels in different games, thereby creating different experiences appealing to

different audiences.

This raises the immediate question of whether an individual component of

pleasure can be isolated that is common to all games, or indeed whether any

component can be considered dominant. This in itself is a complex issue to resolve,

as Salen and Zimmerman point out: “pleasure is difficult to design because it is open-

ended, multifaceted, and exceedingly complex concept”6. As an example, aesthetics

2 www.ign.com (accessed 15/12/07) 3 Hejdenberg (2005) 4 Salen and Zimmerman p.334 5 Tanya Krzywinska(2007, lecture notes) 6 Salen and Zimmerman p.355

can provide an immediate sense of visual delight, or appreciation, and may even

contribute to the player’s sense of immersion. However it could be argued that

aesthetics fail to contribute towards a deeper sense of enjoyment in a way that

other areas such as ‘gameplay’ do. If done well, this can greatly contribute to a

player’s sense of immersion, their suspension of disbelief, and can be used as a

powerful reward system. Nevertheless, it should be clear that there are other

pleasures that are simply more important in the overall scheme of game pleasure. As

a result, the answer to the second part of my previous question is that not all

components of pleasure are equal, suggesting that there may indeed be a dominant

component to pleasure in games.

Thankfully, Raph Koster manages to shed more light on the matter. He argues

that pleasure is synonymous with fun7, and manages to boil this down to three main

components; physical stimulation, aesthetic appreciation and chemical

manipulation8, occurring when endorphins are released in the brain. He helpfully

isolates one aspect in particular as being more important than others, namely the

pleasure that arises from mastery, comprehension and solving puzzles. In other

words, learning is the reason why games are fun. He argues that this kind of pleasure

is hardwired into our brains as the survival of our species is dependent on our ability

to learn. This explains why every time we learn something or master a task, we are

rewarded with a pleasurable release of chemicals in the brain that we experience as

a moment of triumph. This does not necessarily take the form of ‘education’ in the

conventional sense, but refers more to the player’s skills, challenges and more

specifically the patterns encountered in the game. So if the brain constantly craves

stimuli, and is insatiable in its quest to learn something new, then this explains why

we get bored when games stop teaching new things. On the other hand, as Koster

points out, the brain mainly craves new data, not necessarily new experiences

consisting of whole new pattern systems as this can lead to sensory overload. As

such this ‘data’ can be interpreted as being challenging gameplay.

7 Koster (2005, 40) 8 Koster (2005, 40)

Flow In his book ‘Flow: The classic work on how to achieve happiness’ (2002),

Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as a state of consciousness in a way that can be

experienced through attaining the optimum experience of pretty much any form of

human activity. These activities can vary from mountain climbing to walking along a

boring street, to performing brain surgery. His research indicates that no matter

what the source of enjoyment is, when a state of flow is reached, it is described in

much the same way. Csikszentmihalyi states: “optimal experiences (flow) occur

within sequences of activities that are goal-directed and bound by rules… which

could not be done without the appropriate skills”9. The reason that game designers

and the field of game studies in general are interested in the concept of flow is that

this emotional and psychological state of mind is very much in line with the effect

many games strive to achieve for its players.

There are eight main components to the concept of flow. Salen and

Zimmerman highlight in their book ‘Rules of Play’ (The MIT Press, 2004) that four of

these components are in fact prerequisites for the state of flow to occur, and the

other four are effects experienced through the state of flow. The prerequisites are:

challenging activity requiring skill; clear goals; clear feedback; and the paradox of

having control in an uncertain situation.10 The first prerequisite, a challenging activity

that requires skill, describes the direct correlation between the amplitude of the

task, or challenge, and the player’s ability, or skill. Enjoyment occurs when the

player’s skills closely match the current level of challenge, and only then are the

conditions suitable for a flow experience to occur. In order for the player to remain

in this band of flow, the level of challenge must increase in line as their skills do, or a

state of boredom will result. If on the other hand the player’s skills do not improve,

and they are no match for the challenge at hand, the result will be nervousness,

frustration, panic, loss of interest or anxiety as Csikszentmihalyi himself puts it. As

neither boredom nor anxiety are positive experiences, the player will strive to return

to the channel where the flow experience is possible, as can be seen in the diagram

below:

9 Csikszentmihalyi (2002, 49) 10 Salen & Zimmerman (2004, 338)

Diagram11

This component is directly relevant to the level design of Explodemon!, particularly

with regards to its learning curve. As this game is to be distributed through the Xbox

Live Arcade network, the game is targeted primarily at gamers with at least some

prior experience with the platform genre, and assumes a basic level of competence

with the Xbox controller. The first level should gradually introduce the player to the

game, and its physics. The control system should feel directly familiar to those who

have played virtually any platform game on a console since Super Mario Bros

(Nintendo, 1987), and they should have little trouble navigating around and finding

the jump button with their thumb in the usual location. As its name suggests there is

a little surprise waiting to be unleashed under the ‘B’ button on the controller:

Explodemon, the game’s protagonist, does just that – he explodes (and survives). As

these explosions are also triggered at regular intervals (as indicated by a depleting

bar), it is only a matter of time before the player experiences what effect the

explosions have on the protagonist whilst in motion. If in mid-jump, Explodemon will

perform an additional jump. If he is walking along and whilst exploding he will boost.

Once the player has mastered this skill they are able to double-jump up to the next

stage of the level, and boost through an object. As the level progresses these skills

will be pushed in new and unexpected ways, at each stage the player has to push

their skills in order progress through the level. If the player’s skill is not yet good

enough to progress then they cannot do so. But in order for the player to get this far

11 Csikszentmihalyi (2002, 74)

Flow

Skill

Challenge

Boredom

Anxiety

they should be capable of completing the challenge as it is only incrementally more

difficult than the last. Once the player approaches the highest possible level of skill in

one mechanic – say that of boosting over collapsible bridges, a new mechanic is

added which the player has to master whilst keeping up their ‘old’ skills. This layering

of mechanics incrementally pushes the challenge forward in a steady and predictable

manner, allows for fresh experiences to be created, and increases complexity. The

latter is particularly important with regards to flow, as Csikszentmihalyi states that

“how enjoyable an activity is depends ultimately on its complexity”12.

Because the difficulty is evolving in a progressive way, players that learn

faster should simply progress through the game in a faster time. Usability and focus

testing will tell whether the difficulty level is increasing at a high enough rate. If so

then it is clear what must be adjusted. As the game progresses, so does the difficulty.

When designing puzzles in the levels of Explodemon!, it is important to make it clear

to the player what it is that needs to be achieved. This relates to the second

prerequisite; clear goals. These are needed in order to allow the player to measure

their progress. Again, it is important that the goals are set at a level that require a

considerable amount of skill and match the skill level, as else no effort would be

required. On the scale of ludus and paidea - a concept developed by Caillois13, with

paidea equivalent to unstructured ‘play’ and ludus closer to structured ‘game’ – as a

platform game, Explodemon! leans towards the ludus end of the scale. Clear rules

are in place with regards to the character’s interactions with the environment, as

well as with Non-Playing Characters (NPCs). The level designer can take this into

account with regards to puzzle design. Consider a situation in which Explodemon’s

path is blocked by a forcefield which the player must switch off before progressing.

The location of the switch would in this case be crucial – if the switch is hidden away

in an obscure place, the player will likely get frustrated and quit. On the other hand if

the switch is visible, the player has a clear goal of what is required. This doesn’t

mean to say that hitting this switch has to be easy; this may for example require an

elaborate system of chain reactions to be set up in combination with timed

manipulation. The point here is that the goal must be clear. Direct feedback, the

12 Csikszentmihalyi (2002, 53) 13 King & Krzywinska (2006, 28)

third prerequisite, is important as it enables the player to judge how well they are

doing at any particular stage in the activity. Particularly in situations where goals are

intermittent, direct feedback informs the player whether they are on the right track.

With each move or action, a player can feel that they are getting closer to their goal.

In Explodemon!, this is provided through direct visual feedback such as health bar,

explosion meter, and blast power gauge. Destroying NPC’s and setting of chain

reactions gives a good feedback and sense of progression.

In a state of flow, the player exercises a sense of control over their actions. In

real life, there is an anxiety of losing (or failing) at tasks at every level that can creep

into the consciousness. Structured activities such as games create order. They offer

the player a sense of control by building up their skills to such an extent that the risk

of failure is eliminated14. The anxiety of losing this sense of control that exists in

everyday life disappears. Paradoxically, if there is no chance of failure, the challenge

is not set at a high enough level. The player can only find out whether they are in

control when they are put into an uncertain situation whereby they are able to

influence the outcome. Or as Csikszentmihalyi himself puts it: "...what people enjoy

is not the sense of being in control, but the sense of exercising control in difficult

situations. It is not possible to experience a feeling of control unless one is willing to

give up the safety of protective routines."15 The way in which Explodemon!

approaches this is by allowing the player to develop such a great skill that the risk of

failure is negligible, and minimizing elements in the game that affect the outcome

that the player has no control over.

Effects

The components of flow that are effects include: the merging of action and

awareness; concentration; the loss of self-consciousness; transformation of time.16

14 Järvinen, Heliö & Mäyrä (2002) 15 Csikszentmihalyi (2002, 61) 16 Salen & Zimmerman (2004, 338)

What is meant by the merging of action and awareness is that in a state of flow, a

player can get a feeling of ‘becoming one’ with the controls; they are so absorbed in

the game that they lose the sense of awareness and the actions become automatic.

During a state of flow, the player concentrating so completely on the task in

hand, that no mental energy is left over to consider any negative aspects that may

otherwise be bothering them during everyday life. Internal or external distractions

such as counter-intuitive controls would likely distract much of the player’s attention

and therefore disrupt the ability to concentrate. When in a state of flow the mind is

so focussed on the voluntary activity, that there is no more mental power available

for other thoughts. As a result the mind becomes temporarily free from life’s

unpleasant thoughts. In some games, players are required to go through repetitive

and boring stages in order to progress. As a result, players can become less involved

as they can experience this as being ‘forced’. For this reason there should be no

activities in Explodemon! that could be considered ‘grinding’. In a state of flow,

players may experience a sense of the self-awareness disappearing described as a

“‘zen’ feeling, like meditation or concentration” 17, the mind becomes egoless with

no room for self-scrutiny. Salen and Zimmerman describe this as “the participant’s

sense of self becomes subservient to the greater whole of the experience… becomes

part of a system of action greater than what the individual self had been before.”18

Paradoxically, Csikszentmihalyi observes that the sense of self re-emerges stronger

after flow experience. The reason for this is that the mind reflects on the difference

in self compared to before the flow experience, as it does not have the opportunity

to do so during the state of flow. It is enriched by new skills and fresh achievements,

and as a result the sense of self returns stronger than it was before, and allows us to

expand the concept of who we are. The final effect is that during a state of flow, the

perception of time can be altered. As the saying goes ‘time flies when you’re having

fun’, usually time passes faster19, and an experience that seems like minutes can in

reality be hours.

17 Csikszentmihalyi (2002, 62) 18 Salen and Zimmerman (2004, 337) 19 Csikszentmihalyi (2002, 66)

The knowledge of these effects is particularly useful during usability or focus

testing. These four effects of flow that one must observe in order to determine

weather the player is actually experiencing flow. As Salen and Zimmerman point out;

if these effects are not observed, there must simply be something wrong with the

implementation of one or more of the prerequisites.

Limitations

As described previously in this paper, flow as a concept can be applied to an

extremely wide range of activities, not just specifically games. As such it is of little

use when referring to game specific pleasures. For example the concept of flow

cannot relate directly with concepts such as inter-textuality or narrative20, or for that

matter relate to any of the pleasures specific to games. In the case of Explodemon!,

there is little flow can tell us about the subtle pleasures gained from the nods at

game clichés, or the sense of delight one gets when seeing a new landscape enfold in

full glorious HD quality.

Conclusion When analysing the concept of flow, it is interesting to note that Csikszentmihalyi

assumes that the human mind, when left to its own devices, resides in a state of

chaos. What the state of flow does is allow the mind to concentrate, and focus on

the activity in hand, allowing no excess thought for chaos and negative thoughts. As

such flow is an ideal tool for escapism. From this point of view, there are certainly

parallels to be drawn with Plato and Schopenhauer’s views that pleasure is in fact

experienced as the absence of pain21.

Although flow doesn’t address the entire possible spectrum of pleasures

specific to games, flow does seem to relate to the raison d'être of what makes many

– not all - games pleasurable. For this reason it can be considered a valuable tool to

20 Kerr, Kuchlich & Flynn, (2004, 12) 21 Krzywinska (2007, lecture notes)

be taken into consideration at a pre-production stage, consulted for conceptualising

early on in the design stage, and helping to make informed design decisions.

In terms of the immersive pleasure of getting players ‘into the zone’, flow is a

concept most directly relevant when applied to the analysis of the game’s learning

curve. In my opinion this component is relevant to the design of all games.

Essentially flow is defined as a function of the relationship between challenge and

skill, increasing in complexity along the flow channel. We have also already defined

that how enjoyable an activity is depends ultimately on its complexity, and as such it

can be deduced that as long as this channel is maintained, complexity becomes the

throttle for pleasure.

Bibliography: Aarseth, Espen (1997), Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature, The Johns Hopkins University Press Atkins, Barry (2003), More than a game: the computer game as fictional form, Manchester University Press Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (2002), Flow: The classic work on how to achieve happiness, Rider Books Juul, Jesper (2005), Half Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds, the MIT Press King, Geoff & Krzywinska, Tanya (2006), Tomb Raiders & Space Invaders: Videogame Forms & Contexts, I.B. Taurus Koster, Raph (2005), A Theory of Fun for Game Design, Paraglyph Press Salen, Katie & Zimmerman (2004), Eric, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, the MIT Press

Papers and other references Kerr, Aphra & Brereton, Pat & Kuchlich, Julian & Flynn, Roddy (2004), New Media: New Pleasures? [Working paper rinal research report for STeM: Centre for Society, Technology and Midia: www.stem.dcu.ie] Järvinen, Aki & Heliö, Satu & Mäyrä, Frans (2002), Communication and Community in Digital Entertainment Services [prestudy reseach report, University of Tampere Hypermedia Labratory] Lecture ‘Theories of Pleasure, Identification and Interpellation’, taught by Tanya Krzywinska, November 2007 [including handout].

Websites All websites accessed 15/12/07 Hejdenberg, Anders (2005), The psychology behind games [Gamesutra.com]: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2289/the_psychology_behind_games.php IGN’s top 100 games: http://uk.top100.ign.com/2007/

Gameography Explodemon! [Curve Studios, Xbox 360, tbr] Super Mario Bros [Nintendo, NES, 1987]