8.4. A Theory of Fun¶

While different games appeal to different aesthetics in different ways, every game includes some form of challenge. The whole idea of playing a game involves submitting to a set of rules and then figuring out how to achieve an objective within the constraints of those rules. This idea is the basis of a book A Theory of Fun by Raph Koster. It boils down to: the fun of games comes from the challenge of mastering skills.

Theory of Fun draws heavily on the work of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who studied what he called the mental state of “flow” (we sometimes call it being “in the flow” or “in the zone”). This is a state of extreme focus of attention, where you tune out everything except the task you’re concentrating on, you become highly productive, and your brain gives you a shot of neurochemicals that is pleasurable – being in a flow state is literally a natural high.

Csikszentmihalyi identified three requirements for a flow state to exist:

• You must be involved in a challenging activity that involves skill.
• The activity must provide clear goals and feedback.
• The outcome is uncertain but can be influenced by your actions. The player’s skill is a determiner of the outcome. (Csikszentmihalyi calls this the “paradox of control”: you are in control of your actions which gives you indirect control over the outcome, but you do not have direct control over the outcome.)

If you think about it, these requirements make sense. Why would your brain need to enter a flow state to begin with, blocking out all extraneous stimuli and hyper-focusing your attention on one activity? It would only do this if it needs to in order to succeed at the task. What conditions would there have to be for a flow state to make the difference between success and failure? See above – you’d need to be able to influence the activity through your skill towards a known goal.

What happens when someone is in a flow state? Csikszentmihalyi lists these effects:

• A merging of action and awareness: spontaneous, automatic action/reaction. In other words, you go on autopilot, doing things without thinking about them.
• Concentration on immediate tasks: complete focus, without any mind-wandering.
• Loss of awareness of self, loss of ego. When you are in a flow state, you become one with your surroundings (in a Zen way).
• There is a distorted sense of time. Strangely, this can go both ways. In some cases, say playing Tetris, time can seem to slow down and things seem to happen in slow motion. (Actually, what is happening is that your brain is acting so efficiently that it is working faster; everything else is still going at the same speed, but you are seeing things from your own point of reference.) Other times, time can seem to speed up; a common example is sitting down to play a game for “just five minutes”… and then six hours later, suddenly becoming aware that you burned away your whole evening.
• The experience of the activity is an end in itself; it is done for its own sake and not for an external reward.

You probably recognize them from activities you engage in - whether sports, video games or something else. They are aspects of the sensation you get when you are locked in to an activity and performing at your best.