I notice that clearly defined goals and good feedback are also big features in the learning/expertise literature.

These conditions seem neither sufficient (eg doing pushups, practicing math problems, coding in my spare time don’t fit the game schema) nor necessary (what is the purpose of Garry’s mod? do kids playing house have feedback or goals?). This was difficult in pre-digital games.) Instead, part of the fun is figuring out the rules by interacting with the system. (Many modern games don’t have explicit rules. (Games can have goals without wins eg in tetris the goal is to see how many points you can score.) …a voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles. Why should we needlessly spend the majority of our lives in boredom and anxiety, when games point to a clear and better alternative? And a society which regards such adjustments as fundamentally unfair should be more tolerant of those who choose to spend their time in an alternate reality, enjoying the distractions and the succour it provides to those who feel that the outside world is more rigged than the game.Ĭsíkszentmihályi argued that the failure of schools, offices, factories, and other everyday environments to provide flow was a serious moral issue, one of the most urgent problems facing humanity. A society that dislikes the idea of young men gaming their days away should perhaps invest in more dynamic difficulty adjustment in real life.

But what does seem clear is that the choices we make in life are shaped by the options available to us. Whether it is emptier and sadder than one spent buried in finance, accumulating points during long hours at the office while neglecting other aspects of life, is a matter of perspective.

Instead of criticizing gamers, why don’t we try to make reality more compelling.Ī life spent buried in video games, scraping by on meagre pay from irregular work or dependent on others, might seem empty and sad.

Reality is broken book