Dear Mom,
Here are some interesting bits of info about FLOW and FIERO that I wanted to share with you.
Can you think of any other examples of flow and fiero in your life? If so, please share your thoughts. I love you mom.
Talk to you soon..
-David
From Jane McGonigal book: - Reality is Broken
Fiero is what we feel after we triumph over adversity. You know it when you feel it – and when you see it. That’s because we almost all express fiero in exactly the same way: we throw our arms over our head and yell.
Have you ever wondered what psychological considerations are taken when a video game is designed? How can game mechanics be adjusted to create greater engagement and harness the power of addiction for players? I’m reading a fascinating book titled Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal, the Director of Game Research and Development at the Institute for the Future. This book has opened my eyes to the psychology behind gameplay and how game design plays a big role in satisfying players emotionally and teaching them new skills.
Today I’ll touch on two of the most powerful positive emotions fostered by playing video games.
Flow: that ‘in the zone’ feeling. Flow is the feeling of intense concentration and efficiency. Practiced athletes, tenured musicians and (dare we say) software engineers are familiar with the feeling of flow. It is said to take ten years or 50,000 hours to achieve the skills, muscle memory, and understanding needed to find flow within an activity. Key aspects of flow include a challenge with clear goals, well established rules for action, and increased difficulty over time. All these things lend themselves nicely to gaming. The very nature of video games allow players to achieve the feeling of flow much faster. When a gamer is experiencing this emotional high, quitting or winning would be equally dissatisfying outcomes. They want to keep playing and stay ‘in the zone’ for as long as possible.
Fiero: the Italian word for “Pride” and a term often used by game designers to describe that feeling of emotional elation after a huge discovery or victory within a game. What’s coolest about this emotion is that we all express it the exact same way, which is why fiero is considered to be one of our most primal emotions. Maybe you know the feeling or have seen it before- it’s usually expressed when a player throws their arms over their head and yells! Scientists will tell you fiero is one of the most powerful neurochemical highs that we can experience.
Game designers aim to hit the sweet spot between flow and fiero moments within a game. They create game mechanics and features to take their players to these emotional highs and keep them coming back for more.