It's been a good gaming week this week. I finally finished Guitar Hero II on the hard level and also thrashed my Geometry Wars top score on the 360. It's still pretty weak but good for me!
Not such a big deal you might well say, but both of those were targets I'd tried countless times to achieve and just couldn't. I'd semi given up on them really and just accepted that I was at the limit of my gaming abilities. As most of us do from time to time though, I decided to look through my game collection for something I hadn't picked up in a while. Coming back to them with no real expectations or pressures on my performance worked wonders. I was in the zone, I was on the ball and experiencing the mental state known simply as 'flow'.
An example of this was given by Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, who during qualifying for the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix felt like he was driving the car beyond his limits. "I was already on pole and I just kept going. Suddenly I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my team mate with the same car. And suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct". Musicians, especially improvisational soloists can often experience a similar state of mind while playing their instrument.
The same concept of flow can be applied to video games.
"After mastering a game's learning curve or sometimes completely at random, the player may experience an increase in skill for no determined amount of time"
I've since tried many many times to better that score on Geometry Wars but I can't even get close. I'm back to my normal self for now at least. It's a strange phenomenon though and it's not the first time it's happened to me. Maybe it was because I was relaxed and not trying so hard. Whatever it is that causes it, it seems practice makes perfect but simply taking a break can work just as well.
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Friday, 1 February 2008
Take A Break
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2 comments:
You finished GH II on 360 or PS2 on Hard?
I found that GH II's Hard was actually pretty simple, but GH III's Hard really stepped it up. Nearly impossible for me :o.
On the 360. I'd got 2 songs left I was struggling with, Misirlou was one and I forget the other. I found on GH III that although the note arrangements are harder on the hard level then GH II, the timing is a lot more forgiving.
I've now done all the hard songs on GH III but am stuck on the final boss battle, I just can't get any power up things :(
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