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Generally speaking, the videogame equivalent of Flow State is going to be caused by games that require the player to perform basic, repetitive tasks. Old-school scrolling shooters like 1942, Xenon, R-Type, Darius, etc, fit the description nicely (Minter's reworkings of Tempest and Sega's Rez always 'hypnotise' me), as do some non-genre titles (NiGHTS), but the prime suspects have to be puzzle games, especially those that fit the Tetris template. It's also notable that, presumably as is the case for athletes, the player needs to reach a level of proficiency before entering the Zone. And yeah, once you find yourself actively concentrating you've lost it.
A few years ago, Time Warner Interactive released a game named Endorfun. Ostensibly a puzzle game, the main selling point of the title was the publisher's claim that playing it would not only enable people to enter a trance-like state, but also that once their game experience came to an end they would feel calm and happy. The trance soundtrack supposedly contains uplifting subliminal messages. The whole thing stank of a concerted attempt to ride the wave of bad publicity games were getting in the mainstream press at the time. The game itself sank without trace. It's downloadable here. |
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