WoW and flow

One of the most popular search words referring to my blog is MMORPG addiction or WoW addiction as I blogged this matter once. It seems that the issue engages, or worries perhaps, many, as for some, playing the game is affecting work, spare time, spending time with friends etc in a negative manner. I can certainly understand the popularity of the game as WoW is highly engaging for players on all levels, for both the noob as well as the the lvl 70 gamer, for the casual player and the hard core player. I’ve praised my restless character many times as it’s unlikely that I dwell on things, or get hooked on one single thing. My WoW-playing is more of the character that when I play, I do it fully and whole heartedly but quite rarely. As soon as I get a little bit tired, I quit. I forget about the game for weeks and when people ask me what level I’m at, I can’t remember. That said, that doesn’t mean I don’t like the game, I do. And it occupies my mind at times as I find myself thinking, “I should log on to see if my items were sold at the auction”, and I sometimes refer to items in the game when talking with friends. The game’s got me good but not hopelessly, in my opinion at least. To me, it’s pure entertainment.

On my desk at work, I have two books of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on the issue of flow. I’ve read his theory on what happens when we’re engaged in things we love to do and I’ve applied it on interactivity in media and on iTV but one could also of course apply it to video games.

In short, Csikszentmihalyi argues that we’re the most happy when we’re completely immersed in something we love to do. When this occurs, we’re in a Zen like state of mind, “in flow”. When we find ourselves in that state of mind, we can lose track of time, may forget to eat and probably wouldn’t notice at all if a lion roared behind our back. The flow state is full of enjoyment, fulfillment and pleasure and naturally, it’s a state of mind that most people wish to be in quite often. According to Csikszentmihalyi, a couple of prerequisites must be met in order to this flow state to occur. For instance, there must be clear goals. There must be a challenge but one that relates to the level of skill. It’s like playing a set of badminton with an opponent much better or much less skilled than you, it’s simply not fun nor rewarding. There must be immediate feedback and the actor must have a sense of control.

Now, with WoW, all these requirements are met, in my view. There are two clear goals, the conflict between the Horde and the Alliance, and the goal of reaching lvl 70 and the “end game” (or leveling in general as then, the character is more powerful, gets better gear and stronger aids, and for some reason, humans always strive towards “better”, “higher”, “more”). There’s always something to work towards, depending on your moods. For example, you can develop your character and hunt for better equipment, weapons and gaining experience by completing quests. Or if you’re not up for loads of action, you can sit by the river fishing as that improves the skills of your character and ultimately, helps you reach the goal. The sense of control is great as there’s little that you must do. It’s up to you what quests you do, which skills you have, and what regions you play in. This is one of the big hooks of WoW in my opinion as since you can make what you want of the game, that is you’re designing your own gameplay experience, it’s likely to appeal to you in a great way. If you want a game where you can socialize with your friends or other players a lot and just occasionally go on missions, look no further! If you’re mostly interested in developing your character, feel free to do so. If you’re looking for taking part of an epic story much like a movie, you certainly can do that as well. There are huge challenges for those who look for that, like the raids or instances or trying out quests that are “aimed” at characters at much higher levels. Of course, you can choose easier challenges as well, although the reward of leveling might take a while then.

As the requirements for a flow state are met by the design and structure of the game, I’m not surprised that many find WoW a highly rewarding and entertaining game to which they devote a lot of time and energy. The trick is to keep the playing time at moderate levels.

My personality has been unveiled

I've never taken a personality test in my entire life, apart from the ones of a more entertaining character like "which of the girls in Sex and the City do you resemble the most?" (turned out to be Miranda btw). And I rarely browse around, or surf around, on the internet. I actually installed the Stumble Upon-feature of Firefox to get me started but I've used it once. I always know what kind of information or source I'm looking for. This morning though, when reading the usual dozen of online magazines, I read a column where the journalist listed cool self tests, where you may find out if you're a leader, a complete idiot or if you stand a chance to make it to heaven or not. Boldly, and admittedly full of excitement, I took the "What your boss wants to know about you - your personality traits". Evidently, it's a test based on Carl Jung and Isabel Myers-Briggs typological approach to personality.

Having answered 2 of the 72 questions, I started thinking about how I could make better formulated statements myself. Like this one "You are almost never late for your appointments". How much does the negation affect your choice of answer, "yes" or "no"? And is your notion of "almost never" equal to mine? Or this one, "It is easy for you to communicate in social situations", how many would seriously answer no to this positively formed statement? It takes a great deal of courage to say No, actually, it is not easy for me to communicate in social situations.

Well, I figured there's not much I could do about the formulations so I filled it out and got the results. Et voilà, I'm a INTJ rational mastermind, a personality type that about 1 % of the world's population belongs to. In short, such a person is considered to be an enigma, of some even weird. They are self confident, of some considered even arrogant, they know what they want, they have a huge passion for knowing how thinks work and acquiring more knowledge on the world. In short, they are analytical, process driven, idea loving individuals that try to make sense of the world and of other people. When reading the results, I laughed so hard I nearly tipped over my cup of coffee. Some assertions were so right to the point! One example is the desire to constantly gain more knowledge. I'm currently reading, at the same time, 8 books. I'm reading loads of online magazines and newspapers every single day. Take that possibility away from me and I get restless like the wind. And what I just did when filling out the questionnaire, that is tried to improve the questions and hunted for signs of low validation and cheap tricks to make the results as general and widely applicable as possible, is a characteristic for INTJ persons. Lol!

What strikes me though is that the results were not as generally crafted as horoscopes and astrology models tend to be (like "You generally want to do good". Honestly, who doesn't?!) but rather detailed and to the point. Other things again were rather loosely defined. I don't fully buy into the type I was labeled with though. A lot of it is applicable to me but certainly not everything. But it sure was a good deal of fun to read through the suggested character and to recognize oneself at times.

I doubled my foot size

I made a sad discovery yesterday. I attended a class on ecological footprints and I decided to measure my own remains. Turned out to be 6.6 global hectares and compared to my last measure, which I did 2,5 years ago, it has doubled! Lately, when reading and hearing about how frustrated and stressed some feel regarding the climate change and what to do to prevent it, I’ve suspected that the real issue has been a slight exaggeration. Not so anymore. My body actually feels stressed and I feel upset that this score (it is exactly that, a score among many, but one of the better measurements of how one’s consumption influences the Earth) of mine actually doubled although I’ve tried to live in a sustainable and ecologic way.

So I started troubleshooting, that is looking for the reasons to this increase and I found two: the use of cars and flying, two things that are not merely comfort issues but necessities. I have to travel in my work in order to attend events and to conduct audience research. I guess I don’t have to fly to Amsterdam in May, but driving or taking the train means less hours at work. Lately though, I’ve wondered what it would be like to arrange conferences and meetings say in Second Life. I know students who have their classes in SL are generally satisfied and happy with it (it was tested at Åbo Akademi last semester), could it be a model for work meetings as well? Being a sociologist, I’m kinda skeptical. And as for the use of car, it’s frustrating that it’s out of my control. I’d love to have the bus as my primary transportation vehicle, like I did for 7 years when studying, but it’s hard with the current bus routes in the countryside (on Saturdays, they’re leaving once an hour to town, the last one way too early at 17:30, and on Sundays, nada, zip, rien.). I could always approach the local politicians and/or the bus companies but oh well, it’s easier not to make a fuss and jump in the car. Sadly enough.

Jean Valjean and the changing identity

Tonight, I did something I can't recall doing for ages. Flickering through the TV channels only to find a program I've seen before, but nonetheless remaining absolutely absorbed hooked the next hour although every scene is familiar and totally predictable. I normally don't do that but when something as brilliant as the story of Jean Valjean and his move from being an prisoned thief to becoming a noble citizen and mayor of a small town is on the telly (in the Les Misérables from 2000), you simply got to make an exception.

And I'm not much of a superstitious person, but indeed a drama queen, and therefore, I'm amused by a coincidence here. I stumbled upon the show at a major turning point where Jean Valjean, the villain, chooses to alter his identity, name and to change his way of leading his life. That's one way of looking at it. Another is that he cowardly escapes and runs away as his noble turning point, that is returning the penny he stole from a child, came a bit too late and he's charged with theft and thus sought after by the police.

I'm also at a major turning point in my life where my decisions will influence my identity. I've decided to buy a house, which is a golden opportunity to express who you are to others. I know pretty much what I want, and in what surroundings I want it, but I was thinking the other day, could you get away with faking it? At the end of the day, what the brochures with new houses try to sell you is an identity, "the modern one", "the traditional one", "the arty one" etc. But what if you find yourself in seven years saying, this is not me (anymore)? I don't see myself in this house? Suppose that a city girl, much like Carrie in Sex and the city, fancies a big red house out in the countryside, and decides to get one with huge vegetable gardens, sheep, bees and apple trees, solar panels and a life style endorsing an ecology and sustainable living. And it'd turn out, she tires of it in a couple of years, then what?

What I'm ultimately chasing here is the volatility of identity, and in the long run, much like Jean Valjean in Les Misérables was pondering, the importance of appearance for how others perceive who you are. Foucault claimed that identity is not something you have or possess, it's a shifting discourse, a construction that emerges when you interact with others. Giddens talks about the reflexive project, that we keep working with, reconstructing and rebuilding, our identity our entire lives. If this is the case, how do you succeed in making a sustainable and honest (to yourself) choice as to how you're going to live the next 20 years, at least, and in what area you'll live and so on? What if in the midst of skyscrapers a desire for a lush garden emerges, or if a yearning for a city life with cafés and bars rages in the midst of fields of wheat? I doubt that my favorite character in Les Misérables, Mr Javert (magnificently acted by John Malkovich), would agree with the life project ideas of Giddens nor with Foucault as he states that once a thief, always a thief, there's no way a villain will regret his doings. And if this was to happen, the person will always remain a thief in the eyes of the public. He'd better not be right.

Marge's view on the fate of Grad students

I watched another episode of the Simpsons again last night and this time, Marge was the one to serve words of wisdom one can't do without. Bart holds a pony tail up to the back of his head saying "Look at me! I’m a Grad student and I made $600 last year." whereas Marge scolds him saying "Don’t make fun of Grad students Bart. They just made a bad life choice." Absolutely brilliant!

Catch your thoughts

I watched an episode of The Simpsons last night, where my favorite character Lisa got caught thinking. In her opinion, it was morally wrong to dissect an animal. After telling her teacher this, the "Independent thought-alarm" was pushed and a series of brainwashing followed. A group of researchers at the University of Illinois catches and monitors thoughts too but in a complete other way and for a completely different reason than the Springfielders do. Here's a snapshot of the exact moment when the brain understands the received visual information (from the eyes), and here's a short video clip of the same event.