Written by Fang, 2021 Cohort
Have you ever felt completely immersed when doing something? I remember clearly an episode four years ago. One day, I went to an oil painting studio at 1pm with my boyfriend. I was so excited and interested in oil painting that I could not register the time passing. Therefore, I was shocked when I was told it was already 6pm and I had to leave. However, my boyfriend felt that it was one of the longest days he had in his life, since he did not enjoy painting at all.
Actually, I might have experienced so-called flow, a mental state of complete involvement and focus on what people are doing, a mental state that can make people feel great enjoyment, energy, and involvement. Flow can occur in many aspects in our lives, such as writing, playing basketball, playing mahjong, playing video games or even working. According to psychologists, flow is easier to achieve when one reaches a balance between the difficulty of a task and his/her level of skill. A difficult task can easily lead to anxiety and frustration while an easy task usually makes people feel bored.
In the field of digital media, there are several characteristics of flow when users are fully immersed in your games, apps, or websites.
- Complete concentration on the task: when in flow, users would not be easily distracted and would ignore the outside world.
- Loss of sense of time: Users are hooked by current activities. Therefore, they can hardly realize how time flies.
- Clear goals and feedback: Before doing a task, users have clear goals and know what to achieve. After doing a task, users can get direct and immediate feedback and know what and how much to succeed in their activities.
- Good balance between challenges and skills: In order to make flow happen, it is better to create challenges for users which are neither too difficult nor too easy. The challenge of a good game should be constantly adapted to the player’s skill level.
- Rewards: Users can get numerous intrinsic rewards while doing the tasks. Real and instant rewards help your product retain users.
In conclusion, it is vital for us to realize and understand the flow, since the flow not only makes daily activities more enjoyable, but also exerts great influence in game design and digital product design.