I've come across a blog post about a paper by Torill Mortensen called "Flow, Seduction and Mutual Pleasures". The post makes the paper sound really interesting, but I haven't had time to read the latter yet. Here are some quotes from the blog,
"Mortensen takes a look at Csikzentmihalyi's theories on flow and Baudrillard's theories on seduction as they may be applied to the pleasure players derive from online gaming."
"The flow experience ... is one of achievement, not interaction, an achievement that is rewarding in itself, not through the rewards from others."
"the quest element in gaming is only seductive when it is unresolved"
"Mortensen points out that players who derive their pleasure from mastery and control of the game - from being functional and productive - fit Csikzentmihalyi's theories on flow. On the other hand, players who value the social, interactive and uncertain nature of gaming fit Baudrillard's theories on seduction"
Sunday 15 April 2007
Flow and Seduction
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3 comments:
Can't wait until you have read it :) I have to admit I was very flattered by Anne's reading of that article, and I hope the quality keeps up.
I am an enormous fan of Torill's work. She gave a wonderful presentation of these ideas at the Other Players conference at ITU Denmark back in December 2004. It is a great antidote to the focus on 'mastery' and 'agonistic' processes in discussions of gameplay.
oh, and you can access that presentation here:
http://www.itu.dk/op/papers/mortensen.pdf
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