High-stakes work, busywork, mental work, physical work, discovery work, teamwork, and creative work — with all this hard work going on in our favorite games, I’m reminded of something the playwright Noel Coward once said:
“Work is more fun than fun.”
Sure, this sounds mildly absurd. Work more fun than fun? But when it comes to games, this is measurably and demonstrably true, thanks to a psychology research method known as “experience sampling.”
Psychologists use the experience sampling method, or ESM, to find out how we really feel during different parts of our day. *snip* One of the most common findings of ESM research is that what we think is “fun” is actually mildly depressing.
Virtually every activity that we would describe as a “relaxing” kind of fun — watching television, eating chocolate, window-shopping, or just chilling out — doesn’t make us feel better. In fact, we consistently report feeling worse afterward than when we started “having fun”: less motivated, less confident, and less engaged overall.
“Work is more fun than fun.”
Sure, this sounds mildly absurd. Work more fun than fun? But when it comes to games, this is measurably and demonstrably true, thanks to a psychology research method known as “experience sampling.”
Psychologists use the experience sampling method, or ESM, to find out how we really feel during different parts of our day. *snip* One of the most common findings of ESM research is that what we think is “fun” is actually mildly depressing.
Virtually every activity that we would describe as a “relaxing” kind of fun — watching television, eating chocolate, window-shopping, or just chilling out — doesn’t make us feel better. In fact, we consistently report feeling worse afterward than when we started “having fun”: less motivated, less confident, and less engaged overall.
