Jaedrik
Man-at-Arms-at-Keyboard
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2009
- Messages
- 5,054
I have recently experienced that which only comes to me during times of great peace.
Usually, this only happens to me when I am singing for the glory of the Lord in choir, and even then when I am not frustrated with the mistakes I make; When I let myself go, relax, and simply do.
While playing Project: Melee on my Wii U, I came to a point where I was consistently battling opponents in a trance-like state. I'm sure you all know what this is psychologically, but I am astounded at the ability of this game to induce this flow in me, even though I fight simple CPUs, nothing compared to a human opponent.
When I played Brawl, I was constantly frustrated by my inability to do things, my complete lack of understanding the why. I would buffer a move and nothing would happen, I would dash away and trip instead, I would attempt to do an aerial attack straight from a shorthop and find myself doing an upsmash instead, but I make no such mistakes in Project: Melee after inducing this state. I know at every moment why things happen, even in my failure, and all my previous expectations of doing well or doing poorly had been wiped away. When I fall into the flow, I recognize that the most important aspect of this is by far the reduction of my expectations. I do not expect to win, I do not expect to lose, I simply play as I may. All my decisions are snap decisions, and though at times I lose control via hitstun, I know what I can do immediately to mitigate its effects without being deliberately conscious of it.
I know it is not induced by a feeling of control or confidence, I know that it is the challenge that I face without expectation, maintained most especially by humility, for if I was observed by others in my room as I played, surely I would have become nervous, and devoted thought to such a distraction, being self-conscious and breaking said flow.
I realized this after I stopped playing only because I felt incredibly energized. I was moving at the speed of light for a good hour after playing, and still feel the 'high', as it were, while typing this. Everything seems to fall into place.
So, here's hats off to you once again, Project: Melee team, for bringing me such a joyous occasion to know and explore my own person more fully. It was a blast.
Usually, this only happens to me when I am singing for the glory of the Lord in choir, and even then when I am not frustrated with the mistakes I make; When I let myself go, relax, and simply do.
While playing Project: Melee on my Wii U, I came to a point where I was consistently battling opponents in a trance-like state. I'm sure you all know what this is psychologically, but I am astounded at the ability of this game to induce this flow in me, even though I fight simple CPUs, nothing compared to a human opponent.
When I played Brawl, I was constantly frustrated by my inability to do things, my complete lack of understanding the why. I would buffer a move and nothing would happen, I would dash away and trip instead, I would attempt to do an aerial attack straight from a shorthop and find myself doing an upsmash instead, but I make no such mistakes in Project: Melee after inducing this state. I know at every moment why things happen, even in my failure, and all my previous expectations of doing well or doing poorly had been wiped away. When I fall into the flow, I recognize that the most important aspect of this is by far the reduction of my expectations. I do not expect to win, I do not expect to lose, I simply play as I may. All my decisions are snap decisions, and though at times I lose control via hitstun, I know what I can do immediately to mitigate its effects without being deliberately conscious of it.
I know it is not induced by a feeling of control or confidence, I know that it is the challenge that I face without expectation, maintained most especially by humility, for if I was observed by others in my room as I played, surely I would have become nervous, and devoted thought to such a distraction, being self-conscious and breaking said flow.
I realized this after I stopped playing only because I felt incredibly energized. I was moving at the speed of light for a good hour after playing, and still feel the 'high', as it were, while typing this. Everything seems to fall into place.
So, here's hats off to you once again, Project: Melee team, for bringing me such a joyous occasion to know and explore my own person more fully. It was a blast.
