Trigger Happy
293
experiences are attained when there is a perceived
match between the demands of the activity and the
subject’s skills. Now why else would many videogames
such as Metal Gear Solid let you change the difficulty
level? Clearly it is boring to play a game that is too
easy, and frustrating to play a game that is too hard.
The same is true of, say, tennis or chess: playing
someone who is far less competent than you is not
much fun, as it’s too easy to win (you don’t need to
play to the height of your abilities); playing someone
far better than you is not much fun either, because you
just get stomped on (you are made painfully aware of
the inadequacy of your abilities). So pleasure seems
subjectively to be optimal when the demands of the
game and your skill levels are closely matched.
In a non-dangerous activity, I think the game’s
demands ought always to be pitched slightly higher
than the player’s skills. The only way to improve one’s
chess, for example, is regularly to play slightly stronger
opponents. Because an important component of
pursuing a flow activity over time is the simple
pleasure of getting better. A pianist will attempt pieces
that are just beyond the current level of her technique,
and by practicing them she will improve her technique
to match their demands.
