The Zone

[JRMacumber]

This is something I've been thinking about for a long time, but it's a topic that's hard to discuss. On the one hand most of us know exactly what it is I'm talking about, and yet on the other hand the concepts behind it are probably better left to psychologists and people with lots of acronyms after their names. So how do you talk about it?

What I'm refering to is what we commonly call "the zone," that place in your mind where you and the game become one, where the outside world ceases to exist, and all you know is the game. It's when your hands cease to be these tools at the ends of your arms, and become pure extensions of your mind. You don't think about what you're doing, existing purely in the moment. It is almost as though you cease to have a body at all, where you're just will, a focused energy. When you get into the zone, get into it good and proper, there is little else on earth like it.

Sadly, few of the games I play lead to that condition. I don't play any rythme games, or games that lead to repetitive actions on a dynamic playing field. The closest I've come to it lately is in Rayman 3, on the Teensie Highways between levels. At first I'll just stumble along, hopping from lane to lane, and as it goes on and as I focus more and more, everything just becomes reaction, instinct. I think, and I move. I don't even know it's happening until it's over. It's almost like a dream, an amazing feeling.

So, what are your thoughts on this peculiar condition? What games do you play that induce it? Is it easy for you? Discuss...

[Andy_T]

i think it's also possible to 'get in the zone' with slower paced games, like you say when you stop thinking about your hand holding the controller, your peripheral vision recedes and it's just you interfaced directly with the action. i have felt this recently with Splinter Cell yet strangely not so much with Wind Waker, i felt that the sailing disconnected me from the game somewhat until i hit dry land again.

[Saurian]

I totally "Go Into One" on Soul Calibur and Psyvariar

On Psyvariar especially I know exactly when I go into and out of "The Zone" - my eyes relax, and my vision changes so that I can only see colour and paths not detail. I go through stage after stage taking mad risks and never even considering the fact that I can die very easily. When I do lose a life it's like a sharp snap back to reality and I often have to pause it to re-focus.


SO LUSH!!!11

On Soul Calibur there is no stick, I'm just thinking in terms of direction, my opponents anticipation and speed of execution.

I used to play Pump It Up aswell - I used to memorise the step patterns for songs and make up routines and home. Then buss down to the arcade and perform them facing the crowd - used to wear a hat to cover my eyes (puts me into my own world), then it's just about feeling it ^^

[rjpageuk]

I have experienced this with Ikaruga.

I think the problem with the phenomenon is that it can only really occur (at least in my experience) through repetition. When you repeatedly do the same (or similar) things in a game it becomes pure instinct to perform and so doesnt require direct thought about the controls or what you are doing.

[SaintM]

Burnout 2 is the one game that really puts into that magical place. It's so based on twitchy instinct that being in the 'zone' is the only real way to play it (for me anyway).

[Scythe]

1080 trick attack was one I could zone on, half pipe....1080's all the way!!

Racing games are in my experience the main source of 'zoning': sega rally, f-zero x...when your just feeling it and your off.

[replicant]

one line dm 1v1. unbeatable.

[lordcookie]

For me to be in the zone I have to know the game inside out. Games like Frequency and Goldeneye, and Rez are games that I can get into the zone on a regular basis. I have been in the zone a couple of times on Psyvariar as well, but I still need more practise.

Just like Saurian when I am in the zone my vision probably gets worse as your eyes relax, but you just feel the game. It is very hard to explain.

[Rabasaurus]

As most people have said, I think it comes more with repitition. But environment also has something to do with it, well for me anyways. If im sitting at night playing a game in a darkened room I have less distractions around me and can concentrate on the game more.

But to contradict my first point about repitition, when I first played Final Fantasy VII I was totally engrossed, it was the first RPG that I had really gotten into and I basically felt I was running around trying to save the planet!

And when playing fighting games, I like to have a lot of people around me, shouting, cheering etc.

Getting into the zone, for me anyway, depends on the genre and evironment the game is played in.

[evilmatt]

halo, when you get good. on legendary. i am master chief. elites fear my coming.







i'm sorry, maybe i could rephrase that last bit

[Robin]

Zone mode in Wipeout Fusion ^_^

[Marvelon]

Several games have induced it in me. The ships in Super mario 3. Blockout (beating my mums highscore was the pinnacle of my blockout career) Tetris... need I say more.
Recently THPS2 really caused it badly, I would look back at replays thinking how on earth did I do that? 700k+ combo on the hangar isn;t even that good.. it just took me a long time to get there..

[charlesr]

I used to play Pump It Up aswell - I used to memorise the step patterns for songs and make up routines and home. Then buss down to the arcade and perform them facing the crowd - used to wear a hat to cover my eyes (puts me into my own world), then it's just about feeling it ^^

Having seen this live, er... well. It was astonishing. Using both mats too.
Whole arcade just stopped and watched for 15 mins.

[Adam Stone]

Recently (meaning last few months) it has been Metroid Prime, Zelda WW, Resident Evil Remake + Zero, Eternal Darkness and Soul Calibur 2

What makes going into 'the zone' all the more easier for me is that my bedroom (well my games room) is in the loft. Here, everything else ceases to exist while I play a game such as the above. I shut the door... I shut the world out. No light can be seen, no people can be heard... it is merely, me, absorbed in a magical gaming experience....

Love it