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Relaxing Games

Posted by Cole Stryker

 

Yesterday I came across an article on Slate regaling thatgamecompany's Flower, calling it "the only video game I've ever played that made me feel relaxed, peaceful, and happy."

Several years ago my college buddies and I would unwind after classes with a few F-Zero GX races. There was something about the game's blinding speed that encouraged this state of zen, during which the day's stresses would melt off of our bodies. 

One of my friends refused to take part. He was a long-time gamer who had given them up for college, saying that they just added stress to his day. He'd often walk in on me cursing the screen during heated Ikaruga playthroughs and ask, "How can you justify this. You're an adult. Look at what you're doing to yourself. You're not relaxed, you're furious!" And yet even though these games provided an amount of frustration, I often found them to be relaxing in an indirect way. It may look like these play experiences were only winding me up tighter, but I always felt more ready to face the day after a half hour of SSX 3

I guess my point is that I never felt that games had to be aesthetically relaxing in order to provide me with relaxation. Sure, blowing up dudes in TF2 is frenetic and requires a great deal of brainpower, but expending that adrenaline is what brings on deep relaxation. 

Am I alone, or are there others out there who find solace in bullet hell shooters and the like? 

Related Links: 

Rite of Spring: Flower and What’s Lacking in the Romantic Games Movement

Flower - A Zen de Blob?

Indie Dev Moment: Dyson


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Minor Setback said:

I agree completely.  Unless a game has REALLY made me blow a fuse, I end up walking away from a frustrating game session more energized and (sometimes) more relaxed.

Ironically, I got pretty mad at Flower when I was trying to unlock the 5th level's "special achievement" trophy.  I've done pretty much everything in the game now, and that was the only thing that frustrated me even a little bit.  Stupid electric lines!

February 27, 2009 1:15 PM

Peter Smith said:

Totally. "Relaxing" games usually make me feel enervated, not relaxed. Anyone who saw me throwing the controller at the screen during the month I was trying for Mr. Perfect in Mega Man 9 would not have imagined me relaxed, but I was. Never managed it, incidentally. :(

February 27, 2009 5:08 PM

Derrick Sanskrit said:

Yeah, the fifth stage in Flower is anything but relaxing. I've been playing Lumines to relax lately, and that game is pretty much a seizure with buttons.

February 27, 2009 5:19 PM

Lynx said:

Eustress?

February 27, 2009 7:13 PM

Apples said:

Adrenaline-inducing games are relaxing the same way really intense music is. It's cathartic. In fact I have experienced few things more cathartic than playing Unreal Tournament while listening to Rammstein.

(Oh, my adolescence)

February 27, 2009 11:51 PM

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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