We took a break from playing games this month and, instead, had Niels join us to talk about Positive Psychology and Resilience – both of which factor heavily into games and game design. Niels’s content comes from a course he took with The Flourishing Center.
One key take-away came from the image above. What’s illustrated here is not unlike games. When games are too easy, they aren’t fun as there is no challenge and no opportunity to demonstrate resilience as there is no obstacle to overcome. Likewise, games that are too difficult also don’t offer an opportunity for resilience, but because the challenge is too great to be mastered. Humans, by our very nature, gravitate towards opportunities to be resilient.
A big thanks to Niels (and The Flourishing Center) for walking us through this content.
You can find out more about Niels here:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nielsgott/
Recording of the session: