Entering "The Zone"...

[PhoenixFlame]

I would argue that "Zone" is not just limited to FPS's, but games in general. There are times when all gamers seem to put themselves on automatic and execute without thinking. While I've seen this happen to myself in TF2 and CS:S, I primarily play RPG's and even in the turn-based ones, on a particularly difficult fight where your timing and choices need to be perfect, you can experience this.

 

[laikenf]

I usually get that when I'm playing futuristic racers (read F-Zero or Wipeout). It happens all the time when I'm playing basketball though.

 

[Kontar]

I've had this happen to me quite a few times. I can always remember what I was doing at the time, but once I'm back out of "the zone" I think to myself "holy crap, how'd I do that?". It usually happens while I play an FPS, but I have had it happen in a few MMOs, and a few times in some RTS games.

I agree with those that say you go into a state of unnatural calm. I too have noticed this, it's as if your mind blocks out all inputs but the ones needed for the task at hand and focuses your extra brain power to achieving this goal. I'm sure it happens in other parts of life too such as martial arts, or when you hear about war heroes that took out a large amount of enemies.

It would be awesome to be able to enter it at will.

 

[Surggical_Scar]

My 20-Point killing spree on TF:2 may be the only time I've ever 'Zoned-Out'. I never even realised, I was just playing, and the kills came naturally, fluidly, like I was only thinking about them, not actively seeking them out.

Indeed, getting in there isn't just for FPS', but it's the most obvious medium. I've seen my brother enter the Zone in Halo 2, but also in games like Skate and Fight Night - you're almost reacting to your opponent before they make their move.

Perhaps some games have access to some forgotten aspect of our mind? Perhaps the very best gamers possess ESP?

 

[tiredinnuendo]

"The Zone" was how you beat Battletoads. There was no other way.

But seriously, the game I hit this in the most is DMC and it's sequels. Every so often I'm just... there. And stylish!

- J

 

[Colodomoko]

I learned to control this by playing a wide variatey of generas of games.

 

[Abbadiel]

It did happened to me once in UT2004 when playing that tournament "campaing" thing, when suddenly 4 bots attacked me, from behind. I was somehow able to jump on top the first one(I was armed with the flak cannon) I shot the primary fire and the secondary fire, killing 3 bots and I shredded the last one to pieces in once shot from behind.

I've entered "the Zone" in TF2 too, in a control point map with the soldier. I managed to survive long enough to make at least 4 kill and 2 captures.

But I don't exactly think that "the Zone" is limited to videogames anymore. I used to play volleyball and had DAYS of clarity and hightened reflexes. Somehow, I was good at doing anything in that time (regarding volleyball). But it was the only time it happened to me in real life.

 

[Count_de_Monet]

I actually dedicated a bit more time thinking about this because, well, I'm crazy and I don't feel like working.

I get "the zone" in a lot of games even though the most noticeable moments are online in any of the many FPS's I've played over the years. In RTS's the zone is usually a state of hyper-focus which comes when I'm backed into a corner. The best examples were in Warcraft 3 when I was playing it online. I had this ability to set up impenetrable defenses when losing was inevitable. I remember one game where I was the undead and both of my partners had been torn apart but when all three of the enemies attacked me my graveyard/necromancer defense force annihilated most of the enemy before they were forced to run away and come back with flying units and siege weapons.

 

[Nickolai]

Half Life 2: In Ravenholm, when you're waiting on the gondala to come and get you into the church and the speed zombies start coming up the drainpipes. I grabbed the shotgun ammo, reloaded, and began to do a dance of death across the rooftop. Any zombie that showed an inch of flesh got it blasted of by buckshot. I was taking them out so fast I got to a point where there was about twenty seconds of calm. I think I only got hit twice.

FEAR: In the unfinished part of a building (think it was the office building) I was walking along, shotgun in hand when a body was flung out of a window in order to scare me. I flashed over to where he was, followed it along the screen, and pumped two rounds into him before I realized he was already dead. I shook my head to clear out the sudden cobwebs from the adreniline crash, looked at the TV, and my crosshairs were dead center in his forehead. I had managed to headshot a dead body twice as he was flung ten feet at high speeds.

FEAR again: In an office room in the office building (obviously) I was beset by a sqaud of Replica soldiers. I turned on Slow-Mo, shot two, then threw a grenade. Unfortunately, one guy was coming forward at the time, and he got right in front of the grenade. I turned and leapt out the open doorway at the same exact time the grenade blew. It killed the rest of them and got me the "Kill five guys in slow-mo at one time" Achivement.

Whenever I play Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. I try to not think about the game, and some primal thing just takes over and I get a kickass score.

I think the reason we go into the Zone is because we get so focused on what's happening that our brains block out everything else and devote more processing power, if you will, towards the problem at hand, the videogame. Essentially, we overclock our minds and gain perfect focus, control and ability.

And it's so much fun during Halo 3 online.

 

[Easykill]

Anyone else notice that you sort of crash afterwards? Do really well, then do absolutely terrible.

 

[shadow skill]

It happens to me sometimes online in COD4, I just become an invincible killing machine for a few seconds. My most memorable moment though occured in real life a lady friend of mine sprayed me in the face with what she thought was water (It was actually rubbing alcohol.) and I could see the individual droplets as they came towards me and managed to close my eyes in time.

Anyone else notice that you sort of crash afterwards? Do really well, then do absolutely terrible.

Yes.

 

[Shiroi_Okami]

It's happened to me only twice in gaming. Both times were in Halo 3. Both times were online multiplayer and fairly highly ranked (I think the first was a Skill 30 and the second at Skill 40-something). I'm pretty good at halo, and its really the only fps ive ever played online, although i havent played it much. The first time I was playing Lone Wolves, and i was the lowest ranked there, i think i was 30 or 31 and someone there was a brigadier. At the lobby, I'm like, im gonna get pwned... But then once the match started, i just started killing, and didnt stop. I was at 18 kills in a row before all four of them ganked me and took me out. That was my only death. The match finished with me on 25, and the next person on 7. The second time was much the same thing.

It also happened once when I foolishly picked a fight with a guy 3 years older than me and a lot bigger and got in way over my head (this was a few years back when i was the kind of person that'd pick a fight at the slighest thing). I was getting the crap kicked out of me, then in a complete reversal i started to kick the crap out of him. He only hit me once more after that, and i hardly felt it at all. We both nearly got suspended though, so it probably wasn't worth it.

It was strange because, as you say, I didnt realise what was happening till it was over. And like someone said earlier, it is indeed as if your will is instantly transferred to the game. I'm not so sure if it is really possible to enter 'The Zone' at will though, unless you are a zen monk thats addicted to fps. It just something that happens, i think, and you briefly enter a heightened state of awareness. Because, again, as someone said earlier, it doesnt just happen with games. Perhaps it's a point past the 10% of our brain that we all can normally use.

 

[Colodomoko]

Anyone else notice that you sort of crash afterwards? Do really well, then do absolutely terrible.

THANK YOU!!!

Thats what I wanted to say before to! I call it "Shawn Chambers Disease".

 

[Mr. Bubbles]

Yep, I know what you guys mean, though I never put a name to it until now. I 've only gone into the zone in FPS games, racing games, and Guitar Hero. It usually only happens to me when I'm tired though. I never really notice until it's over either. But every time it ends I just plain suck. It's like I have to balance out the stunning upgrade in ability with complete failure. For example, once I was playing team doubles in Halo and my team mate left the game right after it started. At first, I sucked and they got 3 and 1 kills on me. Then, out of nowhere I just started destroying the other team. It's like someone flipped a switch in my mind and I suddenly knew exactly how to crush them. I ended up getting 25 kills, 4 deaths. Afterward I couldn't even throw a grenade without hurting myself or someone else on my team for a whole week.

 

[dehawaiiansupaman]

Happens to me when I play Ace Combat. After a while I almost see where the plane is about to turn or if it will juke off a missile. Gets a little confusing when there's twenty planes on screen at once and missiles everywhere.

 

[Scolar Visari]

I seem to experience two states of "The Zone". The first and constant stage is one that is born from years of playing games. Tactical desicions are made in the blink of an eye, your mind goes through hundreds of possible situations and outcomes. You use strategies and take actions you never concesily thought of. The second stage of "The Zone" is the one most people are talking about. Only a few times have I been conceiously aware that I was in "The Zone". Most of these zone moments came to me in COD4 were it seemed like everyone was moving in slowmotion. I could almost see the look of horror on the enemy's face as I tore through them like some wild animal.

 

[GoddamnitReddas]

For some reason, the only time I can recall this happening to me is during Guitar Hero 2.

I concur. Sometimes I'm so in the zone, it's like my mind has taken a step back and I'm looking at my hands just going it on their own. It's an extraordinary feeling.

 

[-Javelin-]

Entering the zone for me is more of a zen state thing, if im hyped on coffee or frustrated atall i wont enter the zone.
But when i do enter the zone (COD4) my motion in the game feels so fluid and im checking corners adn flashing rooms and at the end of it i stop and look back at the carnage i've caused and ask myself... Was it really worth it?

 

[propertyofcobra]

Lately, my most common times of the Zone have been sometimes while playing Resistance: Fall of Man. (Since I stopped playing it, I have not experienced the zone. But I've also not really played any FPS games especially much lately...)
And...Well, I've nothing to add. It comes for no reason, gives you tremendous skill at the expense of the thin pretense that you're using a controller to move your character, and you just...use your MIND to control him. And your mind is on bullet time.
And of course, when the zone leaves, it leaves only an empty skill-less husk of you, and hundreds of fallen foes. After having left the zone, I usually ended up stopping my playing, there was no reason to continue because I knew I would just fail.

If ANYONE has ANY idea of how to enter the zone at will, or close enough, or have any control at all short of ODing on caffiene, please tell me. I seriously want to know.


In conclusion, the "Zone" is one of the most beautiful things to happen in gaming. The ultimate zen pinnacle of skill that leaves you in awed silence once you are done, because you don't know HOW or WHY it happened, just that it did. It will turn anyone who ever experienced it into a poetic buffoon as he tries to explain the pure, concentrated beauty, calm and concentration that it imparts.
And...as far as I know, nobody truly understands how to enter it, aside some zen buddhist monks possibly.