Benefits of the escape room

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi is a renowned psychologist, also a professor of different philosophical traditions, of American and Hungarian nationality. We associate his name with room escapes because history tells us that Attila Gyurkovics, the creator of this fabulous idea, was very aware of the Hungarian-American psychologist's theory of flow, evident in several of his works such as Flow, a psychology of happiness. This work is the one that Gyurkovics drank from when he created the first escape game, so flow theory and room escapes go hand in hand.

We want you to see how flow theory and room escapes go together perfectly. To do this, we briefly describe this theory and then propose a brief analysis of its suitability for room escapes. Shall we start?

The theory of flow or flow

The theory of flow is a quasi-philosophical theory of happiness, eudaimonia for the classics. The concept of flow refers to a kind of current that pushes us forward, that pushes us to action when we are immersed in a pleasant activity. The flow stimulates our involvement in the activity, which becomes a total involvement to achieve a goal, which is usually to finish the activity successfully.

For this reason the theory of flow is often also recognized as the theory of optimal experience. The experience is optimal when we carry out an activity that causes us positive sensations and we are totally involved with the task in a constant flow or flow of actions and mental processes that cause satisfaction, which leads us to a higher state of happiness during the development of the experience. activity.

What are the conditions to have the flow experience?

The flow experience occurs when: the task is pleasant in itself, when it has a defined goal that is known to be attainable, when achieving the objective goes through a process of achievements of adequate difficulty that cause immediate satisfaction and, finally, when there are no outside distractions and we can focus on the activity.

If you now read the three previous paragraphs thinking about what an escape game is, you will clearly see that the theory of flow and room escapes go hand in hand, you will see that enjoying a flow escape room is inevitable! It is an activity that fits perfectly to experience the flow that Mihály Csíkszentmihályi talks about.

The theory of flow and room escapes

Playing an escape room is a pleasure, not an effort!

Escape games are alternative leisure spaces that have the sole objective of making all the people who dare to play, who accept the challenge, have a good time. Therefore, this being their purpose, escape games are pleasant in and of themselves, whether or not we manage to finish the game successfully.

Be clear at all times that playing in an escape room is a pleasure that does not involve effort.

Room escapes have a defined and achievable goal

Although the purpose of escape games is to have fun, the goal of the game is to get out of a room in which you are locked with your playgroup.

This experience sets a defined goal that is also achievable because the game has been designed in detail to make it so.

Leaving the room is the last step in a process

Indeed, achieving the objective goes through a process of achievements that cause immediate satisfaction: finding a key to open something, finding pieces of a puzzle, solving a puzzle, combining objects to obtain a result, etc. We won't be able to get out of the escape room if we don't manage to undo several wrongs first!

It is important to keep in mind that we have several game levels so that the difficulty adjusts to the group of players and skills or their previous experiences, so the flow flows much better!

There are no distractions in an escape game!

Locked in the room we will not have external stimuli that prevent us from focusing our attention on the game and enjoying the experience, we will be in the game and for the game.

Conclution

Reaching a higher state of happiness by experiencing flow is very easy in an escape room because the entire game is designed in detail to make it so.