I had an interesting discussion that I would like to share on PokeBeach. Scientifically, do external factors such as player mood, player nerves, and even player diet affect a Pokemon battle? The mind is one of the most important aspects of human uniqueness. Animals have the four basic primal emotions we have - happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. Our brains are able to connect links between these emotions to create countless secondary and tertiary emotions. They all affect the way people think. How much does a person's emotions influence their play, for better or worse? We make novel use of inherent responses to all members in the animal kingdom. Instead of kicking on a fight or flight response for being hunted by a lion in the sahara, we can turn it on for tense moments in a Pokemon battle. For a game that involves purely involves thought, can a nervous response have a positive reaction or is it purely a detriment? Let's take biology a step further and look at health. Sleep, diet, general health all play a role in your body's physical condition. While Pokemon is not a physical competition, you do need to rely on your brain to battle. The amount of rest you have, calorie consumption, nutritional intake all play a major role in how your brain functions. Extend that to general health, how ill would you need to be to have it affect a battle? How does your physical condition stack up to the influence mental external factor play in a game of Pokemon? Which of these external factors is the most influential?
The Science of Pokemon
- Thread starter Kevin Garrett
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I think we need to look no further than the phenomena of "tilting" to understand that psychology can play a big role in a player's ability to orchestrate their battle plan. When a player's concentration is interrupted by a moment of failure, it can be excruciatingly difficult to ignore that moment and regain focus. Naturally this is a human thought process which extends to all manner of activities and not just Pokemon; I'm sure we've all experienced and seen examples of tilting in sports and other activities which require you to be "in the zone".
I guess each emotion has the potential to bring positive outcomes. A happy player might be more robust to tilting, a nervous player might play more recklessly and accidently create an opening, an angry player might even put his opponent off his game by flaming him. But in my experience, I play far more effectively when no emotion dominates and the only thing I really am is "calm". If you are strongly emotional in some way, then your mind is preoccupied with something so naturally you will be more prone to making mistakes. This is why relaxing music helps for me, it releases the burden of thoughts which might impede my game.
I approach this problem as a matter of concentration more than anything. Diet, sleep, and mood are all factors which ultimately perturb concentration when we are talking about Pokemon. Breaking it down into a simple term like this is useful as concentration is a skill which can be developed. Calm music and meditation is actually pretty useful when playing games like Pokemon. The N-back task is a great mental exercise for improving your concentration and I cannot even begin to tell you how effective I found it when studying in my final year at University (there are plenty of free downloads on the web for it, I prefer it installed on my Android).
Cool threads KG. I've actually read your other one, but I'm still orchestrating a response I'm satisfied with as it's quite the open ended question lol
I guess each emotion has the potential to bring positive outcomes. A happy player might be more robust to tilting, a nervous player might play more recklessly and accidently create an opening, an angry player might even put his opponent off his game by flaming him. But in my experience, I play far more effectively when no emotion dominates and the only thing I really am is "calm". If you are strongly emotional in some way, then your mind is preoccupied with something so naturally you will be more prone to making mistakes. This is why relaxing music helps for me, it releases the burden of thoughts which might impede my game.
I approach this problem as a matter of concentration more than anything. Diet, sleep, and mood are all factors which ultimately perturb concentration when we are talking about Pokemon. Breaking it down into a simple term like this is useful as concentration is a skill which can be developed. Calm music and meditation is actually pretty useful when playing games like Pokemon. The N-back task is a great mental exercise for improving your concentration and I cannot even begin to tell you how effective I found it when studying in my final year at University (there are plenty of free downloads on the web for it, I prefer it installed on my Android).
Cool threads KG. I've actually read your other one, but I'm still orchestrating a response I'm satisfied with as it's quite the open ended question lol
Well, for me personally, my current emotional and physical state greatly influence my play. If I'm nervous about my battle (like if its a big tournament battle) I tend to play better because I'm thinking more, even over-thinking things. Probably different from most people, but that's how my mind works. As an opposite, I am absolutely awful when I'm sick. Even a headache or allergies are devastating for my play.
Being someone who has laddered quite a bit over the years, I've noticed when my play is on the money or if I'm dangerously on tilt. The ability to know when or not you will be able to play at your best or worse is useful not only in the grind of laddering, but also in ever-important tournament matches. Obviously, it is quite easy to analyze data and determine that if you start losing, you're probably on tilt. However, what things can help you tell whether or not you are starting to go on tilt, before you actually do?
In my years, I've noticed that when I start to get on tilt I usually start getting a mild headache and a heated pressure on the top front-half of my head, all the way down to around eye level. I'm no doctor, but I'm assuming that that part of the brain is getting overused. To further this point, people tend to go on tilt after they have laddered a long time. However, I believe that when we become frustrated with hax, it speeds up the process of being overworked.
So I've talked about when you can tell when your play is starting to lower, but what about when you're making plays that seem eerily psychic-like? Well, I've had some experience with that also. Usually when I come back from dinner at a restaurant, I tend to play at my peak. I feel I play at this level because of two reasons. One, because I've had a lot of sugar. Two, because I'm generally happy after I've had a juicy steak.
Both of these phenomena can be attributed to the state of your mind. When you play a lot or get frustrated, your play will suffer. When you have a lot of sugar; in a good mood; fresh in battling, you're likely going to play at your highest level. Isn't that what we all want?
In my years, I've noticed that when I start to get on tilt I usually start getting a mild headache and a heated pressure on the top front-half of my head, all the way down to around eye level. I'm no doctor, but I'm assuming that that part of the brain is getting overused. To further this point, people tend to go on tilt after they have laddered a long time. However, I believe that when we become frustrated with hax, it speeds up the process of being overworked.
So I've talked about when you can tell when your play is starting to lower, but what about when you're making plays that seem eerily psychic-like? Well, I've had some experience with that also. Usually when I come back from dinner at a restaurant, I tend to play at my peak. I feel I play at this level because of two reasons. One, because I've had a lot of sugar. Two, because I'm generally happy after I've had a juicy steak.
Both of these phenomena can be attributed to the state of your mind. When you play a lot or get frustrated, your play will suffer. When you have a lot of sugar; in a good mood; fresh in battling, you're likely going to play at your highest level. Isn't that what we all want?
PMJ
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I remember laddering on PO's server and winning probably 20 games in a row before I lost one. It didn't really phase me--you can't expect to win every match--but then I lost again. And again. I was riding high and those few losses killed my motivation. So I would definitely say that external factors can play a part in how well you do. If you're having a bad day or if you're distracted by something else, you won't be able to put your full attention to the battle. If you're on a winning streak, you might get overconfident and make a mistake that you might not have if you'd taken time to think about the long run (I'm guilty of this a lot).
Since this thread has gotten a good response, I will flesh out the topic a bit more.
You can extend the mind and body connection to include spirituality. Belief concepts are broad and range from religion to theory. They can bring about a greater ability in yourself, whether you believe it is natural or divine. You see psychology studied a lot in sports, commonly when a player is not performing to expectations. If you look at a lot of sports champions, they will credit God or some kind of universal law. If you believe God is always trying to bring good things into your life, you are trying to align your conscious self with His plan. You might have also heard of the law of attraction, that you attract things to yourself based on your emotional state. Even for a skeptic with experience in Pokemon, you have to admit that when you are in a good mood, you will either have fair luck or if the luck is bad, you have enough mental clarity to try to play around it. If you are in a bad mood, every bit of luck against you weight on you more. It could actually be happening more or just seem like more. Either way, when you are in a bad mood with bad luck your play will continue in a downward spiral.
Emotion in humans goes much deeper than the primal emotions. The emotion that stands out to me the most in the game of Pokemon is frustration. Frustration is a tertiary emotion of anger. It is a combination of anger and disappointment, which is a secondary emotion of sadness. Every time we feel like we're surrounded by blocks in our lives, where we are continuously putting out efforts and not receiving rewards, we feel the emotion of frustration. Pokemon is a game that is only partially decided by skill, there is a luck aspect as well. Thus, it is only natural to feel frustration when playing Pokemon if you are playing better than your opponent and can't win. Frustration doesn't deter you from making adequate short term decisions, say 2-3 moves in advance, but where it is a detriment is for long term thinking. Just like the emotion itself where something is blocking you, it forces you to think with a blockage and you fail to grasp the big picture in a game.
There are dozens of secondary and tertiary emotions, many of which apply to the game of Pokemon.
bacon said:
You can extend the mind and body connection to include spirituality. Belief concepts are broad and range from religion to theory. They can bring about a greater ability in yourself, whether you believe it is natural or divine. You see psychology studied a lot in sports, commonly when a player is not performing to expectations. If you look at a lot of sports champions, they will credit God or some kind of universal law. If you believe God is always trying to bring good things into your life, you are trying to align your conscious self with His plan. You might have also heard of the law of attraction, that you attract things to yourself based on your emotional state. Even for a skeptic with experience in Pokemon, you have to admit that when you are in a good mood, you will either have fair luck or if the luck is bad, you have enough mental clarity to try to play around it. If you are in a bad mood, every bit of luck against you weight on you more. It could actually be happening more or just seem like more. Either way, when you are in a bad mood with bad luck your play will continue in a downward spiral.
Emotion in humans goes much deeper than the primal emotions. The emotion that stands out to me the most in the game of Pokemon is frustration. Frustration is a tertiary emotion of anger. It is a combination of anger and disappointment, which is a secondary emotion of sadness. Every time we feel like we're surrounded by blocks in our lives, where we are continuously putting out efforts and not receiving rewards, we feel the emotion of frustration. Pokemon is a game that is only partially decided by skill, there is a luck aspect as well. Thus, it is only natural to feel frustration when playing Pokemon if you are playing better than your opponent and can't win. Frustration doesn't deter you from making adequate short term decisions, say 2-3 moves in advance, but where it is a detriment is for long term thinking. Just like the emotion itself where something is blocking you, it forces you to think with a blockage and you fail to grasp the big picture in a game.
There are dozens of secondary and tertiary emotions, many of which apply to the game of Pokemon.
Hmmm.. I think it might have an effect. Usually when I just trained a Pokémon and ready to test it out. I often times use it out of excitedness even when it's not a good option. But after I have used the team I am more confident and think through the opponent's possible movesets. I've also gotten nervous before battling someone with over 1,000 wins on random matchup. I sometimes make foolish mistakes if I'm intimidated by the foe's win record. I guess emotions can get the best of you before/during a match.
I just want to point out one thing that affected me today. I'd like to call it "rushing"; I do it when I'm on a nice win streak or period of good play. I was around 18-2 or so on a new alt, but then I began speeding up between plays rather than fully thinking out the situation. It may have been because I was trying to quickly reach my CRE goal, but whatever it was, I began losing until I noticed I was making a move almost immediately after the previous one concluded. I have no idea why this happens subconsciously, so if anyone has a hypothesis please explain.
I was trying to get up to 1200 on PO today (I know I suck ;_
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So I did that, I played I think 12 games and only lost two.
So then my friend said, "Dude, get to 1250."
Which I responded to by promptly dropping two games in a row.
Always quit when you're ahead...
Pretty much just what PMJ said. I always try to be a little warmed up before I play, say, a tourney game, but I can never tell if I'm hitting the "sweet spot." If I'm too cold, or in a bad mood from several losses, I'll start making plays without thinking about it. Same goes if I'm on a winning streak (hubris was the fatal flaw of Oedipus...). I really should put on some relaxing music when I play. That always helps me while playing League of Legends, and I think that the same concepts that can be applied to Pokemon and LoL can even be applied to non-video game activities, like sports or taking tests or anything that requires consistent performance over an extended period of time.
Great thread.
.So I did that, I played I think 12 games and only lost two.
So then my friend said, "Dude, get to 1250."
Which I responded to by promptly dropping two games in a row.
Always quit when you're ahead...
Pretty much just what PMJ said. I always try to be a little warmed up before I play, say, a tourney game, but I can never tell if I'm hitting the "sweet spot." If I'm too cold, or in a bad mood from several losses, I'll start making plays without thinking about it. Same goes if I'm on a winning streak (hubris was the fatal flaw of Oedipus...). I really should put on some relaxing music when I play. That always helps me while playing League of Legends, and I think that the same concepts that can be applied to Pokemon and LoL can even be applied to non-video game activities, like sports or taking tests or anything that requires consistent performance over an extended period of time.
Great thread.
Being a particularly new guy in the VG (as evidenced by almost a total lack of post in these forums out of fear I'll say something stupid), as soon as I encounter a unexpected, new threat to my team, I have a tendency to hit a losing streak as long as I didn't face a particularly lower-leveled opponent. My only explanation for that is that my mind gets subconsciously drawn to the devilish sweeper/counter that ruins my team, and I immediately start tinkering around with my team in my head. This obviously detracts from the battling experience as I continue, so I generally try to stop playing after a short loss streak to take the time to really figure out what went wrong.
I normally don't put emotion into play when I battle. You can probably say I am more shoot first, think later when it comes to Video Game battles. The only real exception was earlier when I was fighting Misty in Pokemon Fire Red with Pidgeotto and Jigglypuff. If you want, I'll explain the story.
Hyper said:
You sound like you get bored of laddering, to me. You set in mind a CRE goal and begin to get frustrated or bored when it takes too long and you try to get the whole affair completed as quickly as possible, which affects your judgement because you're not really enjoying it and you don't give yourself time to properly plan each move. The key word here is "goal". Rather than fixate on an arbitrary ladder rating, you might find it better to focus your efforts on playing each individual battle to your utmost height of skill instead. You will learn much more effectively this way as you'll be paying more attention to weaknesses in your play style and team. That's from my experience, anyway. By playing each match carefully I found myself rising to the top of the PS ladder with a pretty bogus team, and I wasn't even conscious of the amount of time that had elapsed whilst I was doing it.