Working with "Flow"

Game designers know implicitly that "flow" is the mental state they want their players to be in: happy, productive and engrossed in their game.

Wouldn't it be good if Microsoft Office could achieve the same effect?

Well my virus-ridden XP machine is currently showing the blue screen of death - so for me this is an entirely rhetorical question - but I hope you get my gist. If I can get into a state of flow while playing Tetris why doesn't office software try and do the same?

The Goo is some of the way there but to be honest it can't reliably get me into a state of flow. What can The Goo learn from game design? Here are some features of flow mentioned in a presentation by Daniel Johnson from the University of Queensland:

• Tasks that offer a chance of completion
• Tasks that facilitate concentration
• The task has clear goals
• The task provides immediate feedback (the need for a score or energy bar)
• The task leads to deep but effortless involvement (removes awareness of everyday life)
• A task that facilitates a sense of control over one's actions
• Concern for the self disappears during the task, yet paradoxically the sense of self emerges as stronger when the flow task is completed
• The sense of duration of time is altered

OK. In light of this it's time for the rudimentary user interface to go through another evolution ...