Two of the games that induce flow for me would be Titanfall and World of Warcraft.
Titanfall:
The main flow inducing characteristic of Titanfall is just the extremely fast reactions required for everything you do. Players are constantly sprinting around the map, jumping with a jet booster and running on walls. Plus there’s NPCs scattered all over the map to add even more hazards to avoid. Then players get in Titans and it get’s even more intense. The titans are an extremely dangerous force to deal with and avoiding them can be incredibly difficult, as well as killing them. I can remember a situation where the enemy team was holding tight on objective B. Any time someone entered the room they got blown to bits instantly. I was able to call in one of my titans, and using the “triple threat” grenade launcher I was able to bombard the room with tons of grenades killing the couple pilots inside. After killing them I jumped out of my titan and through the upper window into the building. That’s when it got really intense. Armed with a sub-machine gun and satchel charges I prepared to defend the room. Using the vision perk that allows you to see enemies through walls for a few seconds I could see enemies approching one of the doors. I held down the position with well-placed satchel charges and suprisingly accurate smg shots for the rest of the game. It was constant action and that really puts you “in the zone”.
World of Warcraft:
I can’t speak much for PvE in this situation, but I certainly can for PvP. I think the main thing that induces flow in this game is the complexity of the game. In order to do well in arenas you need to know your class’s abilities extremely well as well as having a good understanding of the opponent’s class. The most intense battles in arenas are the ones between two damage dealing classes. With a healer on either team it’s a bit less fast-paced and more of a battle of attrition. When it is damage vs damage trying to deal more damage than the enemy while trying to negate as much of theirs as possible becomes extremely intense. I can remember so many matches in 2v2 arenas where my partner died and I managed to pull off a 1v2 win. Having 36 keybinds memorized for my arena character and using them effectively as second nature really induces the feeling of “flow”.
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