Tools
Tools
Westling, Carina Ellinor Irene (2013) Confusion and immersion. In: Inputs-Outputs, 26 June 2013, University of Sussex.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Confusion can be a contributing factor to states of immersion, as long as the situation is defined and delineated in time and space. Delineations in time and space promise a challenge that is not unending or uncontrollable, and creates a potential for the situation to be approached as play. For confusion and disorientation to be exciting rather than terrifying, it is essential that the subject or participant has a sense of agency, and has entered – and can exit – the situation of his or her free will. For the state of confusion to be motivating and pleasurable, it is also important that there is a potential for resolution.
The challenge presented by a riddle can in itself be stimulating, provided the participant feels that there is a reasonable chance that he or she can solve it. Enough clues need to be present to create at least the promise of a narrative, pattern, or otherwise cohesive picture to discover. But if too much of the picture is filled in, there is not enough uncharted territory to stimulate heuristic inquiry, or an internally driven search to know. The balance between the seeming promise of a resolution or cohesive narrative, and the metaphorical gaps left open for the participant to bridge by his or her own physical and/or cognitive efforts, is crucial to how motivating or attractive the situation is to the participant.