Why is fishing addictive? Explore the theory behind it together
Why is fishing addictive?
I think fishing is very much in line with the characteristics of a "Good Game": strategy, randomness, and challenge.
Fishing Strategies
Strategies for hook selection
Use different hook sizes for different sizes of fish.
Different weights of fish need to use different sizes of hooks, too small easy to run big fish, too big fish can not swallow it.
Different kinds of fish, the applicable hooks are also different.
Fish line with different main line and subline will affect the fishing signal, different types of fish, different sizes of fish line sets are different, different seasons, different temperatures, different times, different winds, different air pressure, different fishing methods have different line sets with.
In different waters, different water quality, different fish conditions, the use of fishing rods, bait (fishy, smelly, fragrant, sweet), fish drift will have different strategies, and drifting, fishing method also has a lot of strategic choices, a variety of.
The randomness of fishing
Forrest Gump said, "Life is like chocolate, you never know what's next", and the same goes for fishing, you never know if you will catch a fish and what kind of fish you will catch until you lift the rod.
A classic experiment in the 1950s led scientists to discover that trained rats would obtain food on their own by pressing a lever, and that pressing the lever would become a compulsive behavior if the availability of the food reward was random.
This strategy also applies to humans, and almost all games are designed with randomness in mind.
Randomness is one of the greatest pleasures of the game, and it also applies to fishing.
Why do you say that fishing has a strong randomness?
Because there are so many uncertainties. As I said before, differences in season, temperature, wind direction and water can affect fish feeding and hooking.
Every time you lift the rod, people are like rats in an experiment pressing a lever.
Constantly hanging bait, shaking the rod, lifting the rod, so that anglers fall into the "operant conditioning" trap.
The challenge of fishing
Noel Tichy, has proposed a "comfort zone" theory to explain the level of learning a skill, as shown in the figure below.
The innermost circle is the "comfort zone," which refers to matters that are not difficult for you to learn or that you are used to, so that you can be in a comfortable mental state.
The middle circle is the "learning zone", which is a certain challenge for you, and you will feel uncomfortable, but not too uncomfortable.
The outermost circle is the "panic zone", which refers to matters or knowledge that are too much beyond your ability and can cause serious mental discomfort, which may lead to a breakdown or even abandonment of learning.
For a person, the ideal state is to be in the "learning zone", because the easiest way to get the mind flow experience, progress will be very fast.
For fishing, it is very easy to start, as long as you understand the basics, hang the bait and throw it into the water (newcomers will usually be in the fish pond), if you are not too unlucky, the fish drift signal will give you timely feedback experience, and when you are lucky, you can catch one or two fish blindly.
The "timely feedback" of the fish drift is so important that it will directly land you in the learning zone.
After the level of improvement into the comfort zone, gradually you are not satisfied with the fish in the fish pond one by one. You will pursue wild fishing, black pit, etc., so that again into the learning zone, the challenge without limits.
