- Numerous studies show that passive entertainment does not reduce stress or bring us happiness. Soft fun like watching TV just doesn't cut it. - What truly gives us satisfaction is some amount of hard work and fulfilment which typically is achieved by play. Hard fun is shown to be measurably make us feel better. - Hard fun or games bring us to the state of Flow. - It's why so many people are taking to gaming now and why gamers are shown to watch the least TV. ---- Hard fun leaves us feeling measurably better than when we started. So it’s no surprise, then, that one of the activities for which ESM subjects report the highest levels of interest and positive moods both during and afterward is when they’re playing games—including sports, card games, board games, and computer and video games. The research proves what gamers already know: within the limits of our own endurance, we would rather work hard than be entertained. Perhaps that’s why gamers spend less time watching television than anyone else on the planet. As Harvard professor and happiness expert Tal Ben-Shahar puts it, “We’re much happier enlivening time rather than killing time.” - Jane McGonigal in [[Reality is Broken]] Often, people associate play with laughter and fun. But for Seymour, play meant more than that. It involved experimenting, taking risks, testing the boundaries, and iteratively adapting when things go wrong. Seymour sometimes referred to this process as “hard fun.” He recognized that children don’t want things to be easy. - Mitchell Resnick in Foreword of [[Mindstorms]]