I do know exactly what you're describing (no it isn't eroticism, you baboons) but unfortunately, I have not yet looked into the physical, internal reasons for its happening (dopamine? I really have no idea). So, I've got nothing there. I can only describe it as...definitely not an experience that only arises through the enjoyment of video games.
Funny that Roger Ebert was the first I know of to call it "elevation." His "Great Movies" list is full of films that gave him the same sensation as you get when you play new, exciting video games. Maybe his insistence that video games are not an artform would be bent by learning that elevation, the heart and soul of his appreciation for film, can happen through games. Probably not.
Personally, I come across it most when moved by a film, or music, or something that I see in the world (simply because these are things I am most exposed to). But the reason for the feeling is within myself. I don't know what this will read like but, if my thoughts are not actively flowing and shifting along with, according to, because of the external phenomena (film, music, real stuff) I'm experiencing through the senses (sight&sound, sometmes touch, like with water, especially rain/shower, but that's also sound), I will likely not get the feeling, the shiver, the elevation. It occurs most often only after parts of my thinking mind are activated in some inspired, extraordinary way, whether through linking the phenomena to some internal, grand concept, or something else. Hearing rain, being outside, feeling and smelling what it does to the earth and the air, is just an automatic trigger for me (actually, there's a level in Donkey Kong 64, the floating castle near the end, that opens to rain, and eventually a steamy water drainage pipe pouring out into a small pond. Even that has always given me the feeling. Favorite part of the game.) So, I guess the take away is that the feeling is not solely a video game thing, but a universally human sensation that can be triggered in a variety of ways. The trick is getting in the state, being exposed to the types of phenomena and thought that trigger it. I suspect people have gone entire lives without feeling it, because of the kind of life they lived. That's partly why the thought of making something like a film or a game that could trigger such a thing and be an inspiration ("to live better and to love more" in the decades old words of Terrence Malick) is exciting to me.
That's quite the description you got there, mate! The thing is, that little shiver i get is what i think makes video games so compelling as a medium. It isn't just a from of escapism, it's an entire experience that you'll likely reflect about for a long, long time to come. I remember fondly some of those initimate moments i've had with games, with one example being the first time i played 
Log in to comment