I think flow state is triggered by focus, bodily control, and a deep knowledge of what is required to achieve a task. For instance, "flow toys" in the music sc

I think flow state is triggered by focus, bodily control, and a deep knowledge of what is required to achieve a task. For instance, "flow toys" in the music scene are exactly for this. They require precision movements and focus to look how they're supposed to. You're constantly tuning minute parameters to achieve the task, sometimes making your body compromise in ways it hasn't before. In shooting I'm almost always able to achieve a flow state by controlling my breathing. The way I was taught to shoot was breathing in rhythm, combined with maintaining sight picture and sight alignment I can almost "feel" it activate. This much more prevalent when I've done moving target drills. The world around me melts away, though I can hear interrupts as distant but interpretable sounds. Physical objects in front of me feel more predictable and slower. My senses are definitely heightened to a degree, and my olfactory senses especially are noticeably different in their operation. Gaming can definitely trigger flow state. I have similar breathing rituals and focus when I play CS. Knowing the corners of a map, how to gode or stalk opponents, and the probability of another teams position has put me in flows where I'm merely balancing prioritization instead of trying to point and click.