Designing for Calm: The Server That Doesn't Shout

Pocket edition. This is a shorter version of a longer article; you can read the full edition when you have more time.

Next time you join a server, notice how many things are trying to grab your attention at once: notices crossing the chat, flashing titles, sounds, an event starting, an offer with a countdown. Almost everything is designed to shout "look at me". And we're so used to it that we don't even notice any more.

The researchers Rachel and Stephen Kaplan studied which places rest our minds and which wear them out. Their conclusion: the attention we use to filter out stimuli competing for us gets used up like a muscle, and recovers in environments that don't demand that constant effort. A place that never stops demanding your attention doesn't rest you; it tires you, even if it's "leisure".

That's why a server that doesn't shout is rarer and more valuable than it seems. It isn't an empty or boring server: it's one that trusts that good things don't need to flash for you to find them. That leaves silence between things. That doesn't interrupt you every minute so you won't leave.

Designing for calm is harder than designing noise, because noise holds people in the short term and calm is only appreciated in the long run. But a place you genuinely want to go back to is almost never the one that shouts the loudest. It's the one that, at last, leaves you in peace.