This paper seeks to explain why some individuals sink further into states of flow than others, and what effects flow has in the context of a virtual education environment. Our findings--gathered from both questionnaire and behavioural data--reveal that flow states are elicited by the e-learners' senses of controlling the virtual education environment, their attention centred on the learning activity, and their feelings of physically being in such an environment. We bring evidence about three benefits from flow states: they facilitate e-learner's positive emotions, they enhance e-learners' academic performance, and they contribute to students' effective continuance in e-learning.