Tough Love : Can a video game be too hard? (06 May 2004)

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Tough Love : Can a video game be too hard? (06 May 2004)
Game theorist Eric Zimmerman describes games as "systems of desire." They make you want something-to score a home run, to kill a zombie, to win a hand of cards-but they impose rules that make it difficult to do so. Games offer a carrot, a stick, then another carrot and another stick, on an infinite loop. When game designers successfully strike that delicate balance between challenge and reward, they create truly intoxicating play, the sort of game that grips you in a druglike ecstasy, feverishly hunched over your console until you look up and realize, good grief, it's 2 a.m.

Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2100116/

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