Magnavox Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution Trigger Happy manual

Trigger Happy

experiences are attained when there is a perceived match between the demands of the activity and the subject’s skills. Now why else would many videogames such as Metal Gear Solid let you change the difficulty level? Clearly it is boring to play a game that is too easy, and frustrating to play a game that is too hard. The same is true of, say, tennis or chess: playing someone who is far less competent than you is not much fun, as it’s too easy to win (you don’t need to play to the height of your abilities); playing someone far better than you is not much fun either, because you just get stomped on (you are made painfully aware of the inadequacy of your abilities). So pleasure seems subjectively to be optimal when the demands of the game and your skill levels are closely matched.

In a non-dangerous activity, I think the game’s demands ought always to be pitched slightly higher than the player’s skills. The only way to improve one’s chess, for example, is regularly to play slightly stronger opponents. Because an important component of pursuing a flow activity over time is the simple pleasure of getting better. A pianist will attempt pieces that are just beyond the current level of her technique, and by practicing them she will improve her technique to match their demands.

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