Can We Make One Button Fun To Press?

Pressing a button alone is not very fun. Imagine pressing a button on an unplugged controller, how long could you do that before being bored?

Impact

We like having an impact on our environment because it gives us a filling of control and power.
Destroying is low effort high impact, often making it fun.

Impact can be state changes 

•  Color
•  Movement

Lasting consequence is the biggest difference between low and high impact. 

People like to have impact on other people. Triggering thoughts, emotions and reactions from your opponent.

ie. Shooting and enemy is more interesting than a wall. 

Rewards that focus on sensory elements are often more impactful.

• Audio 
• Eye candy 
• ASMR channels for reference
• Haptic rewards

Good rewards need to have good impact and impact always feel rewarding in some way they are interchangeable and can be measured in the same way.

Lasting rewards feel better just like impact. 

• XP Bars and levels

Rewards - Artificially delay them and make them even more desirable. 

Randomizing something is also very addicting because a high impact reward that isn't always happening but comes in sometimes as a surprise is a large dopamine hit. 

Challenge

Challenge runs on two axis. Challenge and Player Skill. If Challenge is too high it's frustrating, if it's too low it's boring. You need to find a middle point that guides the player towards mastery during the entire process of playing the game. (FLOW)

Attach rewards to these challenges (larger than previous baseline reward system).

A good challenge feels fair and provides feedback on how well you are doing.

 

Fantasy

We all like to daydream and love stories and feelings. It helps us escape and relate, provides agency and meaning to the experience.  

To understand good story telling and atmosphere it's an art in itself and is not really covered in this video, likely due to the depth required for the topic. 

Source This post is just notes taken from the video.