In gamers' interview reports, sustained gaming engagement appeared closely related to controlling an optimal level of challenge: games too hard were often abandoned and games too easy lost their interest¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2010 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Interviewed participants described task difficulty as at least partly within their control and challenge as important to their sustained engagement; they reported often avoiding or abandoning games whose challenges seemed insurmountable and losing interest in games that were too easy. Self-report data, so it cannot show that control of difficulty causes sustained engagement. → Bobby Hoffman 2010

Evidence¶

Bobby Hoffman 2010¶

Bobby Hoffman, Louis Nadelson. (2010). Motivational engagement and video gaming: a mixed methods study. Education Tech Research Dev 58:245-270. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-009-9134-9

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

Interview finding from the 25-player subset: participants perceived difficulty as partially within their control, avoided games that were "too complicated to pick up on fairly quickly", and lost interest when games were too easy. The article concludes "controlling optimal levels of challenge appeared to be closely related to sustained engagement".

"Thus, controlling optimal levels of challenge appeared to be closely related to sustained engagement."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

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