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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 8715731" data-attributes="member: 71699">Yes, that's very true! The classic difficulty "curve" engineered into videogames looks like a series of sloped-steps (take a staircase and tilt it so that the steps are all sloped.) With that curve, difficulty gradually ramps to peaks and then falls again, and then ramps to a new higher peak. For me Candy Crush exemplifies this design (and corrupts it, sadly.) As you say, in CRPGs it's not so straightforward as access to earlier map regions is usually preserved, even while regions with more challenging obstacles are unlocked. That allows players to feel the satisfaction of easily overcoming obstacles that they had found hard earlier on.I suppose my general point relative to the OP is that progression doesn't necessarily equate with reduced difficulty. And it is also not quite right to focus only on numerical progression.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Initial difficulty is mostly associated with game system familiarity, and resolved by practice effect</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Numerical progression on player side is readily matched by same on environment side</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Player mastery of game system also progresses, and that can be matched by more demanding tasks on environment side</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The game system can expand, demanding a new periods of learning</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Difficulty curves in videogames are engineered, while in TTRPGs they are up to each group (although the game's principles and techniques can certainly help or hinder them!)</li> </ul>Each player experiences difficulty according to their own level of mastery, and we can describe a difficulty only in terms of norms. For example, we can call an obstacle that 50% of players overcome on first attempt our Standard difficulty, and say that an obstacle 90% of players overcome on first attempt is Easy, while an obstacle only 10% of players overcome on first attempt is Hard. But for any of those players, when they play on and perhaps eventually return to that "Hard" obstacle, their gains in mastery due to practice effect will significantly increase their likelihood of overcoming it even if they have been given no numerical progression. What was Hard then becomes Easy, and this is satisfying to players. The OP describes this practice effect as "skill" (knowing what to check for at a dungeon door.)Progression is stimulating because it means that we can experience and enjoy our mastery (skill) while being faced with new kinds of obstacle that can indeed be just as hard or even harder than earlier obstacles even if we were given some numerical progression. The alternate design is flat, and normally engaging in the short or medium, but not long term. One can reflect on PvP games (e.g. Chess) in this same light... our "obstacles" change with our opponents.</blockquote>

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