Challenge
A challenge is defined as something new and difficult which requires great effort and determination. In games challenge provides players with a sense of accomplishment and enjoyment.
Why is challenge important to player engagement.
Balancing Difficulty
Pleasantly Frustrating
This idea of a difficult task requiring effort, lends it self to the concept of being Pleasantly Frustrating, which was first introduced in Professor James Paul Gee wrote the paper Learning by design: Games as learning machines in 2004.
Pleasantly Frustrating is when the presented with a problem is just at the outer edge of their resources, thereby making the problem challenging but is not "undoable".
This outer edge of student learning is also referred to as the �Regime of competence� Principle.
Gee goes on to state that the point of a "Pleasantly Frustrating" challenge lends itself to flow.
Flow Theory
Flow theory is the psychology theory developed by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is a mental state of an individual who is fully immersed in what they are doing. This is also a state of energized focus, full attention and success in the process of activity.