ABSTRACT
There are many theories about why people get frustrated, why they quit, and, in particular, why they react with venom to certain topics or even games. Ever hear someone flip out and say something like “Games are for losers.”? That venom has a psychological root, and in this chapter, we’ll find out what it is; more important than that, we’ll figure out how to avoid it. Games User Researchers at numerous companies around the world are actively preventing rage-quits all the time, and I am going to share some of those secrets in the form of well-designed learning. You will learn in this chapter about boredom, frustration, and flow-what they are, and how to either elicit or avoid them in games via the tutorial system. There is some heavier psychological content here, so again, the chapter will end with a cheat sheet you can look at for definitions of the concepts explained within.
