Trigger Happy 2.0: The Art and Politics of Videogames

I lost count of the number of times the game stopped to show me one of Drake’s hands slipping off a ledge, the camera swooping up to peer down on my avatar dangling one-handedly over the latest routine precipice, before he, in no way surprisingly, regained a safe grip and the game saw fit to restore my control. The game is like a bossy child, constantly tapping you on the arm and ordering you in a squeaky voice to Feel Excited Now. There is nothing less dramatic than a constant anxiety to keep the tension at a single high pitch.

choosing a good-enough approach rather than seeking to optimize or maximize — is called satisficing. And I think videogames too often encourage it.

one might also wonder whether part of the reason why the generation of videogamers in their thirties and older express an increasing dissatisfaction with modern games is that maturing adults derive less and less pleasure from the unnecessary engineering of cognitive panic. After all, they’ve got enough to worry about with the credit crunch and the job market.