Engaging Casual Games That Frustrate You: An Exploration on Understanding Engaging Frustrating Casual Games

This paper is an exploration on why is it possible to have gameplay experiences that are perceived to be simultaneously engaging and frustrating. Particularly, the paper leverages psychological theories on rewards, frustration, and its neurobiology. In the paper (1) distinct types of (positive) frustration are informally classified. (2) The neurobiology of rewards is explained in the casual gaming context, in combination with the idea that neurobiologically wanting something does not imply liking it. (3) The game-design principles of slot machines are stated in the context of addiction, and linked to design principles in casual games. (4) The previous perspectives are synthesised into a case study in which the casual game Flappy Bird is analysed through the lens of neurobiology and findings from research on cognitive biases. Derived from the presented perspectives and the investigated psychological theories, we suggest that a potent explanation for some games being perceived as simultaneously engaging and frustrating, is a (purposely?) dissociated neural activation of the likingand wanting-pathways. That is, the current state of psychological literature suggests that in engaging frustrating casual games, the neurobiological conditions may be created in which, informally speaking, the dopaminergic wanting-pathways are being stimulated (e.g., via operant conditioning and the effects of near misses), while the liking-pathways are not being stimulated. We discuss that such behavioural conditioning may be enforced via several important cognitive biases. Indeed, this calls for drawing another parallel between drug addiction, and play behaviour in which liking may be barely exhibited (cf. [16, 38, 40]).