Philips Magnavox Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution Trigger Happy - Manual (Page 301)

Trigger Happy
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and stay at the back of the pack so all the computer cars slow
down, and then on the last straight just put your foot down
and cruise past them and win. You’ve got to be very careful
with the logic of what’s happening to make sure that a better
driver will always do better.
One problem that videogame designers are very
aware of is the wide spectrum of gameplaying skill
among their potential customers. But, with careful
programming of difficulty settings and reward
distribution, they can make a product that is optimally
challenging and satisfying to all. Darling regrets, for
instance, that TOCA 2 probably appealed only to the
upper 50 percent of gameplayers in skill terms, and that
a “novice” who had just bought a PlayStation and tried
to play the game would have quickly become frustrated
and disillusioned. Obviously, it makes good
commercial sense for his team to be working on this
problem with the next installment in the series:
“Anybody’s achievement should be rewarded even if
it’s a hopeless achievement compared to an expert.” To
be sure, this is a happy form of democracy.
This peculiar motivational system of pleasurable
rewards is something that sets videogames apart from
any other kind of game we know. If you get better at