Empirical review of challenge design in video game design

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the concept of challenge in video games and argue that the current way of defining challenge is faulty in nature. Since challenge should be considered a core component to any digital video game, it is of importance that we understand the concept of challenge in-depth while designing games. With challenge being generally defined by its level of difficulty, we propose to define challenge by how challenge should be designed instead and have defined six characters by which a proper challenge should adhere. The goal of this paper is to clarify the concept of challenge and to redefine it according to the way challenge is created, not through the height of its difficulty. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.