Editing Learning curve (section)

=== Difficulty curves in video games ===
{{anchor|Difficulty curve}}
The idea of learning curves is often translated into [[video game]] gameplay as a "difficulty curve", which described how hard the game may get as the player progresses through the game and requiring the player to either become more proficient with the game, gain better understanding of the game's mechanics, and/or spend time "[[grinding (video games)|grinding]]" to improve their characters. Establishing the right difficulty curve is part of achieving the [[game balance]] within a title. As with learning curves in educational settings, difficulty curves can have multitudes of shapes, and games may frequently provide various levels of difficulty that change the shape of this curve relative to its default to make the game harder or easier.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/difficulty-curves | title = Difficulty Curves | first = Jimmy Marcus | last = Larsen | date = May 24, 2010 | access-date = February 3, 2020 | work = [[Gamasutra]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite conference | title = Scaling the Level of Difficulty in Single Player Video Games | first1 = Maria-Virginia | last1  = Aponte | first2 =Guillaume |last2= Levieux | first3 = Stéphane | last3 =  Natkin | conference = International Conference on Entertainment Computing 2009 | date = 2009 | book-title = [[Lecture Notes in Computer Science]] | editor1-first = S. | editor1-last = Natkin | editor2-first = J. | editor2-last = Dupire | publisher = [[Springer Publishing|Springer]] |  location = [[Berlin]] | volume = 5709 | doi = 10.1007/978-3-642-04052-8_3 | url = https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-642-04052-8_3.pdf | access-date = February 3, 2020  | doi-access = free }}</ref> Optimally the difficulty of a [[video game]] increases in correspondence with players ability. Games must neither be too challenging nor too undemanding nor too fortuitous.<ref name="RuggillMcAllister2011">{{cite book|last1=Ruggill|first1=Judd Ethan |last2=McAllister|first2=Ken S. |title=Gaming Matters: Art, Science, Magic, and the Computer Game Medium|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CVkfAnl01_EC&pg=PA89|date=11 May 2011|publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=978-0-8173-1737-9|page=89|chapter=Work}}</ref> The players will continue playing as long as a game is perceived to be winnable. This is therefore referred to as the ''illusion of winnability''. To generate an illusion of winnability games can include, internal value (a sense of moving towards a goal and being rewarded for it) driven by conflict which can be generated by an antagonistic environment and story driven suspense in the form of [[world building]]. The latter is not pivotal to progressing in a game.<ref name="Wolf2020">{{cite book|last=Wolf|first=Mark, J.P. |title=World-Builders on World-Building: An Exploration of Subcreation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o-XkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT67|date=12 May 2020|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-429-51601-6|page=67}}</ref> Game designers may also make changes in [[gameplay]] by, for instance, limiting resources. One perspective is that if players are not tricked to believe that the video game world is real - if the world does not feel vibrant - then there is no point in creating the game.<ref name="Richard2010">{{cite book|last=Van Eck|first=Richard|title=Gaming and Cognition: Theories and Practice from the Learning Sciences: Theories and Practice from the Learning Sciences|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dqxX1idG4g8C&pg=PA113|date=31 May 2010|publisher=IGI Global|isbn=978-1-61520-718-3|pages=112–115| chapter = Feedforward as an Essential Active Principle}}</ref><ref name="Holmes2012">{{cite book|last=Holmes|first=Dylan|title=A Mind Forever Voyaging: A History of Storytelling in Video Games|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DFBzOO17SHcC&pg=PA83|year=2012|publisher=Dylan Holmes|isbn=978-1-4800-0575-4|page=83|chapter=The Rise of Cutscenes}}</ref>