Game design (a book about which you linked) tries to get the player into a “sweet spot” between complete predictability of the game (boring; easily-learned classifier), and complete unpredictability of the game (confusion that doesn’t look like it will go away).
So, more generally, maybe one could say that fun is how anticipation of learning a classifier feels from inside?
Perhaps with the caveat that the learning involved doesn’t necessarily mean ‘skill learning’; drinking with your friends is fun but doesn’t usually involve learning a skill.
Agreed; if we want to be more precise one could say that humans find various activities inherently enjoyable: sex, eating, seeing certain things, hearing certain sounds, and learning. The pleasure of learning is roughly what is meant by “fun” in the context of solo games, though other things (socializing, competition, nice graphics, story) can also make the game enjoyable.
Fun is how learning skills feels from the inside.
Or doing things that are likely to build social connections.
Game design (a book about which you linked) tries to get the player into a “sweet spot” between complete predictability of the game (boring; easily-learned classifier), and complete unpredictability of the game (confusion that doesn’t look like it will go away).
So, more generally, maybe one could say that fun is how anticipation of learning a classifier feels from inside?
Perhaps with the caveat that the learning involved doesn’t necessarily mean ‘skill learning’; drinking with your friends is fun but doesn’t usually involve learning a skill.
Agreed; if we want to be more precise one could say that humans find various activities inherently enjoyable: sex, eating, seeing certain things, hearing certain sounds, and learning. The pleasure of learning is roughly what is meant by “fun” in the context of solo games, though other things (socializing, competition, nice graphics, story) can also make the game enjoyable.