Easy To Learn, Hard To Master

   "Easy to learn, hard to master" (ETLHTM) is a type of design of a [1]game
   (and by extension a potential property of any [2]art or [3]skill) which
   makes it relatively easy to learn to play while mastering the play
   (playing in near optimal way) remains very difficult.

   Examples of this are games such as [4]tetris, [5]minesweeper or
   [6]Trackmania.

   [7]LRS sees the ETLHTM design as extremely useful and desirable as it
   allows for creation of [8]suckless, simple games that offer many hours of
   [9]fun. With this philosophy we get a great amount of value for relatively
   little effort.

   This is related to a fun coming from self imposed goals, another very
   important and useful concept in games. Self imposed goals in games are
   goals the player sets for himself, for example completing the game without
   killing anyone (so called "pacifist" gameplay) or completing it very
   quickly ([10]speedrunning). Here the game serves only as a platform, a
   playground at which different games can be played and invented --
   inventing games is fun in itself. Again, a game supporting self imposed
   goals can be relatively simple and offer years of fun, which is extremely
   cool.

   The simplicity of learning a game comes from simple rules while the
   difficulty of its mastering arises from the complex emergent behavior
   these simple rules create. Mastering of the game is many times encouraged
   by [11]competition among different people but also competition against
   oneself (trying to beat own score). In many simple games such as
   [12]minesweeper there exists a competitive scene (based either on direct
   matches or some measurement of skill such as [13]speedrunning or achieving
   high score) that drives people to search for strategies and techniques
   that optimize the play, and to training skillful execution of such play.

   The opposite is [14]hard to learn, easy to master.

See Also

     * [15]easier done than said
     * [16]speedrun

Links:
1. game.md
2. art.md
3. skill.md
4. tetris.md
5. minesweeper.md
6. trackmania.md
7. lrs.md
8. suckless.md
9. fun.md
10. speedrun.md
11. competition.md
12. minesweeper.md
13. speedrun.md
14. hard_to_learn_easy_to_master.md
15. easier_done_than_said.md
16. speedrun.md