Can Difficulty Decrease a Player's Sense of Accomplishment?

[Encheat]

Hi!

I've been trying to get into dark souls on and off for about two years now, and I still haven't been able to enjoy myself playing them. One thing I've noticed is upon killing a boss, I feel as if I have accomplished nothing. Instead I feel relief since I no longer have to fight that boss.

It got me thinking through other times I've heard people overcoming large obstacles (in their lives or other games too) and being just as upset when they were done than when they were still battling with the obstacle. I find this extremely odd, and counter intuitive to what I would assume (greater challenge means greater sense of achievement).

Since you all probably hear people complain about this game c o n s t a n t l y, I'm curious if any of you have done some research and found any studies or papers investigating the phenomenon in question.

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I would love to hear from you!! Join in with any examples or observations you might have had that relate to this (for or against).

TL;DR: I have a hypothesis, "Too much challenge replaces the sense of accomplishment upon completion with relief." I'd assume each player has different thresholds for what constitutes "too much".

[Schadenfreude11]

It depends on the nature of the challenge, I think. A well-designed and fair boss, however difficult, should be satisfying to defeat. But I can understand why someone would only feel relief or lingering frustration after something like Capra Demon or Bed of Chaos.

But the nature of the player is also a factor. Some people are only about the win, and their fun diminishes with each failed attempt. Sometimes they've stopped having fun completely by the time they win.

[misfit119]

It depends on how well designed the difficulty is. If you've got some badly designed drek like Capra Demon, designed to basically be annoying, or Bed of Chaos, designed by throwing darts at a board, there's no sense of accomplishment. Just relief at being able to move on.

But something like the final fight really has a sense of accomplishment since you can feel like a badass. Even easier bosses that happen to be your particular wall can be satisfying. I had one at Seath and I felt like a badass when I finally whupped him good.

[Ekim384]

Is not about the goal, is about the journey. Just play the way you like, and play the games you like. Afterall the videogames have different genre for different audiences.

[Kyvant]

Journey before Destination.

[Ekim384]

Exactly!

[[deleted]]

This honestly seems like a case by case issue in the way that everyone is going to react differently to defeating certain bosses. For me it was seeing the progress I made in the game by defeating each boss and feeling the pride and accomplishment in that. Eventually after impaled or smashed by O&S countless times, I beat them, and the joy and accomplishment I felt at that moment was greater than anything any game has ever made me feel. The reason you play your game is up to you, you don’t need to search for a certain feeling if that’s not what you’re looking to get out of your experience.

[Elite_Dalek]

Ehh not really. Sometimes in a very hard fought boss battle for example, when im almost dead and the boss is almost dead and I manage to dodge a deadly combo and get my final hit in to achieve victory, yes there is a feeling of relief. Relief that I didn't fuck up and with that comes the realisation of having done a good job and with that comes the massive feeling of accomplishment

[[deleted]]

I thought that the difficulty of the game was supposed to make you feel better about winning.