[tablespoon]

> One of the reasons I suspect that Wordle is popular is that it's "calibrated" (word length, number of guesses, don't have to play on hard mode) to almost always be winnable if you have some semblance of a decent English vocabulary and some sense for letter combinations.

Seems like the perfect popular game: be easy enough for most everyone to get, but just hard enough to give a feeling of mastery.

I had a similar feeling when playing Guitar Hero way back. It was pretty easy to get the hang of at a medium level, but it was just hard enough that it felt like an accomplishment. Plus the "output" you got from playing the game well (a complex, professionally played song) was wildly disproportionate to to your inputs (a bit of well-timed button mashing that had a far simpler in structure). The mistakes screwing up the song sealed the illusion of skill.

[noirbot]

And the real value of it is that within "success" there's ranges. The real victory for me is if I can get Wordle in less than 4 guesses, since that's about how fast one can do it with optimal play. I don't really usually have a risk of "losing", but for me it's a bummer if I get to guess 5 or 6.

Not everything has to be pass/fail, and most things in life aren't.

[bagacrap]

my goal is to get the number of 3 guess wins equal to that of 5

[LocalH]

On the high levels of Expert play, Guitar Hero is insanely difficult. So it happens to offer a wide range of feeling mastery at all gameplay levels. I'm a mid-range Expert player, and if what I feel while I play feels even a tiny sliver like what an actual performer feels, then holy shit. The community even makes songs that utterly outstrip the "officially" authored songs in difficulty, that make Through the Fire and Flames seem like Slow Ride.

If you keep in mind that it is not, indeed, a real guitar, the sense of accomplishment doesn't have to be false. When I full combo a fairly difficult song, especially if it's one that I've gotten close but not quite got, it really feels like an accomplishment. Also, I'm active on the modding side of things for GH1/2/80s/RB, and that is where my true sense of accomplishment has rested. I've been involved with the mod projects Guitar Hero II Deluxe, Rock Band 2 Deluxe, and Rock Band 3 Deluxe, all of which have been wildly successful within the GH community.

[golergka]

Easy to learn, impossible to master is actually one of the classic tenets of game design. I'm genuinely curious, did you hear this or variant somewhere before, or did you come up with this on your own?

[tablespoon]

> Easy to learn, impossible to master is actually one of the classic tenets of game design. I'm genuinely curious, did you hear this or variant somewhere before, or did you come up with this on your own?

I came up with it on my own. I derived it from some introspection on how Guitar Hero made me feel, and realizing it tricked me into feeling a false sense of competence, like I could actually play those songs well.