John Ferrara writing for UX Magazine:

UX designers are accustomed to thinking about experiences that people enjoy because they’re completing some objective that exists outside of the interface, but games must be enjoyed for their gameness. That gives the designer a different kind of responsibility: to design player experiences that are themselves enough reason to play.

I’d go even a step beyond this and suggest a game UX designer must introduce frustration into the player experience — but frustration coupled with a strong motive to succeed. Those two emotions play off each other in games to create moments of intense joy and satisfaction when the obstacle is finally overcome.

I haven’t ever come across a UX designer who admitted their job included producing negative experiences. Some game designers have, though. I’m excited for a time when those ideas mate — when game UX designers use their talents to craft usable and fluid experiences to specifically introduce frustration in a calculated way that ultimately results in joy.