Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences

Chapter 20. A Challenge Worth Pursuing

REMEMBER THE INFORMATION GAPS we talked about in Chapter 11 (“Are You Mysterious?”). It turns out that curiosity drives us to do a lot more than just sign up for something or rate a movie. In many ways, curiosity, and its cousin appropriate challenges, are vital to human progress. Curiosity leads to challenges. What happens if we do that? Can we go there? Am I capable of doing this? We accept challenges because we are curious about our own abilities or some new subject. (We also accept challenges because we are threatened, but that’s another discussion!)

Whether it’s kids daring each other to stick their tongues to a frozen pole or a mission “to boldly go where no one has gone before,” this exploration of ...