No one will want to play with you if you keep winning.
I remember playing Mafia in our office outings. After playing with the same group over and over again, people form a sense of who’s the strongest. And then comes the kicker:
There’s a tendency to kill off skilled players early in the game.
Why does this happen? Humans experience peak motivation when challenged optimally. Right on the edge of their current abilities. Neither too hard, nor too easy. Just right. That’s the Goldilocks rule!
One of my friends was the expert in keeping others engaged.
We used to play Street Fighter in the final year of college. He would read the situation and knowingly lose sometimes. And we kept playing all day. Design experiences and goals keeping this in mind.
People want fun. But if they keep losing, they’ll give up. If they keep winning, they’ll get bored. Use this to your advantage by setting the difficulty to lie in the sweet spot of challenging, yet achievable.