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The Practice Paradox: How Practice Negatively Impacts Players' Time-to-Quit and Frustration
Key insights
7 takeaways- 01Unstructured practice sessions can be counterproductive, as players who practiced for 20 minutes were 3.03 times more likely to quit when facing a high-challenge segment compared to those who had no practice.See it on page 1
- 02Performance is the primary driver of player retention; poor performers were more than twice as likely to quit as good performers, regardless of their prior practice time.See it on page 38
- 03The negative impact of practice on quitting behavior is most pronounced among poor performers, who exhibited a 282% higher quitting hazard than their counterparts in the no-practice group.See it on page 29
- 04Practice does not inherently build resilience; participants who practiced but failed to perceive measurable progress or skill gains were more prone to disengagement when encountering difficult game mechanics.See it on page 1
- 05The quitting hazard for players who practiced is significantly higher initially but tends to equalize with non-practicing players over time, specifically converging after approximately 60 minutes of play.See it on page 19
- 06Individual factors such as gaming expertise and challenge preference are stronger predictors of a player's emotional state and persistence than the mere inclusion of a practice or tutorial phase.See it on page 4
- 07Onboarding systems that fail to provide interpretable feedback or verify productive learning can accelerate player churn rather than preparing them for future high-difficulty challenges.See it on page 38
Summary
The Practice Paradox: How Practice Negatively Impacts Players' Time-to-Quit and Frustration in Challenging Game GENEVA M. SMITH∗, University of Waterloo, Canada KAUSHALL SENTHIL NATHAN†, University of Waterloo, Canada EUGENE KUKSHINOV, University of Waterloo, Canada LENNART E. NACKE, University of Waterloo, Canada Fig. 1.
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