Need to make a task feel less daunting? Try adding 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 requirements. This works because the extra requirement triggers Endowed Progress Effect.

By adding an extra 30 smithing requirement, the designer makes the Enchanted Armor quest feels easier to complete than its 30-magic-only version.

The player feels like they start with some “free” progress towards one of the two requirements, because they’ve already progressed to 20 smithing due to an earlier quest. They haven’t even started yet, and they’re almost half-way!

It also makes training smithing feel more satisfying, as you are simultaneously making progress on multiple goals.

Even if you didn’t know about the Enchanted Armor quest before completing the Sword Fit for a King’s 20 smithing requirement, you now feel a pulse of bonus satisfaction for doing that smithing training.

The Endowed Progress Effect is why savvy coffee shops give you some free stamps when you get one of those “free drink every X purchases” loyalty cards. We feel more motivated to complete a task when there’s already some progress, even artificial progress, toward completing it.

This is why understanding system design and value perception is so important. It’s easy to imagine that a designer, faced with players feeling unmotivated to do the enchanted armor quest, might jump to increasing the rewards or lowering the magic requirement. Both burn more of the team’s resources (economy and content duration).

By mastering the Endowed Progress Effect and similar techniques, a skilled designer can increase player motivation and engagement while extending their game’s life cycle in the process.

It’s also the foundation of the Goal Cascade Framework, but that’s a much bigger topic.