I agree. For games people pay to solve made-up problems that are only just challenging enough to be fun.
Games like Zelda and MMOs start simple in order to ease you into the game. Yes, part of the fun is the carrot-on-a-stick, but the importance of the whole dynamic is that you're only given as much as you can handle at one time. Gradually, as you get accustomed to how the game works, complexity is increased.
For productivity software, it might be useful to create a tutorial in the form of a game.
Games like Zelda and MMOs start simple in order to ease you into the game. Yes, part of the fun is the carrot-on-a-stick, but the importance of the whole dynamic is that you're only given as much as you can handle at one time. Gradually, as you get accustomed to how the game works, complexity is increased.
For productivity software, it might be useful to create a tutorial in the form of a game.