Maro.

It’s not the players’ job to find the fun. It is your job as the game designer to put the fun where the players can’t help but find it. When the players sit down to play a game, there’s an implied promise from the game designer that if they do what the game tells them to do, it will be fun. So most players will do whatever the game tells them to do to achieve the desired goal (usually win), even if that thing isn’t fun. When the game is done, if the players didn’t enjoy themselves, they will blame the game—and rightfully so!

It’s your job as a game designer to make sure that what it takes to succeed at your game is the very thing that makes the game fun. Fun cannot be tangential; it has to be the core component of your game experience. I can’t stress this enough. You can’t hide the fun and expect your players to hunt for it. That’s not their job. It’s your job as a game designer to lead the players to the fun.