Plotkin quote re: best puzzles make the player feel smart?

[pieartsy (Aster F)]

I’m not sure this can be attributed to a specific person. the earliest I can find on this forum is a post by @dfabulich from 2016

Why can't i get into CYOA or restricted parser games?

Puzzles, I think, benefit from a feeling of originating the solution yourself; the best puzzle games try to make the players feel smart for solving the puzzle, “on their own.” Point-and-click adventures can undermine that feeling by enumerating the options (IMO regardless of whether they’re P&C text adventures or P&C graphical adventures). But if you’re designing a puzzleless game, there’s much less to be gained from the parser and a lot more drawbacks. Authors can enumerate options on the scre…

However, the idea that puzzles should make people feel smart has been going on for longer. This news article from 2014 references the idea as well.

6 Video Games That Will Make You Feel Smart