Problem solving

 Problem solving is a big part of gaming. This is the follow through of a decision. You have to identify the obstacles and then find a way of overcoming them.

 So why is problem solving fun? I think a big part of it is that there is a reward. The reward is a feeling of competence. The more difficult the problem the more the feeling of competence. Of course many areas of life involve problem solving. So why games? Well a big part of it is that it is voluntary. You choose to do it and can put it down whenever you don't feel like dealing with it anymore. Problems in life don't really have this kind of feature. There are also in game rewards like the progression of the story or sometimes other rewards that are closer or farther away from symbolic money. 

I guess one thing I am interested in is the degree that problem solving can be learned. What I mean is that when I study chess I am learning about problem solving in that one particular context. But I am curious about whether there aspects of problem solving that can be learned in one game and transferred to other games. Sometimes it seems like the only way to get good at a game is to double down on that specific game. But I am curious if there is some path where one plays many games and so gets good at the general skill of identifying and solving problems.