I think "deceitful design" is the best way to phrase this. When the player starts the game they have zero knowledge of what kind of fun, immersive experiences t

I think "deceitful design" is the best way to phrase this. When the player starts the game they have zero knowledge of what kind of fun, immersive experiences the game holds, and they have no reason to expend effort into seeking out those experiences for themselves; "beat the game" is usually all they're out to do when they start playing. Therefore, they have zero tolerance for a learning curve that forces them to "sink or swim," because it will feel arbitrary and pointless - an elitist barrier to "beating the game" that is likely to make them unhappy and stop playing immediately. Games which are built to a preexisting genre and mechanics can cheat and be hard from the very first instant on the expectation of an existing player base knowing - more or less - how things are going to work. But games with substantial original ideas can't rely on this, and it isn't a good idea in any case. So the problem for the game designer is not to make the game easy so much as it is to make the player feel confident - even overconfident - so that they are willing to see all of the game's features, and then to gradually slip in the challenging elements to disrupt those confident feelings without completely shattering them. Reward-focused design happens to be the best way to go about this - "you can't fail but you can always do better," where the game puts a lot of emphasis on achievements of skill without making them a barrier to game progression, or at least makes it so that even if skill limits progression(as in most arcade games, or games like Nethack), opportunities are presented to polish up play at earlier points and reap rewards for it later. Resource bonuses like powerups or extra lives are particularly good for this, but even measurements like combo counts or accuracy can serve this purpose if the feedback is immediate and given regularly. Designing all the game content around the introduction and tutorialization of mechanics, which Portal did, is another strategy, and it can work in tandem with reward-focused design.