That wiki page suggests this has been a conscious process used in Super Mario level design since Super Mario Galaxy:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-03-17-how-nintendos-b...

The way this works in terms of design is:

1) A game mechanic is introduced 2) The player is subject to slowly increasing difficult that requires the mechanic 3) The player is forced to demonstrate mastery of mechanic in some new situation, often by combining with other mechanics 4) The player has mastered the mechanic and has the option of using it whenever they want in the future

It's interesting that the example given is of people killing each other. So much for lack of conflict :)

It'd be nice if the author gave examples of significant plots using the structure, like a novel or a film.

> It'd be nice if the author gave examples of significant plots using the structure, like a novel or a film.

Indeed; I found a lot of pages talking about this concept, but almost none mentioning any examples of its implementation. In fact, the only long-form story (not a four panel comic strip or poem) I saw brought up as an example of it was Kiki's Delivery Service, which has plenty of conflict.

It seems more like something that people theoretically like the idea of. It's also interesting the way it's presented as an Eastern vs. Western dichotomy, with Westerners supposedly viewing conflict as central to a story and Easterners not viewing it as essential. I don't see any indication that Eastern stories are less conflict driven than Western ones (most of the major ones I'm familiar with, such as the Four Great Classical Chinese Novels, have plenty of conflict).