I do not have a good paper on this, but it does remind me of arousal theory. basically, people dont like to be bored, but they also dont like to be overstimulated, so we try to seek an intermediate level of stimulation. at the same time, we are also highly prone to adaptation to sets of stimuli, so if whatever is keeping us aroused stays constant for too long, we still become bored and want to do something else. this could apply to doing chores - theyre often pretty systematic, and therefore monotonous, so we find them boring. similarly, video games are usually dynamic in nature and therefore arousing; however, youve probably felt that a game youre playing eventually devolves into a chore because you find yourself grinding the same task over and over again for resources or some other progress. its the same concept - productive or unproductive, video game or not, as long as you have that constant state of arousal, thats all you need for motivation. if you lose that, itll probably devolve into another tedious chore (which is why bad games are usually pretty repetitive). this arousal also increases the effects of reward, which is why reward specifically through games or other entertainment often feels much better than usual.
