Weenie
Also said as Wienie, Visual magnet
A big, tempting sight placed at the end of a route, so people walk towards it without being told. Walt Disney's term: Sleeping Beauty Castle at the end of Main Street is the first and most famous one.
A sign says go this way and players resent it. A weenie makes going that way their own idea. The story usually told is that Walt named it after the sausage he used to get his dog to follow him.
Say it
“The player needs a reason to cross this valley. Put a lit tower at the far side, centred in the view as they leave the cave, and take the waypoint marker away.”
Where you’ve seen it
The mountain with the split peak in Journey is on the horizon from the first dunes, and that glimpse is all the instruction you get. Scott Rogers brought the word to game designers in a 2009 GDC talk on what games can learn from Disneyland.
Not to be confused with signposting
Signposting tells you which way is correct. A weenie makes you curious enough to walk there. One is information and the other is desire.