Poll of the Day > 3/4 of people really only play games on Normal or easier difficulty?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Is this even real?

I never knew that most gamers just want the experience, without having to put any actual skill or effort into it. To each their own, but I have never found an easy game that gets down on it's knees for you after you beat a scripted event in a structured narrative type movie game very rewarding. Or a game that tries to make you feel as though you've conquered a giant monster, simply because the damage and HP modifiers were set to ridiculously low levels.... Etcetera, my fellow "gamers", because as super recent studies show, this is most of you.

I known we don't talk a out the poll here, and it's just a game, but holy crap guys. Come at me.
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me: Start on normal, then if I feel like a replay, increase the difficulty until I beat it on the hardest, then after that, start lowering the difficulty lower than normal and owning the games face until I own it on the easiest mode last

Why do you play games? Honest question.

Because most people start in normal, then work up... since there's no choice that includes multiple difficulties, you would have to assume it means the first time. Most people start on normal. And with more games having a new game plus, they play that on higher difficulties... But I would also like to hear the answer to Shadowsword's question...
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shadowsword87 posted...

Why do you play games? Honest question.

Ever since I beat Super Mario Bros. when I was 2. I've enjoyed the challenges video games can throw at me. Anything even remotely easy bored me. I have met a lot of people that feel the same way, which is why this poll surprised me.

I'm honestly just messing around though, I don't care what difficulty people play on. I just never had any idea that it was like this. I always thought the challenge (if the mechanics are top notch, of course) was easily 90% of the fun factor. A video game should always have the main focus be the actual gameplay, and if it is in fact very well made, a higher difficulty that demands you master all the mechanics has always been the most rewarding of experiences for me.
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I typically only play through a game once on the 'normal' difficulty (if the game even has a difficulty).

Don't play many games with a difficulty slider.
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SINnocent posted...

I never knew that most gamers just want the experience, without having to put any actual skill or effort into it.

Uh, what? You mean people putting in the NORMAL amount of skill and effort. Granted, the stupidest thing about your shitpost is that more people prefer hard than a combination of easy and very easy -- in fact, 16% vs a combined 8%. The issue (if you want to call it that) clearly isn't easy difficulties, but people choosing the default.
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I generally start with normal. Harder difficulties, I tend to leave for subsequent playthroughs, unless I'm given reason to believe that's where to start (in FE13, for example, I knew that Hard was pretty comparable to the Normal of prior FE games, so I started there).
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There are also games that don't really have a difficulty, too. But some games can be difficult on normal. Or have difficult parts... And maybe like 70 percent of the people who play in normal play on harder levels on the next play through, of played again. But challenging levels isn't the only thing that makes a game fun. Some like certain stories, other might just like the mechanics, etc...
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adjl posted...

I generally start with normal. Harder difficulties, I tend to leave for subsequent playthroughs, unless I'm given reason to believe that's where to start (in FE13, for example, I knew that Hard was pretty comparable to the Normal of prior FE games, so I started there).

Also this. If I like the game (or I want the trophies), I'll go back at a harder difficulty. The vast majority of the time the added difficulty doesn't really add much anyway, just buffing enemies' damage or health which is lazy. In some cases it even does to illogically, like requiring 2 headshots to kill an unhelmeted opponent instead of 1.
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I personally turned on hard mode for Fire Emblem: Awakening and Tales of Berseria, because the battles for both games were too easy and too trivial; each battle was a chore.
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When I want a challenge I stick to multiplayer. No single player experience can compare to something like starcraft or dota if difficulty is your goal. When I sit down to play a single player game it's usually because I want to enjoy the story, so stick with normal by default to ensure that I don't get hung up on a section that kills the pacing.
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Many gamers are casual gamers. They don't play competitively (either with others or just as a personal challenge ). They play the game, finish it and move on. Maybe this is because a lot of them simply don't have the time to invest in mastering a particular game and see it merely as a momentary distraction from the stress of life and work.
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I generally want to experience games the way the developer intended. That usually means on normal, avoiding glitches/cheats/cheese (especially in MMOs).

It gets tricky lately though, since people who aren't very good take offense at having to drop it to easy, so in many cases, "hard" is the "real" game, and normal is what should have been easy. Sometimes game make this obvious (eg: Alien Isolation straight up tells you), sometimes you have to know the history (eg: DMC3 shifted all the difficulty settings by one notch when they remade the game, so the original normal is now the hard mode in the later versions).

But yes, most people don't play games for a challenge. For many, life is way too busy for that. I remember interesting statistics in a lot of the bigger MMO that showed only a tiny fraction of player base attempted raids at all (even in the easier modes, for MMOs that had those). People don't realize it because they'll never see those people in game (they wont be in their guilds or groups or whatever). But really, the "visible" group of gamers in online games is an itsy bitty minority.

The amount of free time I have to dedicate to gaming is a fraction of what it was before my kids were born. I simply don't have time for grinding through harder difficulties. Took me months to finish Dark Souls III, and I still have a large portion of the DLC to go through.
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I usually play games more than once, with the first time being on the lowest difficulty so I can familiarize myself with absolutely everything at my own pace.
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what are you talking about, less than 10% play on anything less than normal. that's more than 90% that play on normal or harder.
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Dark Souls only has a normal mode
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AbsoluteDenial posted...

I usually play games more than once, with the first time being on the lowest difficulty so I can familiarize myself with absolutely everything at my own pace.

I've done this for a few games. I have done it on normal, too. But especially when games have a lot of controls, I normally won't play harder difficulties until I learn at least most of them...
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All great points. I suppose I took the poll results as a blanketed "I want my video games to be easy" statement. However, I always want to give any game I play the benefit of the doubt and roll with the show me what you got attitude, assuming the mechanics and gameplay are tight, and the difficulty changes aren't lazy or cheap. Unfortunately, most games nowadays are in fact not creative or efficient with their difficulty settings.

The single player and multiplayer points made sense as well. I find myself only playing competitive multiplayer nowadays. Most single player experiences are casual-fests, and only get interesting with modifications such as knife only survival horror playthroughs, Spelunky eggplant runs, or whatever.

Makes sense.
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Also, sometimes I just want to sit back, and smack shit so hard the world shakes and just roll my way through a level while not giving a shit about my health.

Or I am playing for the story and the mechanics suck so I don't need to bother with them (cough cough Witcher).

shadowsword87 posted...

Also, sometimes I just want to sit back, and smack shit so hard the world shakes and just roll my way through a level while not giving a shit about my health.

Or I am playing for the story and the mechanics suck so I don't need to bother with them (cough cough Witcher).

I actually never played the Witcher... Is it really like that? I always hear ridiculous praise. Then again, the same is said for Last of Us for example, and that game is pretty much entirely the whole structured narrative movie like I mentioned in my original post... Essentially not ever focusing on gameplay or worthwhile difficulty. Besides the multiplayer of course, but then again, that isn't where all the praise comes from.
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SINnocent posted...

Unfortunately, most games nowadays are in fact not creative or efficient with their difficulty settings.

"Nowadays"? The vast majority of games at any stage in the industry's history haven't increased difficulty in particularly inventive ways. The conflation of tedium with difficulty has been around for as long as gaming has. Games that do difficulty right are - and have always been - rare gems.
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You also have to remeber peoples level of what is challenging is on different levels. Maybe a lot of people are challenged at normal. Some people just want to relax and enjoy the game. some times things can get too challenging, or like for me, I hate stat padding. So games like civilization and total war which just give ridiculous bonuses i dont do. I just like things being on a even playing field.
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adjl posted...

SINnocent posted...

Unfortunately, most games nowadays are in fact not creative or efficient with their difficulty settings.

"Nowadays"? The vast majority of games at any stage in the industry's history haven't increased difficulty in particularly inventive ways. The conflation of tedium with difficulty has been around for as long as gaming has. Games that do difficulty right are - and have always been - rare gems.

I remember a lot more in the earlier days, like Doom which adds enemies but has no lazy effect on damage, or Streets of Rage 3 where it not only adds enemies and enemy types, but several stages and a true ending on the harder difficulties. I'm not sure I've played anything even remotely recent like that. A game at its hardest difficulty should challenge you to every single aspect of the gameplay and require a firm understanding or ability to adapt and learn very quickly... Essentially the "true" experience. Not simply make it more difficult to get to the next cutscene or something.

Maybe I'm just unhappy with the integrity of the gaming industry, and difficulty is just one reason.
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SINnocent posted...

I actually never played the Witcher... Is it really like that? I always hear ridiculous praise. Then again, the same is said for Last of Us for example, and that game is pretty much entirely the whole structured narrative movie like I mentioned in my original post... Essentially not ever focusing on gameplay or worthwhile difficulty. Besides the multiplayer of course, but then again, that isn't where all the praise comes from.

They're not actually bad just mediocre, the story and characters are just so damn good it completely overwhelms the mechanics.

Nobody plays the Witcher games for the gameplay, it's all the other stuff.

SINnocent posted...

adjl posted...

SINnocent posted...

Unfortunately, most games nowadays are in fact not creative or efficient with their difficulty settings.

"Nowadays"? The vast majority of games at any stage in the industry's history haven't increased difficulty in particularly inventive ways. The conflation of tedium with difficulty has been around for as long as gaming has. Games that do difficulty right are - and have always been - rare gems.

I remember a lot more in the earlier days, like Doom which adds enemies but has no lazy effect on damage, or Streets of Rage 3 where it not only adds enemies and enemy types, but several stages and a true ending on the harder difficulties. I'm not sure I've played anything even remotely recent like that. A game at its hardest difficulty should challenge you to every single aspect of the gameplay and require a firm understanding or ability to adapt and learn very quickly... Essentially the "true" experience. Not simply make it more difficult to get to the next cutscene or something.

Maybe I'm just unhappy with the integrity of the gaming industry, and difficulty is just one reason.

Yeah. But even still, it was rare that a game made things hard in a good way. You can sure name a lot of games. But when you compare that to the number of games that made a lazy hard mode, the number starts to look pretty minuscule...
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I play on easy or normal 99% of the time, depending on the game.

Mass Effect 3 is a rare exception because the multiplayer was so damn brutal that it makes Shepard feel like a god if you play on normal.
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SINnocent posted...

Come at me.

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I play on easy. I want to see the story I dont need to die every fucking time I see an enemy.
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i like playing on harder difficulties, but only if it's well done. making the random fodder enemy a sponge for damage isn't well done.
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Newer games are so easy anyways. I can't believe that many people play normal...which is basically easy difficulty.
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Generally I play on normal, as another posted said it is the game experience the devs were shooting for. Also it depends on the game, for RPGs I am usually only interested in the story or immersion, so I may drop it down to a lower difficulty.

I honestly don't care for higher difficulties in games, not because of a skill issue, but mainly because it doesn't add anything to the experience, except frustration.
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TallTamryu posted...

I can't believe that many people play normal..

Yeah well I can't believe it's not butter.
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Most of the time I just want to enjoy going through the game and I don't care about there being a "challenge". If I like the game enough I might play it on a more challenging setting, but usually I don't want to bother with that.
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I play games to have fun, not to prove my "733+ skillz"

Normal difficulty is usually what I play. Sometimes harder modes if there's a reason to (extra story content, unlock the best gear...at least till I get certain items I want, I'm no completionist), sometimes easier modes if the game seems tough or I really don't care about being challenged by the gameplay (RPGs I play for the story first and foremost, whatever lets me experience the whole story I'll do) or want to use a sub-optimal build for fun.

Also only play single player or local co-op, not against other players except for Smash Bros. I guess.

Most games these days have a pretty curated experience and want you to see it fairly unimpeded. To that end, higher difficulties are usually just literally raising parameters to make things hit you harder and such. It's not the intended experience, or it doesn't feel like it.
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I'm very polar in my gaming. I like Dark Souls and Ninja Gaiden, but will usually play stuff like Final Fantasy or Wolfenstein on easy. If my motivation is the story, I don't want a challenge. I get that elsewhere.
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Normal is what the game is supposed to be played on. Its the normal setting.

Crazy that people like playing games for story and characters, who dont like the piss being beat out of them but the game cheating them.
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I get really bored of video games that have no difficulty. Otherwise it just plays itself.

I literally only ever play two games at once and master them over 4 years. Right now it's Batman and Spyro speedrunning. I'm going for a world record.
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EvilMegas posted...

Normal is what the game is supposed to be played on. Its the normal setting.

And yet most games are designed these days FAR too easy. Normal is meant to be just right in terms of challenge and no/little frustration. Sadly, the devs often make it way too simple and the game becomes a cakewalk either at the start or further into the game once your character/party becomes more powerful.

If you enjoy 1-shotting everything and having literally on challenge, that's cool, but that bores me to tears instead. Many games your character is meant to be up against the odds, so yeah, it should be tease to you as the player trying to get through it as well. Makes little sense otherwise when things are so easy.

Normal is EASY in most modern games.
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You can tell how awful TC must be because of his cliche "beating super Mario when I was 2" and spelling out etcetera.

Honestly video games regardless of setting are easy. If you were really in search of a challenge, you would go learn to do open heart surgery or compete in a triathlon. Instead, you thought people would be like "oh wow, somebody plays video games on the hard level."

Literally no one cares.
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Yellow posted...

I get really bored of video games that have no difficulty. Otherwise it just plays itself.

I literally only ever play two games at once and master them over 4 years. Right now it's Batman and Spyro speedrunning. I'm going for a world record.

that's one weird crossover. moneybags would love batman
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TallTamryu posted...

EvilMegas posted...

Normal is what the game is supposed to be played on. Its the normal setting.

And yet most games are designed these days FAR too easy. Normal is meant to be just right in terms of challenge and no/little frustration. Sadly, the devs often make it way too simple and the game becomes a cakewalk either at the start or further into the game once your character/party becomes more powerful.

If you enjoy 1-shotting everything and having literally on challenge, that's cool, but that bores me to tears instead. Many games your character is meant to be up against the odds, so yeah, it should be tease to you as the player trying to get through it as well. Makes little sense otherwise when things are so easy.

Normal is EASY in most modern games. Games have gotten so much easier than they were in the past. Normal difficulty used to be alright, but it's not anymore. Hard is the new 'normal' difficulty.

No, just because YOU find it easy doesnt make it easy mode. Thats how the devs wanted it, they made the harder modes for goofs like you. The world doesnt revolve around what you personally fond easy or hard.
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TallTamryu posted...

EvilMegas posted...

Normal is what the game is supposed to be played on. Its the normal setting.

And yet most games are designed these days FAR too easy. Normal is meant to be just right in terms of challenge and no/little frustration. Sadly, the devs often make it way too simple and the game becomes a cakewalk either at the start or further into the game once your character/party becomes more powerful.

If you enjoy 1-shotting everything and having literally on challenge, that's cool, but that bores me to tears instead. Many games your character is meant to be up against the odds, so yeah, it should be tease to you as the player trying to get through it as well. Makes little sense otherwise when things are so easy.

Normal is EASY in most modern games. Games have gotten so much easier than they were in the past. Normal difficulty used to be alright, but it's not anymore. Hard is the new 'normal' difficulty.

What do you think are your collective hours spent playing videogames? How many skills do you think you've acquired, timing, reaction, hell even button layout memorization? You don't think that you're just better than someone who's been playing games for even 5 years?

Unless its KH or a trophy requires otherwise i go with the easiest difficulty. I dont exactly play hard games anyways but if there is something thats actually bad enough for me to call it hard then its a safe bet i am getting no enjoyment from it. I prefer being a god that melts anything that gets in my way.
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EvilMegas posted...

No, just because YOU find it easy doesnt make it easy mode. Thats how the devs wanted it, they made the harder modes for goofs like you. The world doesnt revolve around what you personally fond easy or hard.

Games have gotten easier over the years, this much is fact. I haven't gotten better at all (if anything I've gotten worse).
shadowsword87 posted...

You don't think that you're just better than someone who's been playing games for even 5 years?

Sure........but how many people on gamefaqs have only been playing for 5 years? I'm talking about the last 10 years or so at least games have gotten easier. The same stuff you'd expect from an older game is just way easier done than it was before. They are VERY forgiving, not just "easy mode". They let you get away with a lot more than previously making it easier than an older game which didn't hold your hand as much.
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How is that a fact? Do you have some sort secret meta data analyzing the difficulty of each game over a certain period of time? And what is the definition of "difficulty" in these data?
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TallTamryu posted...

EvilMegas posted...

No, just because YOU find it easy doesnt make it easy mode. Thats how the devs wanted it, they made the harder modes for goofs like you. The world doesnt revolve around what you personally fond easy or hard.

Games have gotten easier over the years, this much is fact. I haven't gotten better at all (if anything I've gotten worse).
shadowsword87 posted...

You don't think that you're just better than someone who's been playing games for even 5 years?

Sure........but how many people on gamefaqs have only been playing for 5 years? I'm talking about the last 10 years or so at least games have gotten easier. The same stuff you'd expect from an older game is just way easier done than it was before. They are VERY forgiving, not just "easy mode". They let you get away with a lot more than previously making it easier than an older game which didn't hold your hand as much.

You don't necessarily need to get better. But you have most likely gotten use to something. Games start to seem easier once you get use to them...

Also, games are probably more forgiving because they can be. Older games were much shorter. And most didn't have save points like games these day do. Some had save files. But the a lot of older ones were games you had to start from the beginning every time... games got easier because they got longer and better with saving. Meaning they didn't have to make the game harder to give you play value. I mean, that's obviously not the only reason. But I think it contributes a little to why games can be a little easier these days.

That being said, normal is how the devs want you to play the game, or how they are meant to be played unless specified otherwise... which some games actually do...(because devs don't have to artificially make games longer by making it much harder, basically...)
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Also, while I personally believe video games have gotten a little easier, I don't think they have to the level you think. Not only that, but you were younger. I can think of a few games that would take me forever to complete as a child that K can do in one sitting as an adult. Some games were probably only an hour long in reality...
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