Artificial Difficulty

[repoe]

Funny stuff, I bequeath this thread the following snippets

Frankly, I’ve heard a lot of different definitions of what people think artificial difficulty means and the only thing that has remained consistent through all of them is “The difficulty doesn’t feel fun.”

The same sobbing toddlers who quit Ghouls n’ Ghosts grew into the whining adults who quit Dark Souls and say it’s artificially difficult. Their reasons always boil down to the same things – it’s harsh, unfair and unpredictable. One of the main culprits that will receive blame in games like these are the seemingly random events that surprise and punish players. This type of gameplay is a punch to the balls but is also designed to teach players what to expect in similar settings later on. This type of difficulty is often regarded as…

TRIAL AND ERROR / MEMORIZATION

Gamers have allowed their frustrations to manifest into the boogie man. Artificial difficulty didn’t exist until it caught on a few years ago. Before that time, people actually examined what made the game hard and why they felt it was unfair or not fun. For any game you may become frustrated with there are going to be reasons why. Attempting to identify those reasons helps promote meaningful discussion. There is always a better word to describe your grievances with a games difficulty other then “artificial”. Merely tossing a blanket over everything you don’t like and calling it artificial has the opposite effect and achieves nothing other than the dumbing down of language.

The boogie man is not real, your dog didn’t go to live on a big farm with hundreds of other playful dogs, the Easter bunny is not real and neither is artificial difficulty.

[Havenae]

Funny stuff, I bequeath this thread the following snippets

Shit gods forbid a game be difficult AND fun.

What would we do with ourselves?