Poll: Do you think computer games are getting easier?

[CannibalCorpses]

I have noticed over the last few years that games are taking me less and less time and effort to finish, despite me playing almost all games on the hardest setting.

I was wondering if anyone else has noticed this difference or whether this is just something particular to me?

I'll give you the background info...

I am 32 years old and have been playing games since i got my first Spectrum ZX81 when i was 7. I moved on from that to the Vic 20, then the Commodore 64, NES, Megadrive, Playstation 1, PC, Playstation 2 and then finally the XBOX 360. I have always been a keen games player but until i got my first PC, when i was about 17, i never really finished that many games. I was a good player but there were plenty of people out there better than me.

That all started to change when i got my PS2. I started finding that games were less difficult than before and rather than getting stuck on the last few levels i would always get to the end. I had to try hard of course because i was competing to prove myself, if not to be as good as my friends then better. I never changed the difficulty because the challenge was just right and i still got value for money from the games i was buying. This continued until i purchased my first xbox 360.

With the addition of gamerpoints and achievements i was really happy. You can't deny someones ability at a game or doubt what they say when its there in black and white. If i have the gamerpoints for finishing a game then obviously thats what i've done. Thats when i started making a point of destroying games. Instead of walking away when a game was over i would go back and do it all again on the hardest setting. Some games have driven me mad trying for score, CoD 3 being a good example...it took me 3 months to get past one level on veteran. That was maybe 2-3 years ago and since i managed that game, almost everything else has seemed weak on challenge in comparison (apart from other CoD titles)

I started to finish almost every game on the hardest setting...i would play it on normal first and then go straight back and do it on the hardest setting afterwards. It was still ok, it would take a few weeks for most games and the occasional one might be quicker or slower but i'd get there in the end. After a while i noticed that the normal playthrough was making the harder one too easy and i got the game time down to about 3 days so i started going straight for the hardest setting first which made games last longer. But then i questioned if £40 for 3 days play was actually worth it and thats when i started pondering the question i've asked.

Nowadays i can finish most games within the day, on the hardest setting, and if not the day then definately by the second. I don't play sports games but any other genre is fair game. Some games have massive cut-scenes, which put the overall playing time up but not the challenge. Some games make you do more of the same thing, like racing games, that up the overall playing time but again, not the challenge. I have just recently started aiming for world leaderboards, to try to make the challenge more intense, and have had more sucess than i expected. When im retro gaming i find the challenges harder but also quicker because games were much shorter back then.

So theres my history and experience of gaming.

Is it just a case that i have got better at games? Or have computer games in general just got easier like i suspect? Or is there another reason you can suggest that i haven't thought of?

I want to know your thoughts and experiences on this please

 

[Avae]

Yeah I definately think so, I can relate to your experiences because my first system was a commodore 64 in 1992. Games now are very easy, I think the prime culprit is regenerating health. Some people argue that health-packs are unrealistic and ruin the flow of a game but with regenerating health it's just too easy. Bioshock had those Vitachambers which just made death inconsequential. It was a great game but the length of it came down to the progression of the levels not overcoming challenges.

 

[Zantos]

I wouldn't say they're getting easier difficulty wise, but I think they're getting easier to use. Depends on what games you play though, some are harder than others. Though saying that I only started out on the PS1, so I've not really got experience with older games, except for that one time we found a working NES and played Pacman. Even then, most of the difficulty did seem to come from dodgy controls.

 

[laggyteabag]

I do sometimes find myself getting stuck on a level or two but most of the time i just fly through the game without much thought to what i am doing

 

[Mr Thin]

Part of it's simply streamlining the crap out of video games, like labyrinthine levels, puzzles with no clear solution, cheap difficulty; and part of it is games being made deliberately easier to appeal to more people.

I notice you don't mention multiplayer; have you tried pitting yourself against other people? That's the best indication, I think. If you get your ass kicked by them, then yes, games are getting easier, and you have to look to other people to find a real challenge; but if you own just as much online as offline, then you're probably just really good at games.

 

[Ranorak]

Maybe we're just getting better?

I've been playing games for a good 10 years now.
And I recently started playing some old school classics on my DS and Wii.
Games like Crono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6 (or III).

These aren't all that harder then current games.
Granted, there are far less Nintenhard games out there.

 

[PSIcho2468]

It probably has to do with the large market, where there are a large number of people who aren't as good as the other players, and this number is larger so they win. So for them, gaming has turned down the difficulty while others suffer at ease, being a pretty good gamer this sucks. But if you want a hard game, go play Ninja Gaiden or something

 

[death525]

I wouldnt say theyve gotten easier its just that you have much better controls now. I mean wouldnt the original Super Mario Bros. be easier if it was in 3D and you could just walk around all the enemies and fireballs.

 

[ArtemusClydeFrog]

I agree that games have gotten easier to some extent, but I see it as a result of games getting better. There's no need to extend the time it takes to complete a game by forcing the player through hours of trial and error or frustrating game mechanics or difficulty curves.

I've been playing games since the NES era and I think many games are more enjoyable now. There's enough challenge to prevent the games from becoming cakewalks, but games nowadays are much more focused on being 30 hours of enjoyment and fluid storytelling than 5 hours of extremely hard gameplay that takes hours to master and complete.

I'd prefer the games of today over old school games any day.

 

[teh_Canape]

I don't think that games are getting easier

but that we are already used to difficulty curves and stuff, so have an easier way around them
for any newcomer it could be about as hard as it was for us when we started

 

[ripdajacker]

Interesting question. It's hard to tell for me personally since I grew up with the genesis, and some of the games there were unforgiving. Sure I was 7-10 and a lot worse at games, but there was not that much hand-holding.

Linearity != simplicity. Sonic is as linear as games get, but at times it's quite challenging. A good example is the final boss fight in Sonic The Hedgehog 2 on the genesis.

Today you have tutorials, support characters and chest high walls. The challenge has moved from you vs the computer to you vs the world online.

 

[chronomaster5042]

I think Jim Sterling got this one right on. Games have gotten easier to beat, but the challenge comes with the extras such as getting a perfect score, collecting all magic mcguffins, bonus bosses, etc. Game developers just don't force difficulty on players anymore.

 

[TehCookie]

Did you replay any of the older games or are you relying solely on memory? I've been gaming as a kid and gaming has gotten easier. It's not because they are less challenging, I've gotten better.

 

[PatrickXD]

I agree that they're getting easier, not massively easy but I know that I can complete any new game you throw at me whereas older games were rock hard. An easy comparison is the new Goldeneye compared to the previous for the N64. The new one is far easier, with regenerating health and many checkpoints throughout the mission.
That's the problem I have with dropping £40 on a game. I bought the recent Deus Ex: Human Revolution for full price, because I had heard online that it is both a long game and one worth playing more than once. (that's long in terms of an action game, so 25-40 hours) therefore it seemed reasonable to put £40 against 100+ hours of entertainment.
the new Goldeneye I bought at the same time for only £10, because I will probably play it through twice only and it has an 8-12 hour campaign.