Poll: Why are video games getting so easy?

[Not-here-anymore]

or you can just say "eh, maybe I'm just getting better"

Whenever I think that could be the case, I go back to old platformers like Super Mario Bros or Donkey Kong Country, and get my colon stomped into the dirt.

And that wasn't fun! Video games are easier now because they're longer, and because, let's be honest, no-one enjoyed the long string of game overs in the older Mario games, or Contra, or the money eating arcade machines of old.

Video games are designed to amuse the player (and to make money, but at least partially for the player's amusement), and more people derive entertainment from a game they can actually play and have a chance at than from the multiple-death, forced-level-learning pain-fest of some older games. Easier games are not a bad thing. There's less frustration for all, and it opens the hobby up to all, removing any social stigma associated with the 'gamer' stereotype. Complaining about said accessibility (which, I know, not everyone is doing), is akin to complaining about books being written in English, rather than Latin, because it lets everyone read the same things.

Tl;dr - Video games are meant to be fun, 84 game overs before you have the muscle memory and superhuman reflexes required to complete a fraction of a level is not.

 

[teebeeohh]

the same reason why twilight "novels" sell better than novels by lets say Salman Rushdie
you make more money when games are more accessible

 

[cormacd12]

presumably because no-one bought nija gaiden 2

 

[DontHassleTheHoff]

I'd say there's a general trend, that suddenly was ignored by Treyarch with World at War. Srsly, what the hell is up with that sniper level with the angry Russian dude? I nearly broke our TV through anger at that level.

 

[Shirokurou]

Cause they want to be open to the casual market.

And with that thought, go get raped... uh I meant, go play Demon's Soul. One of the hard games of 2009

 

[Guffe]

Maybe the games are not getting easy, maybe you're just getting too good? Ever thought about it that way?

 

[Poofs]

games havent really gotten harder
its just more of a storytelling medium than a timewaster
these days games need to be easily acccessible to anyone so anyone can experience it

 

[Areani]

Because Viewers Are Morons [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ViewersAreMorons].

 

[demoman_chaos]

Playing some old NES and Genesis games made me realize we are spoiled today. Even most kids games made in those games are tough (Aladdin on the Genesis beats me something awful even today).

Today, things are much easier. Games like Demon's Souls are needed to kick our butts until we cry for more. Any From Software game is usually hard though, even 3D Dot Hero has some parts that can kick your ass.

Luckily I'm playing armored core at the moment which is like being hit in the balls with a sledgehammer on every mission.

AC: FA was fairly easy for the most part, save for the last 2 missions on hard (1 v 3 in a tight area and 1 v 5 in a large and cluttered area for those that don't know). My blade mech whips up on most everything everywhere except there. My mech is too fast to move around effectively in the tight area, and the water in the 1 v 5 means most of my blade swipes just push the enemy into the water instead of murdering them.
Unless you mean trying to win a match online, only Japanese people lurk there and they (being Japanese) are instantly much better than any westerner.

 

[Kathinka]

i contemplated the new splinter cell.. pandora tomorrow and chaos theory on highest difficulty were just insanely hard, just as i like it...one would actually have to thing what to do. in conviction, fun as it is, i can butcher my way through HORDES of enemies on highest difficulties without them posing any thread.
au contrair, i can toy with them and slaughter them in whatever sick and bizar way i fancy. kind of sad...

 

[McShizzle]

I dont know why but it seems like all the games i play these days are getting easier then before, I dont really have a good example because all the games I play are super easy. even when i play L4D2 and expert its easy

Not sure I particularily believe this statement. Either that or you must be some sort of experimental new wunderkind. I can hardly get a team of people from the public queue that's good enough to make it through the level, let alone finish the finale on expert. "Avoid the tank, he's burning. Just avoid him," I say. But noooooo.... they can't do that. And expert realism? Forget it.

 

[Lemon Of Life]

There are still the odd few out there that are difficult, but I do agree, Modern Warfare 2 was ridiculously easy to complete on Veteran, and so were the Spec Ops missions, but on the other hand, I'm playing through Machinarium, which is difficult, but more in a puzzle way than reflexes and tactics.

To be honest, I'm not too fussed about difficulty, as long as it's fun.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

I've noticed this. And games are getting easier because publishers want to tap into the casual gamer market, something Nintendo has been doing for a while now (which made them the juggernaut we see and fear today).

 

[goldenheart323]

They're easier now because the gamers that grew up on 8 & 16-bit games now, (for the most part,) have a job, a family, and a house to maintain. They don't have the time to game that they used to, and they don't want to buy a game & have it take 10 months to finish. They want to come home & unwind for a bit by blowing stuff up & seeing how the story's unfolding.

 

[milkoy]

Its a bit of a catch 22. Over the past 10 years, games have become more and more cinematic, and to a lesser extent, more story based. And I guess because of this, the developers want people to be able to finish the game.

And I can imagine the outcry if in Call of Duty Wardern Modfare 3, people couldn't finish the final level? People don't play games for a challenge, they play them for the experience, like a film or a book.

I guess maybe that is an improvement, at least in my opinion, as the main reason so few people finished Super Mario, was because the plot was just "FIND PRINCESS PEACH!", and you always knew she was somewhere to the right of you, and you would find her. I'd rather have the cinematic experience and the involving story than the challenge.

But, shit, how many games are just piss easy with an awful story to boot? Too many.

 

[Marter]

It's being catered to people who haven't necessarily been playing games for long, so they are trying to let those people play them and have some sort of success.

 

[Oktanas]

Games are much easier. It's a symptom of them having to appeal to as wider audience as possible. Personally i find that even when i turn the difficulty up it does not become more hard, just more cheap, less fun and more imbalanced towards certain play styles/ weapons.

Like in Mass Effect 2. Even on insanity if you keep on top of your upgrades i still breeze through the regular fights. Then just occasionally the game will put you in an almost impossible situation that just requires you to sit in cover and spam one power. It's not that hard, it's just more tedious and less enjoyable.

STALKER does hard right. It's difficult but altogether satisfying. It forces you to be constantly alert and thinking.

I totaly agree with you.