When Did "Easy" Become "Casual" Difficulty?

[wookiee777]

I don't know exactly how common this is, and I don't consider this a huge sweeping issue, but it's something that gets under my skin. I have noticed that in a few games such as Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time, and Red Faction Guerrilla that there is no "easy" difficulty, instead there is "casual" difficulty. Why? Are people so sensitive that they can't take being told that they are playing on a more basic difficulty? I know casual is the same as easy, but why the word change? In most games hard is still hard (though I have seen it changed to other things like "hardcore" in Pixel Junk Monsters.) What happened to the word games used to use for the most basic difficulty setting?

Why do some developers change the word "easy" to "casual"?

 

[Dawns Gate]

First time I ever saw the term was in Gears of War. I thought they called it that because they named all their difficulties differently than other games that I played at that time (casual, hardcore, insane). To me it just seemed like everyone wanted to follow suit.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Because potentially the people who are likely to be playing on easy aren't the ones who you want to risk turning away from your game by calling them idiots.

 

[Keoul]

I suppose it's because "easy" is kind of demeaning.
Saying "I just finished gears of war on casual mode" gives you a bit more confidence than "I just finished gears of war on easy mode"

 

[Joccaren]

Because it describes the style of play that will get you through the game, rather than an obtuse difficulty with no measure.

Theoretically you should be able to make it through a 'casual' difficulty game playing like a casual - just jump in, spend 5 minutes to half an hour, head off. You don't need to put much thought into it, or a lot of practice, its just something you jump in every now and then to do for a laugh.
Normal is where an average player would be required to beat the game. You need to put some thought into your actions, and have developed some level of skill to be able to beat the game. You should be spending longer periods of time than a 'casual' difficulty run through in beating each mission, and thus would require longer sittings, though not always substantially, than a normal player.
Hardcore mode is for when a hardcore mentality is required to beat the game. You need to think about all your actions, you need to have honed your skills to a semi-competitive level, and you need a significant time investment to beat each mission because of this. After a lot of practice at that type of game, hardcore can just become second nature and be as easy as casual for some people, but that all depends on the game and the player.

Why this over Easy, Normal, Hard?
Well, I have no clue whether Dark Souls has an 'Easy' mode or not, but if it did, it certainly wouldn't be the type of easy where someone could jump in, play for a few minutes with little skill or thought, then jump out and eventually finish the game - at least if what I've been hearing about it is correct.
Hence, what meaning does "Easy" have when you first load up the game? You only have other games as benchmarks, and they provide an answer inconsistent with what the difficulty actually is. Such games do exist, where they are not meant to be played in a casual way, and 'easy' is merely a way of saying 'Not as hard as normal' - requiring you to have played the game before to be able to make a worthwhile comparison.
Casual, on the other hand, tells you everything you need to know about how to play that difficulty. Jump in, no thought, no skill, and eventually finish the game.

No clue how this holds up in practice, and I am obviously biased by my experience of difficulty levels personally and am finding it harder and harder to empathise with people who play on easy now, as I haven't had to play a game on that difficulty for years [Though I still turn them on easy sometimes for a casual run to waste time], so take this all with a grain of salt - but this is how it appears to me.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I still like the titles doom had for the difficulty levels. I can't remember the names but they sounded cool

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I suppose it's because "easy" is kind of demeaning.
Saying "I just finished gears of war on casual mode" gives you a bit more confidence than "I just finished gears of war on easy mode"

Exactly. It's the same in everyday talk. People are such pussies nowadays, they find everything offensive and demeaning. So we use euphemisms and soft language to avoid unpleasant realities and feel better about ourselves. People don't want to play on easy mode. It makes them feel incompetent. But on casual, they feel like they're just casual players. Nothing bad about being casual, right? There's nothing demeaning about that word in any way. The word doesn't remind you of incompetence because you use it every day to describe a casual life stile, casual way of dressing etc.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Never thought it mattered, we all know casual is easy, so if someone says that, they played it on easy.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Because a) it's different from Easy, which is what everyone used to call Easy mode, b) because people can't take being told they are playing on Easy mode and c) becuase people who can only play on Easy mode like to think that the mode is made for them rather than the game being too difficult or complicated. In other words, they want casual players to feel included when they're actually just not prepared to put enough effort in to play the game at the intended level.

 

[mohit9206]

i play all games on the easiest setting available coz am lazy also coz i play just for story and ending not for frustration and hair pulling

 

[Lieju]

Can't say I've ever really noticed that.
I play games a lot but I suck at some types of games, so I have no shame admitting I play the arcade mode of Marvel vs Capcom 3 on 'very easy'.

I kinda assumed those names were used basically to make it sound cooler.
But maybe there is an attempt to make the 'easy' mode sound more acceptable? I mean, if you include it, you include it on purpose, to accommodate the players who aren't as good at that kind of a game. If you include 'normal' and 'easy', you give the impression that the normal choice is, well, the normal, and if you choose 'easy', you're playing on a level most people playing the game would find too easy, and not in a way the game was meant to be played.

The actual problems involved in the different levels of difficulty are more along the lines of 'how I know what difficulty is suitable for me?', and where does the difficulty come from, the computer cheating, having to use random guessing, giving the enemies better AI etc.

 

[Palademon]

I think Easy is only a negative connotation to difficulty in games that have an obvious "Normal" difficulty, since that implies the way the game was supposed to be played, and playing on Easy instead makes the player look incapable or uncommited. Ergo Casual.

But there have been games where I had to play through on Easy. On the first Devil May Cry I had to start again and force unlock the Easy Auto mode because I couldn't get passed the first boss on Normal, but even though that meant I beat the game, it wasn't very satisfactory since it was too easy. I think there should've been a better inbetween.

 

[Erttheking]

.......is this really a big deal? I mean seriously, why is this a problem? It's hardly any different from using the word easy.

 

[VladG]

I don't know exactly how common this is, and I don't consider this a huge sweeping issue, but it's something that gets under my skin. I have noticed that in a few games such as Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time, and Red Faction Guerrilla that there is no "easy" difficulty, instead there is "casual" difficulty. Why? Are people so sensitive that they can't take being told that they are playing on a more basic difficulty? I know casual is the same as easy, but why the word change? In most games hard is still hard (though I have seen it changed to other things like "hardcore" in Pixel Junk Monsters.) What happened to the word games used to use for the most basic difficulty setting?

Why do some developers change the word "easy" to "casual"?

I expect it could be to attract a wider gaming demographic... namely casual players. People who don't go in for AAA games and only play flash games and such. For them core gaming can be pretty scary and they have no point of reference to compare "easy, normal, hard" but casual addresses them more directly (not because we name them "casual gamers" but because of the implications of the word itself)

Another explanation (one I hope is not closer) is that clueless CEO's and design committees have heard the increased use of the term "casual gamer" and started using it without understanding what it means simply to adhere to what they consider to be "gaming parlance"

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

.......is this really a big deal? I mean seriously, why is this a problem? It's hardly any different from using the word easy.

You're not looking at the bigger picture here. Sure it may not look like a big deal, but think about why they're making these changes. Take a good fuckin' look at the western society. It's full of pathetic, easily offended incompetent people who can't handle the truth that they're just not good enough. And instead of facing the reality and working harder so they wouldn't have to feel incompetent, we make their incompetence disappear by declaring that everyone is now competent. If you look at the big picture you'll realize that it's not about gaming. Gaming is just one aspect of this that's also infected now. Schools too. Nowadays EVERY kid gets a trophy. Everyone's a fuckin' winner. We're actively lowering the standards of competence. And we mostly do it for profit. People don't want to pay unless they are guaranteed to feel like winners. And we do it everywhere! Do you know how dangerous that is for the society? We are only as good as our weakest link. We shouldn't cater to the weak. We risk weakening everyone. We should encourage the weak to grow stronger.

 

[krazykidd]

Anyone ever play the game wanted? The difficulties levels, and i shit you not are : pussy ( easy ) assassin ( normal ) and the killer ( hard ).

The game basically calls you a pussy for playing on easy .

 

[Rack]

.......is this really a big deal? I mean seriously, why is this a problem? It's hardly any different from using the word easy.

You're not looking at the bigger picture here. Sure it may not look like a big deal, but think about why they're making these changes. Take a good fuckin' look at the western society. It's full of pathetic, easily offended incompetent people who can't handle the truth that they're just not good enough. And instead of facing the reality and working harder so they wouldn't have to feel incompetent, we make their incompetence disappear by declaring that everyone is now competent. If you look at the big picture you'll realize that it's not about gaming. Gaming is just one aspect of this that's also infected now. Schools too. Nowadays EVERY kid gets a trophy. Everyone's a fuckin' winner. We're actively lowering the standards of competence. And we mostly do it for profit. People don't want to pay unless they are guaranteed to feel like winners. And we do it everywhere! Do you know how dangerous that is for the society? We are only as good as our weakest link. We shouldn't cater to the weak. We risk weakening everyone. We should encourage the weak to grow stronger.

Really? In entertainment? I don't think so. If we're getting on a high horse I think it's more damaging people are pinning their self-esteem on being good at video games. There's no shame in taking the path of least resistance if all that means is you don't get better at Halo. By all means train to be able to run a marathon (though actually running it is a bad idea), work hard at school, learn languages and play instruments, get a good job and apply yourself. Do things and do them well but if you're not enjoying the wholly arbitrary challenges put together by poor games designers then drop down the difficulty and have fun.

 

[DoveAlexa]

I find the setting being called casual WAY more insulting than it being called easy. On easy, its the same game but easier, on casual mode, you're playing it because you're either a grandma, a kesha fan or a frat boy with 2 brain cells. At least 'easy' mode doesn't try to tell you you're not a real gamer. I also have a beef with hard difficulty being called hardcore; playing a game on hard does not make you a man among men, it means you played a game on hard.