Editorial: Why Does Difficulty Matter?
By Chris on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 10:03 AM PST In Computer, Editorials, Features, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Gamer Life, Games, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nintendo, Portable, Sony, Sony
I started thinking about this after I bought Guitar Hero III. I’ve never actually owned a previous GH game; I’ve just casually played them while standing around in GameStop, Best Buy, whatever. Having watched a friend play on the higher difficulties, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to play on the same level, so I decided to try a song on medium. Too hard for me. I went with easy, and I’ve been having a great time ever since. But why is it that I keep getting messages from friends on Xbox Live, chastising me for playing on easy (which of course accuse me of being a noob and that sort of thing)?
Then I realized what it was – just like your rank in a game, your Gamerscore or position on a leaderboard, the difficulty you play a game is on is a testament to how good you are – at least in the minds of anyone who has a secondhand look at that information.
But why does it matter?
I realize, as I write this, that I have the same prejudice in games I’m more… hardcore at, for lack of a better term. Whenever I boot up Halo 3 and head into matchmaking, I take a glance at other players’ campaign status – if they’ve finished the game on easy or normal, I automatically will poke fun or just think to myself, “I can just focus on killing this dude the whole game.”
But after picking up something new in Guitar Hero III, I’ve got a newfound understanding for what difficulties mean. To those on the sidelines, the difficulty you play a game on is, as I said earlier, a sort of stamp as to how good you are. It’s a measure of whether or not you should even be able to play that game in their minds – “Because if you play on easy, you’re not even playing the game.”
It’s hard to ignore those taunts and jeers, because who doesn’t want to be accepted and even admired by their peers? I know I was frustrated after those Xbox Live messages came rolling in saying, “OMG easy??? lollolol y r u even playin??”
But you know what – I was having fun. I was having fun playing Guitar Hero III on easy, and even though I’m now up to playing on medium, I’m glad I started on easy because I’m now able to enjoy the game more, and it wasn’t like I “wasted” time playing on easy so that I could work my way up – I was having fun. And, last time I checked, that’s why I (and presumably all of you) play videogames.
With the advent of achievements, Gamerscore, leaderboards and stat tracking of every false move you make, it can be easy to forget that. But while those are all nice and – in an ideal situation – add replayability to games you might otherwise leave on the shelf to collect dust, they also add this unnecessary layer of competition. It’s fun to compare achievements, but since when is that the point of playing games? This is, in a sense, simply an extension of what I’m talking about with the difficulty people play at – people want to find some edge they have (or think they have) and exploit it to either belittle you or make themselves seem better.
Next time you’re playing a game and are picking a difficulty, pick the one you think you’re going to have the most fun with. The point of playing a game is to be entertained and have fun; if being forced to restart a mission or song a million times isn’t your thing, don’t force yourself through it to get those trolls off your back. When the obligatory “OMG easy!!!1” messages roll in, you can just say, “Yup, and I’m having fun. I bet watching what difficulty I’m playing on is loads of fun, isn’t it?”
I completely love Guitar Hero III. I loved Guitar Hero II as well. I cannot play on the hard levels. I can dominate on easy and I can 5 star most medium songs. I simply do not have the finger dexterity to pull off the songs on the toughest levels. When I was in the Army, I injured my hand and broke it in 6 places. Prior to that injury, I played a little guitar but that was all over after that. I can still use my hand just fine for most things, but I did lose quite a bit of the dexterity on one side of my hand. People can talk smack to me if they want about playing on easy or medium, but it’s great fun for me. I really miss the days when I was pretty good with a real guitar, so GH provides me an opportunity to really have some fun. Fortunately, most games do not require agility and speed from all fingers. But yeah.. people can talk all the smack they want. We’re not all going to be experts in each game. Some games, I can completely dominate people and other games I play for my own personal pleasure. I understand that gamers will always have a competitive nature, but sometimes they need to lay off a little. It’s just not possible to be awesome at every game in the world.
But, you know, you DO suck for playing on easy…idiots they are. I’ve read a lot on here in the past about gamerscores and achievements etc. etc. and whilst games by nature are competitive (you against someone else(s) or against the game itself) they are primarly for fun, so to be poked fun at in games for doing something you find more fun I find stupid beyond belief. Ok, so I played through Gears of War by my self on normal/hard (don’t remember) and found it so difficult. It was the first game in ages that really made me throw the controller about (previous one being Star Ocean on the PS2) and I NEEDED a friend to come round and help me play it. Was it easier? Yeah, but it totally rocked when playing it with a friend and that’s all I cared about.
I took GoW online a few times and it was the first game I played on Live…aside from 8 players only which I won’t go into, the first thing I heard over the mic was “oh, noob just joined the game.” Well of course! If I’ve only played it for few hours, of course I’m not going to be brilliant! I then got trounced on by 4 people who had clearly been playing it for all year, which sufficed to say, I think means they had a bit of an advantage.
In Halo 3, I would always look at other people’s campaign status, but not for making fun of them, for making sure the teams were fair. It always annoyed me when I was in or against a team that clearly had no hope of taking on the other. It’s just a waste of time if CTF in Sandtrap takes 2 minutes. Not even the people who are winning usually find it that fun.
Finally, in Command and Conquer 3 which I frequent now, you can see rank and W/L ratio’s. I use those in a similar vain to Halo 3; if there is a game where I’m against someone(s) who are either much better or much worse than me, I simply won’t play because then it’s just not fun to either compeltely lose or to completely demolish someone. Cool against an Ai, but that’s it.
i just select the lowest dificulty because it garantee’s i’ll have the most enjoyment from the game, with is why i buy games.
i do crank up the dificulty from time to time, but i usually give up after a while because i’ve already played and beaten it.
I definitely thin there’s a place for stats, but I could never harass someone for being better or worse than I am at a particular game. That’s just part of life.
i do think that the amount of access to all of your previous stats are kinda sad. sure you can see how good you are compared to other people, but is that really gonna make you a better player?
I agree on how it is all about how much fun you have with the game, but if you’re a chimp and you play Kingdom hearts all day, because it’s so challenging,
also, I only like GHI, GHIII looks a little stupid to me… They have it at my work and I’ve played it a number of times.. I just don’t like it as much as I.
If it wasn’t for competition, you wouldn’t be enjoying the “fun” of video gaming… nublet.
Grow a sack girly man and play on Hard already! You never know, it might even improve your game.
YourMommy,
I don’t think that is entirely true. Competition definitely adds something to most games, but it’s not the end all category that decides whether a game is fun and enjoying. It depends on the game and your personality. Halo has always been about the competition to me, but I’m simply not great at GH, so I play it for my personal enjoyment. I very rarely play against someone in the game. The single most important thing about any game is that you can personally enjoy it. Who cares what people think about your stats or what level you play on? I can have a very fun afternoon playing GH3 on easy and medium. Why does anyone have a right to knock that? They put those levels in there for a reason. So I enjoy games with and without competition.
Did they buy the game for me?
Ah, leave it to the Xbox Live community to take something fun and turn it into a pissing contest. Yeah, the Gamerscore thing gets on my nerves sometimes too, especially because it usually means nothing. Of course I haven’t gotten all the achievements, because it’s just not fun for me. The harder difficulties are there for people who are looking more to test their skills than just have fun. Seriously, there are no winners in a “who’s the bigger nerd” argument.
I agree with you. Play at what you like and have fun. I’ve played Halo 3 a few times because of a friend inviting me. He didn’t care if I sucked but he had other people he invited that care. I just wanted to play and have fun but I guess those other guys didn’t see it the same way he and I did.
I usually play on the harder difficulty levels, because I think I’m actually missing out. When I got Halo 3, on my first try I took a go at Legendary and I thought it was pretty simple (but not a cakewalk, mind you). As for games such as Guitar Hero, I cannot even play on Medium, let alone on Easy. It’s just when I play the rhythm games I want to be challenged and have fun doing it. Yeah I might suck on some of the songs and can’t full combo all of them, but I still enjoy the fact that I’m playing on Expert and having fun while thinking in my mind that someone who plays on Easy or any lower difficulty level can’t play this whole song without failing within the first 5 seconds. I guess it’s a matter of thinking “omg i am so hxc cuz i play on expert”, which most of the people on Xbox Live have. As for me I just like the fact that I can play and beat most of the songs on Expert while my friends can’t beat even the most simple of songs on Medium.
I too can not take on the harder levels. For some reason I cant get my pinky finger to work both the blue and the orange buttons. Medium is fun enough with friends. However watching that video of that guy on YouTube is very impressive. He is playing that final song on expert. Insane! Do a search on Guitar Hero 3 and look for this guy name Conrad.
hey chris
just passing through wanted to throw my two sense out there.
I don’t care about achievements. I don’t care how many I don’t have and I don’t care how many other people have.
If your not playing to have fun then I think you missed the boat. Easy is fine, in actuality, I don’t even care what difficulty you play on. I think its pretty pathetic to be one of those oh you ruined it or your not a real gamer guys cause you played on easy or with cheats. You know its my money and my time, why in the sam hell does anyone think I should play according to some dim witted morons official how to play games right rule book? Screw that!
My opinion? Tell them to go F themselves, block them, and have fun Jack @ss free.
On a slightly more personal note F you too for being on of those halo pricks. good day sir!