The Difficulty Question

[Deleted member 4852]

I've seen a lot of threads lately that get derailed and I thought the best thing to do is discuss the issue in a single thread. Should games be required to have an easy mode? Is it an accessibility issue? Are you an abilist if you don't want one. If a creator chooses not to make one, would you accept that?

 

[Ryuelli]

Speaking as someone who plays games on easy mode 99% of the time and largely looks at games as a form of relaxation, no. Not every game needs to or should cater to me.

 

[PucePikmin]

No creative work is required to do anything. That said, easy modes are almost always a positive addition, and something that ought to be considered if the developer has the resources.

 

[kamineko]

there's a kind-of current thread about this that's locked for mod review

Difficulty options in games

Hey era I was wanting to make a thread talking about difficulty in games. Personally I'm of the opinion that all games should have some sort of assistance to their game to improve accessibility and maybe some difficulty adjustments. And while some folks may find this absurd I genuinely feel that...

www.resetera.com

i think difficulty options (both easy and hard) are good

edit: i'll also say granular settings like tlou2 seem to be well-received

 

[Deleted member 4852]

Speaking as someone who plays games on easy mode 99% of the time and largely looks at games as a form of relaxation, no. Not every game needs to or should cater to me.

Click to shrink...

In full disclosure, I have been in some of these other threads arguing that souls games should stay hard for reasons, and I still believe that but I am now playing through GoW on easy. But I stand by my beliefs

 

[Larrikin]

The more options the better. Not only for allowing players to have their preferred experience, but also as far as accessibility goes.

Even better, allow players to alter the difficulty of separate parts of gameplay. Extra difficult puzzles but super easy combat. Make stealth a lot easier but enemy combat AI more challenging etc.

 

[Deleted member 4852]

The more options the better. Not only for allowing players to have their preferred experience, but also as far as accessibility goes.

Even better, allow players to alter the difficulty of separate parts of gameplay. Extra difficult puzzles but super easy combat. Make stealth a lot easier but enemy combat AI more challenging etc.

Click to shrink...

but what if the developer actively chooses to not have an easy mode?

 

[Yesterday]

Games shouldn't be required to be anything except functional

 

[c bweezie]

The more options the better.

 

[Horp]

No.
Also wouldnt make sense cause one games' easy is another games' hard.

also, easy mode as a concept doesnt apply to all games.

if the game is too hard, pick another game. THAT isn't hard.

 

[Larrikin]

but what if the developer actively chooses to not have an easy mode?

Click to shrink...

Then that sucks. I'm not going to say that they're wrong to do so, but I definitely think that games should be able to be played by the largest amount of people possible. I'm not even specifically asking for difficulty options, but even if there's just a "Experience the story" mode where you're practically invincible could be good for those players who want to experience the world but can't handle the difficulty of standard play, or don't have the patience/time to learn.

Celeste is fantastic at including various accessibility options that let players get to just the right level of difficulty they want. Masterclass on this subject.

 

[laoni]

To answer the OP's questions.

Yes, difficulty modes are accessibility, a brute force version but, easier to implement I expect than what would be my gold standard (Sliders to customise difficulty to each individual, and options to turn HUD stuff on and off like mini maps, markers, visual guides etc.) What is 'hard but fair' to an able bodied person may be insurmountable to someone with a physical disability or a processing disability, so, even if the 'dev's artistic vision' is a hard but fair game, they're not providing it by not providing options in both directions.

Yes, I would say it's ableist if you (i'm using a general you here, not specifically calling OP out), an able bodied and/or neurotypical person, does not want accessibility options because 'reasons'. And, to quote myself from the other thread, an artistic decision that's inherently ableist is still...well, ableist. And we should be moving away from that. Options are simply that, options. Each individual can choose the experience that is optimal for their enjoyment, and the options that are best for them.

And to be frank, we already spend a lot of our time with creators who don't implement accessibility or difficulty options, or implement them in a mocking or derogatory way, as well as pressure from the wider gaming community to simply 'get gud' or to be completely dismissed in any conversation around the game if any accessibility concessions are used. 'Accepting it' is what has already been happening, just to stay in the hobby, or to keep the peace because whenever people ask for accessibility, if people aren't in the 'acceptable' range of disabilities to provide concessions for (visually impaired or hearing impaired, primarily), people get angry, or people call you a baby, or tell you to leave the space.

 

[ColdSun]

This topic is already being discussed in multiple other threads and doesn't need its own currently.