How modern gaming has made us into wimpy gamers

[Dreddz]

How modern gaming has made us into wimpy gamers | GamesRadar

This is an article I just came across today and I have to completely agree with it. Modern gaming has become too easy and way too forgiving. And worst of all we gamers are happy about it.

I remember when Devil May Cry 3 came out and the outcry from its fans that it was too hard. PANSIES! I was really happy with the new direction Capcom was taking with the series but then Capcom slapped me in the face and made the series more noob friendly than ever with Devil May Cry 4. Probably scared the series would suffer the same fate as Ninja Gaiden and become a niche franchise. And the reason Ninja Gaiden suffered this fate is because gamers don't want a challenge anymore.

I also remember people praising the new Prince of Persia game because it didn't punish dying whatsoever. Its like they're happy they don't have to bother getting good at a game anymore because your never punished for being bad. What kind of sick joke is that!

So what does everybody else think. Agree? Disagree?

[NeoCracker]

I, for the most part, disagree.

People are pansies to begin with. Its just the fact that now a days, since more and more people are getting connected to the intenet, we are seeing more and more of how stupid people can really be. XD

And with gaming being larger now then ever before, there are far more people, and I think, in part anyway, that more people are getting into it because it's easier at times.

So I think it has more to do with games attracting more whimpy gamers then turning already existing gamers into whimpy ones.

[Levian]

eh wuteva. Super Mario is harder than ever. In the Super Nintendo era it was way easier to find games that kids could play, but whenever my cousins come over to play (10-12 years) I don't even know if I have any game they wouldn't fail horribly at besides Mario Party.

[Wolf Kanno]

I can't say I completely agree with the article as I feel he missed the point on a few things (interactive cutscenes and memory cards) but overall I agree the quality of difficulty has dwindled in the past ten years.

I do wish for a return to games offering challenge. Its not that I want them to be insanely hard like the NES days but rather I wouldn't mind seeing the game over screen a few times and having boss battles that require more than hitting X over and over again.

I feel NeoCracker is correct in that gaming is being designed more for the casual wimpy gamers instead of the more hardcore gamers. I do agree with the article in that alot of games are empowering the player far too much and destroying a true sense of achievement. Being good at DMC3 requires skill and dedication, being good at KH2 requires hitting the X button. I just wish we had balance and less making the majority of the game for people who really don't want to bother with the whole "game" aspect and make the challenging stuff some far off side quest that gets unlocked after you finish the game or towards the end when you don't care anymore.

[LunarWeaver]

I too long for the days when gaming was frustrating and irksome.

[scrumpleberry]

The way in which more difficult games are difficult has just changed. I couldn't play Street Fighter or the original Zelda to save my life, but I'm at least as good at more recent difficult games than a friend who's been gaming since pong. You just have to learn to adapt your style to the current trends.

Easy games are just there to appeal to a broader market, or more casual gamers (like me most of the time).

Also, can someone explain to me why people are so ready to believe the worst of themselves? "Videogames are too easy now, all gamers are rubbish compared with BACK IN YE OLDE DAYS (all of 30 years ago...)" "People are pansies to begin with..." Bull. Although I'm many things, I've never been a pansy. Nor have many of my friends. This is something that's really been bugging me lately. We're incredible creautres with incredible capabilities. What's up with all the self-depreciation?

[Monol]

Bagh i agree for the most part, our ambitions in gaming have certainly faultered over the years
Yet..

Challenges are relative me harteys.

If you want the game to be more difficult then do it yourself.

Games arent as tough as they used to be but its not so bad. Heck challenges are what makes classic games so enjoyable.

Dont worry though when I make videogames ill be sure to give this generation somthing to fear...muhahahahah!

[Lionx]

Apparently this is too hard:

YouTube - Chris, Its not impossible

I never once felt that way even when i was 3 playing this game..once i avoided the seaweed i never died People were pansies then.

[scrumpleberry]

ehh...on the actual article i agree with everything apart from saving x( tbh the guy's a bit elitist if he thinks the industry can get along without saves, if he wants noone to enjoy games apart from HARDKOAAAARRRRR gamers who sit in the same position for 30 hours just to finish a game...

[KentaRawr!]

Something that I think is partly the cause of games being easier is the fact that games now have a lot more to them when it comes to story-telling, atmosphere, and making sure everything flows. When a game focuses on things like that, making the game tough as Megaman Death-Nails isn't a great idea, because then it would hinder the other pieces of the experience. The problem is that there are still games that focus on things like combat, so for them to be fun, they have to be challenging.

So, in Prince of Persia's defense, I'm going to say that not having a Game Over screen in a game like that is a good decision. During their presentations they've made sure to point out that the game is all about atmosphere, and not so much about surviving. But with a game like Devil May Cry, which ranks you on how well you did at the end of each mission, and during each combo you make, making the game easy is just a step in the wrong direction. You'd have to do more than a few things to DMC's formula to make it a good easy game.

[Old Manus]

That guy obviously hasn't tried Mile High Club on Veteran

[Wolf Kanno]

Something that I think is partly the cause of games being easier is the fact that games now have a lot more to them when it comes to story-telling, atmosphere, and making sure everything flows. When a game focuses on things like that, making the game tough as Megaman Death-Nails isn't a great idea, because then it would hinder the other pieces of the experience. The problem is that there are still games that focus on things like combat, so for them to be fun, they have to be challenging.

So, in Prince of Persia's defense, I'm going to say that not having a Game Over screen in a game like that is a good decision. During their presentations they've made sure to point out that the game is all about atmosphere, and not so much about surviving. But with a game like Devil May Cry, which ranks you on how well you did at the end of each mission, and during each combo you make, making the game easy is just a step in the wrong direction. You'd have to do more than a few things to DMC's formula to make it a good easy game.

I agree that the way games are made now differ and I agree that having overly grueling difficulty in a heavy story based JRPG is a bad choice, but I argue that most developers have taken it too far.

I can't say I enjoy the "Communist style" reward system many developers have latched onto, where pressing start at the title screen awards you all the benefits of putting some dedication into it. Its like playing a sport with friends. If you know you are going to win all the time, why bother? Sure you get to travel and have some camaraderie but you can do that without the hassle of playing the sport as well. It no longer offers a new form of stimuli to make it unique. We need challenge.

On the other hand, I'm not saying we need to make games only for some elite gaming super race. Games were hard back in the day cause of the arcade scene where a games income came from people feeding it quarters so they can get to the next level. Easy games made less money and a majority of games on the Atari and NES were ports of arcade games.

I just want some equal ground, make games more challenging but we don't need Contra difficulty, just enough to where a little more thought and skill is required.

[Dreddz]

I think gaming difficulty was most balanced around the Playstation and Saturn's lifetime. I think now developers are a lot more concerned over the games sales so they don't want to put off gamers by having an over-challenging game. Its really our fault that games have gotten this way.

From the looks of it gaming is only going to get easier from now. Microsoft said recently that they want to make sure that a casual player can always beat a game because it means they are more encouraged to get its sequel. Makes sense but I still think its wrong.

[KentaRawr!]

When it comes to some of Nintendo's franchises, I agree. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Metroid Prime 3 are just way too easy. When it comes to Twilight Princess, playing the game without picking up health upgrades really sounds like that puts it at just the right difficulty, while Metroid Prime 3 is one of those games where I only die if I meant to. >_>

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

See, I'm of the school of thought that a game should be fun before it should be challenging, and I support mechanics that allow for mastery if you wish but don't REQUIRE it.

Most of those mechanics apply to FPSes, if I'm not mistaken, which I'm not too huge on so I don't have a particular opinion, but this guy seems to advocate challenges that can be, quite simply, frustrating. A game that's really, REALLY hard tends to irritate a lot of people, myself included. I can't really immerse myself in the experience if the difficulty curve is so steep that it seems unbeatable, and I'm not bad at games by any particular margin. Further, since games are meant to appeal to people who like to do other things than hole up in their room with a game, there's an obvious demand for games that are beatable.

Which is why I say games should really just have a wide range of difficulty levels. That's the best way to make both sides happy.