Real Gamers Don’t Play on Easy?

An article from Smart When Shouting explaining why playing on easy doesn't make someone any less of a gamer.

[CustardTrout]

There are a few kinds of gamer, those include "Wuss" players.

Nah, I think people that play on easy are simply there to enjoy the game at their pace, and I don't see why it should matter what difficulty someone plays on, if you want the bragging rights then go on hard mode, if not then play on easy or normal.

[Soldierone]

Only thing that annoys me is the noobs going for bragging rights that beat a game on easy and act like they are awesome....

Had a friend that would breeze through games on easy, then go brag about how fast he beat the game. Go check his trophies and he doesn't have anything beyond "beat the game" wouldn't even have the trophy for moderate/medium difficulty.....

It's like breezing through doom on wimp mode, and pretending you beat it on extreme.

[Azmatik]

I play every game on the hardest difficulty if possible first play, get way more for your game. I also have 22 plats and are all hard games to plat no wuss games :) also to add when you play a game on hardest online seems to be easier and when you go back to collect the rest of your trophies on easy the game seems like a joke lol

[Army_of_Darkness]

When he got GOW3, I warned him to not plaY on hardest difficulty until he beats it on normal first and to my surprise his cocky and stubbornness refused so I was like, well don't say I didn't warn you bro(he is a GOW fan btw).
The first 10mins he died like 6X and when he was fighting Poseidon I was just pointing and LMAO at him cause he was getting butchered to the point where he actually gave up and switched to normal mode Hahaha!

[lsujester]

I go back through on easy in certain situations. Mainly after I've beaten the game, and I just want to see the story again. For instance, a few weeks ago I went through the Uncharted series back-to-back because I just wanted to see it unfold again. Wasn't looking for the challenge or any satisfaction of beating it.

:EDIT: I should also note that trophies/achievements don't really interest me, so I don't repeatedly play just to collect things or do things a certain way for a trophy.

[Soldierone]

I do that too. If its a game like Uncharted I play on medium to sub-par hard (to unlock the hardest one) first. If its a FPS I just go right to the hardest since its usually too easy for me, did it with Battlefield 3 and CODMW3, beat them just as fast as my friends on normal.

My original comment though is just the childish ones that go put in a game like Doom or God of War, put it on Easy, and speed run the game and brag about how they beat it faster than you.....no. Might as well just go watch it on Youtube and use that to brag about "beating the game"

[robparko]

I tend to always play on the default difficulty, which happens to be the normal mode most of the time.

[smashcrashbash]

Well I for one never start on easy. I always go for normal and take what ever trials and tribulations that go with it.I find it a waste of time to trot through the whole game on easy.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

I always play on the default difficulty. I only play on a harder difficulty if I'm experienced with the series. I only play on easy if I'm trying to unlock or collect stuff.

[Summons75]

I play on normal be default, the only exception is Halo where I play on Legendary from the get-go.

[Bathyj]

I always play normal because I feel thats usually the level the game was designed to be played on and has the best balance.

A good example is Far Cry.
Play on normal, and a 3 round burst to the chest will kill, and a headshot is a kill.

Put it up a level, and suddenly it takes most of a clip worth of body shots, and 2 or 3 headshots to kill.

Games should up their difficulty by making the enemies smarter, or more of them. Sadly, most games just make you do less damage and them do more. I find this a cheap way of doing it and while it might be harder I dont think its the way it should be done.

[TheFirstClassic]

Shooters should look at Perfect Dark and Goldeneye to know how to make different difficulties. New objectives were added to higher difficulties, but most shooters are too linear to do that nowadays I suppose.

I think Killzone upped the AI in higher difficulties. Least it seemed like they would throw grenades faster if you waited behind cover.

[Bathyj]

Exactly. Perfect Dark did it right. More objectives and sometimes you even started from different positions in the level.

Nowdays, they just turn the enemies into bullet sponges.

[Neko_Mega]

Like DMC games, I play on easy and then work my way up to the hardest it gets.

Plus I finish Dark Souls an that doesn't have a easy mode lol.

[CrimsonessCross]

I start on "Normal" for every game, most of the time. If I hear a game is too easy then I might up the difficulty at that point.

Normal, Hard, Hardcore...Pretty much the way it goes lol, I work myself up the difficulty ladder just to see maybe how far I can get :)

For those that play on easy though, it's proabably for the most part so they don't get frustrated, maybe to get acclimated with the game and then move upwards or who knows what. But it really doesn't matter what you play on. It's a personal preference on what you can handle and what you want to handle.

[Skate-AK]

For the most part I always start on the hardest difficulty unlocked with the exception of a couple games.

[PhunnyJesta]

Easy is also nice for reliving the story of a game. I recently did that with KOTOR and had a blast with it.

[MySwordIsHeavenly]

Depends on the game.

For a game like Bioshock, I really just wanted to enjoy the story. So, I went with Easy mode. (It is, however, funny that vita-chambers made the modes moot. It was less dying though, so what do I care?) It's easy to feel powerful in Bioshock, no matter what mode you're on. Masterpiece.

For Uncharted, I start off on Normal. I love the story, but I also want a bit of a challenge. Otherwise, I get no sense of accomplishment. ND's great AI work helps, too.

For Devil May Cry, I see the game as a challenge. I always start on Hard and work my way up. The same goes for Ninja Gaiden. (Personally, I find the Ninja Gaiden series much easier than everyone makes it out to be.)

[d3nworth1]

I beat the game on normal first to get the hang of it the raise the difficulty.

[GreenRanger]

I start on easy and work my way up through the difficulties.
I paid for the game so i'll play it any damn way i want, regardless of if it makes me a "real gamer" or not.

[IRetrouk]

Zordon would be proud

[R6ex]

I mostly go easy because I'm more interested in the story than the action. To get an adrenaline rush, I go skate, cycle or take my racer to the track.

[TitanUp]

i play on medium and hard no need to play on easy

[LightofDarkness]

Go with the difficulty the developer recommends. That's the way they intended people to enjoy the game; that's the difficulty they've spent the most time fine-tuning and crafting the experience around. More often than not, this is the "normal" difficulty. Sometimes, this is not the case, as evidenced by the Gears of War games (Cliffy recommended "Hardcore" mode throughout the series as the intended difficulty).

In fact, some games are downright broken on higher difficulty settings because the developers didn't spend time tweaking them or testing them properly, like Mass Effect 2, which sort of negates the notion that "you're doing it wrong" if you're not playing on the hardest setting. There is a flip-side, of course, with games like Ninja Gaiden and its "Master Ninja" setting being the ultimate test of skill (although it mostly just ends up with you doing an Izuna Drop or two and spamming ultimates around the room) and feeling hugely rewarding.

However, sometimes people just do not have the time to dedicate to gaming like they used to, and feel no compunction to wear completion times, difficulty settings and achievements in videogames as badges of honour. They play for fun, and often have to play at their own pace if they're ever going to finish a game. I'm slowly morphing into the latter, and I simply can't devote myself to multi-hour sessions like I used to, as work, social life and life-administration tend to take precedence over hobbies. It is at once sad and liberating, as while I know my hobby will get less and less attention, I also don't really care about telling everyone that I beat NG++ in Dark Souls wearing just a loin cloth. I play games to enjoy them, and having some restriction on just how much time I have to do that makes me savour them even more.

[SageHonor]

Why do people place an emphasis on what other people prefer to play on?

[PersonMan]

I usually play on normal but when Max Payne 3 came out, it was so damn hard that I had to put it on easy. You can't even be safe taking cover in that game. I don't find it fun dying over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

I have to admit though.... I do feel sort of like a wimp because of it but I actually enjoy the game more when I'm not frustrated.

[goldwyncq]

I always play on normal first, then play on hard later.

[gamernova]

I always play on easy to get the story then I revisit on a harder mode to reinforce the story and to make the game more fun. Just my thoughts.

[johnsonbat]

I set games to extreme and use my nasal hairs to hold the controller. I'm that good...... Haven't managed to get out of a menu yet though.