When did Easy became standard?

PlayDevil.com has just posted an article about how players have been seeking the easiest settings on games and trying to find the reason behind it, here's a preview:

"As a game reviewer and unemployed videogame player I am constantly criticized for playing games on the easiest setting available. That's right, if there's Normal, Hard, Insane and Kids, suddenly I turn under three."

[MysticStrummer]

From what I see in games these days, Normal has turned into Easy and Easy has turned into Laughable. It's part of the effort to bring more people into the gaming world I guess. I now play my games on whatever is the next step above Normal, like Hardened for WaW. Games like Deadspace are much better when the difficulty is ramped up.

[Excalibur]

The hardest setting and play up from there if the game unlocks a harder setting.

[PirateThom]

I start on normal and then jack up the difficulty for subsequent playthroughs... bar inFamous, it moved me to hard.

[presto717]

I'd always play a game on easy first (to avoid frustration) then I'd skip normal and go to hard.

Now, I play on normal first, then go straight to elite/titan/veteran mode.

Not that any of this matters. But still....