For most games, the real consequence of failure in a game is being forced to repeat what just happened. And getting caught in a Groundhog Day-esque situation that repeats once every few minutes suuuuucks.

It’s even worse when a failure causes your character to lose stuff. That’s even more time wasted, in that the time and effort taken to get the thing is gone.

Paint the rainbow on my proud carebear chest if you must. I just want a place to escape to for a little while, a place that doesn’t frustrate the shit out of me.

Local man discovers difficulty settings.

Easy Mode is for adults that just want to see the story.

I'm an adult and I like Hard Mode (or higher) because I play for the challenge. What could be more challenging than juggling a demanding work/home life and also trying to progress in a long game with only 2 hours a week to play on the hardest possible difficulty? At any moment a kid or pet could unplug the system and corrupt my save. It's like everything has a hardcore mode.

This is one of those threads where if you agree with the author, you're a filthy casual, but if you actually want your hard game to be hard, you're a sweaty loser than needs to touch grass.

Have your easy mode. Some of my favorite games even have a "Very Easy" mode. Just don't corrupt games that are designed with a specific challenge in mind with nerfed nonsense.

I don't have time to play on the hardest settings anymore. Plus I'm old and I'm just not as good as I was 20+ years ago. My son laughed at me once when he saw I was on easy, that was 10 years ago, he's still grounded. 😂

Eh, easy mode is for those who need or want to use it. Ditto for hard or impossible modes. Adult, teenager, troglodyte, don't really matter what ya are

I'm 38 and easy modes are made for people like me. I usually dont have the time, attention or patience required by some games to even have a fighting chance in game progression (looking at you FromSoft) I don't regularly use easy mode as it does make many games trivially easy but sometimes it's just enough where I can enjoy the story, explore a beautiful and imaginative world and see it through to the end without the bullshit. I usually have no desire to be a hard-core veteran of a game's mechanics but I still want to play the game. If people don't like it, we'll, I'm still 38 and dont give a shit what others think anymore. Just take my $60 and entertain me.

I really wish there were an "adult difficulty" setting to pick instead of 'easy'. I don't have hours to waste on hordes of "difficult" enemies that just slows progress and pads the playtime. Nor do I want a walking simulator where the boss just falls over with no need for anything beyond the most basic game mechanics. Give me an option to experience the story with an interesting challenge without wasting my time, dammit!

I haven't read the article yet, but easy mode is actually for me.

I like gaming, but almost all my gaming time is compressed into a few months of the year. Even then, it's not uncommon to have to have a week or longer hiatus between sessions. And when I do sit down to play, I'm lucky if I get the time to have a 1 - 2 hour session. With my situation, games that are long or difficult or that have overly complicated control/button schemes are not a good fit for me.

One game that really stood out for me in terms of being really well designed in this respect was Hades. I thought it did an excellent job of making itself accessible to more casual audiences, while still providing lots of options for dialing up the punishment if that's your cup of tea. I definitely wish more development teams would put as much effort into making other genres and franchises friendly to more casual players, and I think it's definitely an achievable goal to do without compromising the experience for more dedicated/advanced players -- at least for certain types of games.

I've been playing god of war Ragnarok on the second lowest difficulty setting. If it was any more difficult, I'd be frustrated and not having fun. Sometimes I want to enjoy the story and not die a dozen times in the same spot

I have two kids and I only play on easy mode when I'm playing with them. Otherwise I prefer to be challenged.

Bought GTA V 10 years ago with a newborn on the way. Two more kids later and I've still never finished it because I've hit my video game skill cap. I just want to finish the story.

Please bring back cheat codes.

Relevant video from Razbuten about difficulty settings on games.

It's weird because I wish people were more clear about difficulty because it clears up contradictions. At the same time, it gives me an easy reason to dismiss an opinion if it doesn't house my perspective on the best way to appreciate the game.

Cmon you gotta play F.E.A.R. on hard. That's when it really pops off.