Easy mode is the way to go in vidya guys

[Octopus]

Yeah there's an interesting discussion to be had about the different dopamine incentives connected to playing video games. It is interesting because some of these incentives can be at odds with each other.

One of the examples of incentives would be the training your brain to understand and counteract a pattern from an enemy in a video game. That would require using your hand eye coordination skills and pattern recognition which is relevant to fighting games and action platformers. As you learn more about the enemies in the games and their patterns and train your motor skills to handle these, there is a certain dopamine rush to improving in that case.

Another incentive would be in more strategic games. Like you mentioned Stardew Valley, where you play the game and understand the most efficient way to manage the economy of your farm. Same thing with strategy games where you learn the most optimal strategy or build your character to a certain power level and move your units in a way where the CPU cannot counteract you. This takes learning about the rules of the game and progressing to unlock skills. That also stimulates the brain in its own way.

But there's a third element to the motivators to play the game. Simply progressing through a game and seeing more of a story can be a motivator in of itself and it can be at odds with the other motivators. For some the primary motivator is to see the end of the game and not being challenged or enjoying the journey, so they rather play on easy mode and accomplish that goal. Its perfectly fair, especially since some games are beyond certain players skill level or hand eye coordination skill.

Yeah exactly, it's all different forms of stimulation that trigger the same final dopamine hit in the end, and it's unique to different people. Some people prefer the more immediate action game hit or some other people want to get the same effect as reading a hopefully good book through a more narrative driven game. They're not mutually exclusive either, I like both Stardew Valley and Ninja Gaiden Black which is why I used them both as examples. Sometimes I want mastery dopamine by clearing Pierre's money out through selling min-maxed potato harvests and iridium tier wine in a much more laid back way compared to Ninja Gaiden, you know?

 

[What's His Face]

I'm too old for "hardcore" mode.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Another debate with the same subject?

 

[dropsmegamega]

That being said, walking simulators aren't games you're just watching a movie, and visual novels aren't games you're just reading a choose-your-own-adventure book. There's nothing wrong with that, I'm just stating facts.

Have you ever played a walking simulator?

 

[Octopus]

Have you ever played a walking simulator?

I've played a few; What Remains of Edith Finch, Dear Esther, Firewatch and I guess Silent Hill: Last Message could qualify, though that actually had some gameplay.

 

[dropsmegamega]

I've played a few; What Remains of Edith Finch, Dear Esther, Firewatch and I guess Silent Hill: Last Message could qualify, though that actually had some gameplay.

Maybe it’s a thing with newer ones, but games like LSD, Yume Nikki, or even the recently uploaded Jungle Park feel nothing like a movie. Getting lost and figuring them out is more akin completing a labyrinth, even when they lack a clear objective or proper ending. It's exactly the kind of experience that works because it's interactive.

 

[secreto7]

I think all of you have valid reasons

 

[trickybus]

No thanks, I'll stick to hard mode. I enjoy watching my little game avatar get splattered across various surfaces. Don't kink-shame me, bro!

 

[kuroro]

I'm not kidding when I say that easy mode has rekindled my passion for video games. Before, I used to push myself to play on higher difficulty settings, and in the end, I felt more pain than pleasure.

Some would say that the reward that comes after the effort is what motivates them to go all the way to reach the pinnacle of satisfaction, but I think that video games are a bad way to do this and that it would be better to channel all your energy into real-life goals that need to be achieved in the long term. I see video games primarily as a distraction and an escape, so why would I want to suffer the same torment as in my life, which I already play in hardcore permadeath mode? I just want to get my dopamine and roll over the enemies that get in my way.

Making games difficult is mostly bad design, a legacy of the arcade era when games forced you to die so you would spend endless amounts of money on the machines. That said, there still needs to be some adjustment so that it doesn't fall into the category of movie games. I would say that the ideal video game is one that focuses on fun and innovative mechanics rather than a frustrating experience.

Challenge is what makes you learn the game and explore the different mechanics.

 

[raiden_dj]

I'm not kidding when I say that easy mode has rekindled my passion for video games. Before, I used to push myself to play on higher difficulty settings, and in the end, I felt more pain than pleasure.

Some would say that the reward that comes after the effort is what motivates them to go all the way to reach the pinnacle of satisfaction, but I think that video games are a bad way to do this and that it would be better to channel all your energy into real-life goals that need to be achieved in the long term. I see video games primarily as a distraction and an escape, so why would I want to suffer the same torment as in my life, which I already play in hardcore permadeath mode? I just want to get my dopamine and roll over the enemies that get in my way.

Making games difficult is mostly bad design, a legacy of the arcade era when games forced you to die so you would spend endless amounts of money on the machines. That said, there still needs to be some adjustment so that it doesn't fall into the category of movie games. I would say that the ideal video game is one that focuses on fun and innovative mechanics rather than a frustrating experience.

I have the exact opposite opinion to this 100%, maybe more

 

[Kamako]

Some games are designed to be easy, some are designed to be hard. Almost all are designed to be winnable.

My favourite difficulty depends on what kind of challenge I feel like giving myself on any given day. But I do like to test myself with difficult games, and often enjoy playing games with high difficulty for the bit of extra urgency/triumph it adds.

Beating a tough section of a solid game really still feels quite rewarding to me.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

I agree that men have competed since the dawn of time, but their societies were based on cooperation. Today, there is excessive competition for dominance, which runs counter to the common good. In my opinion, the success of difficult video games such as Souls is based on exploiting a market made up of young people who are looking for challenges to compensate for their monotonous lives and rewards for their efforts in an unfair world that values networking above all else.

Yes, I know it looks like a schizo post, but I'm serious.

 

[SlusheeWolf2]

"The only way to win is not to play"

But in this case, the machine from War Games is wrong because I think you should play any singleplayer game in easy mode the first time to understand the mechanics

Once you understand the mechanics fully and maybe have learned an exploit along the way, you can push it to max difficulty

I play every single game I own like this because it helps me understand two things

a) what the game wants from me.. there's a video series on YouTube abiut a guy who has his non-gamer wife play games without any hints and you can tell that devs always assume players know certain things the wife wasn't able to grasp until she was told, like the basic "there's a jump button" that you instinctively know about befor eyou even start the game up th first time, as an example.

b) how to do that thing the dev wants me to do, and in most cases, how can I deviate from it to make the experience either unintentionally fun or just more fun in general

Playing games in easy mode can allow you to break certain mechanics because you have more freedom, and then when you get to the hard mode, you can take full advantage of that exploit