Do you enjoy challenge?

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I don't. I prefer to have it easy. When I play a game I want to feel good at something. I don't want to feel like s**t. I like to be overpowered and spread death and terror. I like committing mass murders and destroy all on my path. I don't kill everyone though, as I enjoy toying with them to make the fun last longer. When I play a game, I want to be the predator, not a victim.

I like challenge so long as I'm improving. If I keep at something for a while and I'm not getting anywhere, I'll give up though.

Yes, I do enjoy challenge, but it can get silly. Like playing a COD campaign on veteran. Like whats the point? Clown car respawning enemies, grenade spam blotting out the sun.... But playing a game that hands me everything like a receipt at a grocery store is equally unrewarding.

I need a challenge in order for a game to even hold my attention.

I figure... what's the point of having won a battle, if the "battle" consisted entirely of the enemies falling over at me? How is that even a victory? In a case such as that, I've never seen it as a win: I've seen it as the game just GIVING it to me. I get nothing out of this. Well, boredom, I get plenty of boredom. I dont really enjoy boredom

I can understand the whole predator VS victim idea, lots of players want to "feel powerful" in games, but I figure.... if I'm going to be the strong one, I'm *really* going to be the strong one. As in, strong enough not just to take on the AI at it's toughest, but strong enough to obliterate other players, as well. Typically, this is what happens. Fighting games are my main competitive genre, and I tell ya.... there's nothing like knocking a "pro" level player (particularly one that's acting like a jerk) off of their high perch. And then going on a rampage and winning like the next 20 matches in a row against whoever. But I cant get good at anything by fighting weak Goombas.

I never toy with anyone though, be it in competitve gaming or be it AI characters in whatever. It takes too long and it really doesnt fit my personality whatsoever. No, my style is just to annihilate. Usually very quickly (and loudly). And in pretty much any game I only attack whatever is a threat at the time. If it's not a threat, it is ignored. That bit again is just part of my personality (and part of why I dont get into games like GTA). I grew up during the NES era, where the goal of most games was to save the day, not murder it. So, save the damn day I will. ....even if I do it with a bit of maniacal laughter involved. There's no rule that says the game's main hero cant give off an evil cackle every now and then, after all...

Rarely. Most of the time challenging situations are stressful for me. The few times I enjoyed it were when I challenged myself to do something in real life such as "lettering" in wrestling and eventually winning medals. When it comes to gaming, I'm there to release the stress, not build it, so my interests would mirror stuff I would enjoy if I were actually participating, with certain types of sports being the best example.

No, I don't enjoy challenge. I prefer my games to be easy enough that I don't just get frustrated and give up (my frustration level is low). Games that are challenging and pack punishment for losing aren't my thing, and I'm not looking for games that require skills to master. I want to have fun with a game and my definition of fun is not spending hours being frustrated and being killed over and over, or being stuck because you have no idea what to do or where to go.
I want games that aren't too hard, where the main focus is on it being enjoyable, a nice world and story to delve into (examples for me are Pokemon, Fantasy Life, Rune Factory, and even the Dragon Quest games).
Something that also frustrates me in a lot of games is lack of save points.

I like both. A tough challenge or an easy game.
Usually when I'm good at a game and there's some way to increase the difficulty, I'll gladly do so.
Though I like to play in god mode sometimes, just for the heck of it.
Or to get a high score.

The biggest indicator whether I want to play a difficult game is how it punishes error.
For example, a highly difficult game that sends me back the the very first level every time I lose 5 lives will be less fun to me than a difficult game that lets me play the same level over and over again, because the first level is usually just a waste of time since I've mastered it completely and there's no challenge there.
Same thing with GAME OVER screens that last for 20 seconds. That's not fun, no matter how cool the game is.
If a game is just a giant RNG, that's also not welcome.

However, if I'm able to use savestates, I care much less about these things, because I don't have to repeat the boring stuff over and over again.

So yeah, if a game isn't lame if I lose, challenge please.

Oh, forgot: Cheap games are stupid, difficult or not.
And by "cheap" I mean lots of enemies that shoot you offscreen, invisible insta-deaths, always undodgeable attacks, etc.

It depends. Some games I enjoy brutally hard and other games I like to coast along.

https://youtu.be/BbVKLALIDn4 *Language*

Last edited by dcj123 on 04 Jan 2016, 1:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Absolutely agreed!

There's a concept I found on TVTropes called "fake difficulty"; these problems fit under that perfectly.

If something like this exists in a game, it's not "challenge", it's a bloody lack of talent by the devs. Or a lack of testing and/or paying attention.

Particularly the "undogdable attacks" one. It's not that hard to avoid that one!

And I *am* in fact in a position to say that. I'm currently contracted to an indie developer to design attack patterns (of the bullet-hell type, meaning they're incredibly complicated) for a game that uses procedural generation. EVERYTHING I make is guaranteed to be dodgeable at all times. It's not THAT bloody hard to test and tweak for, even with bullet-hell patterns. It really isnt.

Of course, sometimes you get "gimmick" attacks, which can be an entirely different story, where you're not SUPPOSED to dodge but are meant to do something else. I cant think of any good examples though.

Hard games just frustrate me and then it's not fun.

It certainly is a nice name for it.

I know what you mean.
There are RPGs where you're supposed to lose against an enemy.
For example, in FFII you are supposed to die to the dark knights at the beginning of the game, as part of the story.

^Exactly! The game doesn't even tell you! So much for wasting all of those healing items.

I always start on the easiest level, then as I get the hang of the game, I may be increase the difficulty level to check it out.

^It's the same for me [especially when I play Fire Emblem].