Difficulty

This shouldn't come as a shock to anyone, but I really enjoy video games. RPGs specifically, as I'm sure I've mentioned. And I'm sure that it should come as no surprise that I particularly enjoy video games with solid stories, just like I like my books and movies. But as far as video games go, I would never play a game with a good story if it didn't have good game play. Can you imagine watching a movie with terrible visuals, or reading a book with bizarre, hard to read text? I wouldn't. And I wouldn't play a game that wasn't fun.

But, much as I talked about a long time ago, for some reason people seem to think that a game being difficult is as much of an equivalent to being good as they do with darkness being an equivalent for being deep. Many people seem to think that if a game is hard to play, and needs to have been played repeatedly to learn intricate and specific mechanics just to be able to beat the game, that it is good. They think that if a game is easy to play, and can be picked up and enjoyed by anyone, that it must not be as good. That a certain level of dedication is required before something can be enjoyable.

I never understood this. Playing difficult games made me frustrated - they made me want to break controllers. I was never stupid enough to break one, but I certainly have thrown it many times into the back of my couch as I roared in frustration. I have quit numerous games because they were simply too hard, even if I enjoyed their story or basic mechanics. It's not fun to get mad at what you are playing, to feel like you can't get better, or that you are facing something unfair. It's not fun to be infuriated with your inability to continue. And it sure as hell isn't fun to mocked when you complain about that difficulty and told to simply "get good" by those who sing these games' praise.

More recently, I have started to finally understand how to play these games. To get around the mechanics, and to find the fun in their intricacies. To slowly move forward through them, and find the secrets that make them an enjoyable experience. But I would never recommend them to the uninitiated. I would never choose them as my favorite games. And when the topic of simply good games comes up, I wouldn't throw their names into the pile. And it's because they're hard. They make you want to hate the game before you can learn to enjoy it. And that's not a good thing.

Once you learn how to break through the wall of frustration, it can be easy and quick to forget how that frustration felt. How badly you hated the game before you understood it, and how much you wanted to quit. And that's the thing with these games. They're not good. They're painful and annoying and incredibly frustrating.

But they make you realize that you're good at them if you stick with them. That's what difficulty does. People just get the two confused.