What's your default starting difficulty?

[Hollock]

Normal, but the last game I played I switched it to easy at the start.

 

[tobuji]

depends on the game. if it's from a series or genre i'm familier with, i'll choose normal. if it's something like an RPG or a game that i'm not familiar with, i'll go for the easiest difficuly.

 

[the spud]

Usually hard, but not incredibly hard. I like a challenge, but not my head exploding.

 

[internetzealot1]

I always start on the hardest difficulty. Because these days, its the only one that will ask you to play well.

 

[Mr. Gency]

Normal. Proud (hard) for Kingdom Hearts games.

 

[major28]

I do normal and then do hard and try and get all the trophies on that playthrough. Only exception is if there is a higher difficulty you can unlock by playing hard(like in God of War), in which case I'll start on hard to unlock the higher difficulty then play that, because I want to beat the game on hardest difficulty but I can't usually play a game more than twice.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

Whatever the game suggests. Apparently, that's how the folks at Game Informer do it and they feel that it gives the experience the developer wanted the player to experience. Thought it was an interesting view, and decided to adopt it.

 

[Catalyst6]

Always on normal. I assume that "normal" is the balanced level that the developers designed for, where it's difficult, but not The Computer Is A Cheating Bastard hard like the upper difficulty levels.

 

[FernandoV]

On any game: Hardest. On Fallout: Normal...because ghouls scare me and I don't want to be killed by one :3

 

[jdogtwodolla]

I play on the lowest or second lowest setting. If I want to play again I play on hard.

 

[Zaverexus]

Usually normal, with exceptions.
If I'm replaying the game I turn up the difficulty.
If its a sequel or a game I'm familiar with I will play higher difficulty.
If its a strategy (Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics Advance-style) I will ramp it up to highest level.

 

[Adultism]

Start on easiest, and move up in difficulty with more playthroughs.

 

[NnyTheV]

Normally I'll play on the easiest difficulty so that I can see the story. On later playthroughs I usually ratchet it up a bit.

 

[Dan Steele]

I prefer normal

 

[TG MLPDashie]

Normal usually. Unless its an RTS or TBS, then its typically easy, I love those games but I'm terrible at them.

same here, but me and my friends are going to play Gears of War 3 on the highest difficulty you have unlocked at the start when it's released. Because marcus deserves a better ending that easy difficulty.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

Whatever the default is.

 

[Keepeas]

usually the recommended option - normal
But if I'm not feeling the challenge I'll step it up a notch

 

[Android2137]

The easiest option. One needs to get one's feet wet after all.

 

[scorptatious]

Usually on the default setting. (Which is usually normal)

When I was younger I used to pick easy everytime, but now that I'm older, I'd like to play games with some degree of challenge. Not to the point of being ball bustingly hard of course.