When Did "Easy" Become "Casual" Difficulty?

[Legion]

.......is this really a big deal? I mean seriously, why is this a problem? It's hardly any different from using the word easy.

You're not looking at the bigger picture here. Sure it may not look like a big deal, but think about why they're making these changes. Take a good fuckin' look at the western society. It's full of pathetic, easily offended incompetent people who can't handle the truth that they're just not good enough. And instead of facing the reality and working harder so they wouldn't have to feel incompetent, we make their incompetence disappear by declaring that everyone is now competent. If you look at the big picture you'll realize that it's not about gaming. Gaming is just one aspect of this that's also infected now. Schools too. Nowadays EVERY kid gets a trophy. Everyone's a fuckin' winner. We're actively lowering the standards of competence. And we mostly do it for profit. People don't want to pay unless they are guaranteed to feel like winners. And we do it everywhere! Do you know how dangerous that is for the society? We are only as good as our weakest link. We shouldn't cater to the weak. We risk weakening everyone. We should encourage the weak to grow stronger.

Really? In entertainment? I don't think so. If we're getting on a high horse I think it's more damaging people are pinning their self-esteem on being good at video games. There's no shame in taking the path of least resistance if all that means is you don't get better at Halo. By all means train to be able to run a marathon (though actually running it is a bad idea), work hard at school, learn languages and play instruments, get a good job and apply yourself. Do things and do them well but if you're not enjoying the wholly arbitrary challenges put together by poor games designers then drop down the difficulty and have fun.

He didn't say that games are the issue, he was saying that it is just another by-product of Western society that we are not encouraging people to be better, were coddling them if they are weaker.

He was not saying that games should be more difficult, just that it follows the same mindset.

 

[Erttheking]

.......is this really a big deal? I mean seriously, why is this a problem? It's hardly any different from using the word easy.

You're not looking at the bigger picture here. Sure it may not look like a big deal, but think about why they're making these changes. Take a good fuckin' look at the western society. It's full of pathetic, easily offended incompetent people who can't handle the truth that they're just not good enough. And instead of facing the reality and working harder so they wouldn't have to feel incompetent, we make their incompetence disappear by declaring that everyone is now competent. If you look at the big picture you'll realize that it's not about gaming. Gaming is just one aspect of this that's also infected now. Schools too. Nowadays EVERY kid gets a trophy. Everyone's a fuckin' winner. We're actively lowering the standards of competence. And we mostly do it for profit. People don't want to pay unless they are guaranteed to feel like winners. And we do it everywhere! Do you know how dangerous that is for the society? We are only as good as our weakest link. We shouldn't cater to the weak. We risk weakening everyone. We should encourage the weak to grow stronger.

I think you might be overreacting a little. Just about every game I've played in the last few months has kicked my ass a fair amount, and I usually play on normal. Also if this was true, multiplayer wouldn't exist, because in multiplayer half of the people are doomed to failure. Also I never saw any evidence of the "you were the last winner" mindset. In my school, either you won or you lost.

Also Dark Souls

 

[Monsterfurby]

Wasn't the easiest difficulty (aka the one I played on) in Mass Effect called "Narrative"?

There you go. Just basically named after what it emphasizes.

 

[Easton Dark]

In the same vein, I want to know why story achievements exist.

All you do is play the game!


About casual, it does sound better than easy.

 

[Signa]

I don't really care what you call the difficulty settings but it does feel like "Normal" has become "Easy" and "Hard" has become "Normal".

This is true. I have to play Torchlight on Very Hard mode just to get anything close to the Diablo 2 expereince. I started a playthrough years ago on Hard, and that just felt piss easy after a while.

I normally just play on normal modes, so the terminologies used don't bother me, but as people have been breaking it down in the thread, it is a concern. Also, "hard" mode shouldn't be "basic challenge" mode. Hard is the mode you play when you liked the game enough for a second playthrough, and you want an extra challenge to keep things fresh. Yet, as time goes on, I'm eying the hard modes more and more before I've even played a game, just because I know normal probably is going to bore me.

 

[beniki]

.......is this really a big deal? I mean seriously, why is this a problem? It's hardly any different from using the word easy.

You're not looking at the bigger picture here. Sure it may not look like a big deal, but think about why they're making these changes. Take a good fuckin' look at the western society. It's full of pathetic, easily offended incompetent people who can't handle the truth that they're just not good enough. And instead of facing the reality and working harder so they wouldn't have to feel incompetent, we make their incompetence disappear by declaring that everyone is now competent. If you look at the big picture you'll realize that it's not about gaming. Gaming is just one aspect of this that's also infected now. Schools too. Nowadays EVERY kid gets a trophy. Everyone's a fuckin' winner. We're actively lowering the standards of competence. And we mostly do it for profit. People don't want to pay unless they are guaranteed to feel like winners. And we do it everywhere! Do you know how dangerous that is for the society? We are only as good as our weakest link. We shouldn't cater to the weak. We risk weakening everyone. We should encourage the weak to grow stronger.

Um... just wanted to point out that the increase in variety of academic achievement is more to do with an acknowledgement of multiple intelligences, rather than a blanket lowering of standards. Einstein himself said that 'Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.' Just wanted to give you the perspective of someone working in the education field, as opposed to an observer.

But to the point of the original post, I'd say it's more of an indication in design shift. Rather than having the difficulty modes being put in after the bulk of work has been done, it's a sign that devs are actively planning for different play styles for different markets.

It's a sign of game design progression, rather than a marketing spin.

 

[Enrathi]

I still like the titles doom had for the difficulty levels. I can't remember the names but they sounded cool

I'm too young to die
Hey, not too rough
Hurt me plenty
Ultra-violence
Nightmare

Yeah, I did get a kick out of those names too, thanks for reminding me about them.

 

[Fappy]

I don't really care what you call the difficulty settings but it does feel like "Normal" has become "Easy" and "Hard" has become "Normal".

I've felt that way since the beginning of the PS2/Xbox gen XD

 

[Weaver]

Remember when games had fun difficulty options?

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I don't know exactly how common this is,
Why do some developers change the word "easy" to "casual"?

Actually, I've seen a number of games with both an Easy and a Casual difficulty. Which is lower varies game to game, although often Casual is easier than Easy.

Also, some games use other names. "Tell me a Story" is the "easy" mode in Deus Ex: HR. I know because that's the mode I played it on. And I still died in about half a second, so that "easy" mode wasn't very fucking easy.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I don't know exactly how common this is,
Why do some developers change the word "easy" to "casual"?

Actually, I've seen a number of games with both an Easy and a Casual difficulty. Which is lower varies game to game, although often Casual is easier than Easy.

Also, some games use other names. "Tell me a Story" is the "easy" mode in Deus Ex: HR. I know because that's the mode I played it on. And I still died in about half a second, so that "easy" mode wasn't very fucking easy.

Really? Because I played it on "Give me Deus Ex" from the start and I didn't think the game was difficult at all. But I guess it depends on your play style. It was easier to stealth your way through than to play it like a shooter.

 

[wookiee777]

.......is this really a big deal? I mean seriously, why is this a problem? It's hardly any different from using the word easy.

From my Opening Post:

...I don't consider this a huge sweeping issue...

 

[Something Amyss]

Why does it matter to you? Does it harm you at all that it's called "casual?"

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Hmm, for me "casual" would be more insulting than "easy" cause easy just assumes I suck at the game while casual assumes I'm not taking it seriously enough to get good at it.


Yes, I suck, we all do when we start, that's fine. Don't dare tell me I'm being un-serious though, game, or we'll have a problem.

 

[YuriSe]

I'm starting to find "casual" demeaning simply because its starting to be used as an excuse by people to suck at everything. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I fail miserable and was a colossal hindrance to the team? Guess what, I don't care because I call myself "casual" and therefore hold no responsibility for any of my actions.

 

[DoveAlexa]

Hmm, for me "casual" would be more insulting than "easy" cause easy just assumes I suck at the game while casual assumes I'm not taking it seriously enough to get good at it.


Yes, I suck, we all do when we start, that's fine. Don't dare tell me I'm being un-serious though, game, or we'll have a problem.

I'm starting to find "casual" demeaning simply because its starting to be used as an excuse by people to suck at everything. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I fail miserable and was a colossal hindrance to the team? Guess what, I don't care because I call myself "casual" and therefore hold no responsibility for any of my actions.

I second both these reasons. Said it better than I did. It's as if the name of the difficulty level is not describing the gameplay, but trying to describe the player instead.

 

[Dosbilliam]

i play all games on the easiest setting available coz am lazy also coz i play just for story and ending not for frustration and hair pulling

I do the same, I just spell it correctly. Usually, if I enjoy a game I beat, I go through it again on the higher difficulties. Did that with the MW series and I'm running Recruit on Alpha Protocol.

 

[Dosbilliam]

Also, some games use other names. "Tell me a Story" is the "easy" mode in Deus Ex: HR. I know because that's the mode I played it on. And I still died in about half a second, so that "easy" mode wasn't very fucking easy.

I played it on that "difficulty" and had little problem. I'm not that big on cover-based FPS games, otherwise I would have probably tried a harder setting.

 

[bullet_sandw1ch]

In the same vein, I want to know why story achievements exist.

All you do is play the game!


About casual, it does sound better than easy.

i think story achievements are around because they want them to be an extra incentive to finish the game. i can tell you though: what with achievements being so good at what they were made for (i.e, making somebody invest extra time in the game), i have finished many a crappy game because of the achievements.

 

[mooncalf]

AC10 raises a good point of difficulty settings "back in the day" that were way more harmlessly ribbing of people. Using different terms for difficulty settings is not at all a new phenomenon, and the move towards "casual" in gaming might grate on some people but really what's the harm? What "casual" can be taken to say about the fandom is "You do not have to be a social recluse or give up a week of your time to enjoy this." And enjoying games is what people should do, right?