How hard do you try at games?

[werepossum]

Generally I play on the hardest or second hardest. Not that I particularly care about beating it - I don't believe video game accomplishments are actually accomplishments - but by totally concentrating I forget the things I wish to leave at work. If the difficulty gets frustrating, I'll dial it down. I want immersion in the game even if like CounterStrike it has no story.

 

[SlitheryDee]

With single player games, I prefer to start at normal to hard (not nightmare or what ever the hardest is). Games are supposed to be leisurely, so I don't like to stress myself with both trying to understand the game and compete against a difficult opponent. I save that for my 2nd or 3rd play through.

I did that with Halo 5. One play through on normal, then Legendary. There were some frustrating parts, but for some reason every Halo has always been a joy to play on the highest difficulty. It's just a really tight shooter that rewards patience and accuracy no matter what the difficulty is. If a game can be hard, but still feel fair like that I have no problem with higher difficulties.

 

[Zodiark1593]

I'm surprisingly childish in that I utterly hate to lose, though that most certainly doesn't just apply to video games.

 

[alcoholbob]

I absolutely hate grinding based brick walls like a boss that has too much hp and an enrage timer. Usually when I run into that I'll start looking for trainers or cheats, unless the game is actually fun to play (like Witcher 3). But a lot of mid-tier JRPGs I'll look for cheats right after I fail because the grind isn't fun at all. When running into jumping puzzle/obstacle issues I'll generally give it a shot before pulling out gamefaqs though.

 

[XiandreX]

I play at max difficulty unless max difficulty is stupid to the point that they remove certain features that remove any element of enjoyment.

 

[Majes]

It's become frustrating for me over the years to see the evolution of competitive gaming. When Warcraft 3 released I hit the multi-player very hard and got absolutely crushed. I think I won only about 30% of my games. But I kept at it, and after the expansion hit I was one of the top human players out there, and generally made the bracket of any tournament I entered.

I tried to compete in Starcraft 2 when it released, and generally played at a low masters/high diamond level, but I started to realize that the time requirements were insane... I could compete at the same level I did in Warcraft, but I would have to put in at least 8+ solo matches a day.

The same thing happened in Path of Exile. When racing started I flipped out. I love ARPG's but they had always lacked the competitiveness I got in my RTS adventures. So racing seemed to be a perfect way to show off my ARPG skills. For the first few seasons of racing I could basically finish 2nd or 3rd ranger in any race I entered. Sadly I could only make 3-4 races a week. At the same time, the top players were racing 3-4 times a day, and also practicing when there weren't races. They got so efficient that there was no way I could hope to beat them. I can run a race and top 5 as a ranger, but the top players have thousands of hours to my hundreds and that's a large difference.

So yes, I try hard in games. But it's frustrating to know that people are better than I am because they have the option to play all day. I know they've put in the work, and I don't begrudge them that, but it's still a frustrating experience for me.

 

[Harrod]

I really don't try many games on hard, I've played the origonal X-com on hard, and skyrim on what might be considered hard. But any game that gets to the point where it isn't fun anymore I will drop down to a less difficult mode.

 

[DigDog]

been playing almost exclusively online shooters for about 5 years now; quakelive, blacklight retribution, survarium, CSGO, TF2.

compare to single player, the difficulty level is off the scale.

 

[slag]

really depends on my mood.. If I'm wanting to be serious and productive though, I am probably not gaming, but instead, doing something constructive around the house. If I just want to veg out or screw around, I'll fire up something and probably play and save often. I don't like to multiplayer game anymore because I don't like getting pissed off by kids and the bad language. It's just not worth it. I love Half-Life style games but many of them have gone by the wayside. I dislike puzzle games because its too much like work.

 

[DeadFred]

Sometimes it takes an incredible amount of effort to do well on a server. It takes focus and attention and if there is even a possibility of being interrupted, that can be enough to throw me off. The effort can be pretty exhausting, so I am not always in the mood to play like that. While playing, it doesn't always feel like I am trying hard, because I just play the game and enjoy it. But after I turn the game off, I realize how much energy I was actually using in an effort to perform my best.
I don't like playing while on teamspeak. Its just a distraction and people are never talking strategically about the game you are in anyway. They are usually all on different servers, cross talking and adding in some nonsense about what they had for breakfast and about how drunk they are. Then they wonder why their KD is garbage at the end of the match. All people do on teamspeak is laugh, BS and cross talk about things that have nothing to do with the game, and I have to try to listen through all of that garbage just to hear the 1 or 2 people who are actually trying to play and hear what they are trying to tell me, such as "enemy on that roof" or whatever. No thanks. Team speak sucks and is a score killer for me personally unless working with other focused people all in the same game, then it has some benefits.

This is so me.^

I hate playing on TS, all the incessant chatter just drowns out the in game sounds I need to hear and totally takes me out of my "zone". However, I like BF's squad chat as long as the chatter sticks to info pertinent to the game at hand, its actually helpful then.

 

[DigDog]

on the other hand, there are people who *only* talk about gameplay while on TS. like myself.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I play games like life. Nothing but ironman settings. If I die, I throw the game away and never look at it again and move on to the next game.

Yes I am hardcore...


coincidentally, the only game I've ever finished is the sunday crosswords.

 

[CountZero]

Not very.

Like I told my wife, I love gaming but I suck at it. Aside from a few games that just click for me (2-d side scrollers like Super Meat Boy) I tend to play games at normal or easier. I sometimes get tired of the time it takes to "master" a particular game and will either cheat to get to the end if I care about the story at all or just not bother playing.

I used to love digging deep into stuff and really getting to know the ins and outs. These days my job is all about juggling multiple data points and trade offs and I just don't care to put that kind of effort into gaming.

I'll bang my head against the wall in a puzzle game without cheating but I won't rerun a section of an FPS more than two times before lowering the difficulty/cheating. I'll play Civ up to prince but after that with all the citizen management stuff I just don't care to figure it all out.

I used to be the kid that could beat the hard NES games but now I'm the grownup who just wants to have fun and dying repeatedly just isn't fun in the vast majority of games.

 

[turn_pike]

How does one beat LoL?

- Get on the top of Soloq ladder
- Join or form your own team then climb up the 5v5 Ladder to qualify for your region's amateur League
- Win your regional amateur league then make it into pro
- Win your regional pro league and qualify for World Championship
- Win Worlds and be the MVP

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Super casual now. I do miss the Counter Strike, CAL days. Those were fun.

 

[Bart*Simpson]

This is so me.^

I hate playing on TS, all the incessant chatter just drowns out the in game sounds I need to hear and totally takes me out of my "zone". However, I like BF's squad chat as long as the chatter sticks to info pertinent to the game at hand, its actually helpful then.

I agree. TS or Vent are handy when you're going to squad up with an effective team but for just chatter it is a distraction.

My best scores are always in rounds where TS or Vent are off.