Are Video Games Getting Easier?

Video games are getting easier, but in most cases, like the ones you pointed out, it's completely optional if you want to make it easier or not.

As for me personally, I enjoy a little challenge in my gaming, but if I'm stuck at one point for over 2 hours with no good reason (damn you, Minish Cap), then I'll accept the hand-holding.

 

It varies honestly. There are a few older games that I really like, but don't find that difficult, and a few new games that I like but I think the creator doesn't want you to beat. Some games I thought were getting easier, but that was me getting better, as I learned when playing through a lot of games again. (Though there are a few I'm not sure how I made it past some parts of, especially given theage difference and me lacking walkthroughs if i was stumped). But in general, i think that a lot have become easier.

 

The hand-holding. Ugh. Okay, there are two kinds of difficulty here: gameplay difficulty (which I think has remained mostly consistent), and learning difficulty.

Games too often these days just tell you how they're played, rather than show how they're played. Highlight the badguy, tell you his weakness, boring tutorial missions that tell you how to walk, press A to jump, don't fall in a hole, don't stab your friend. These things can be figured out by first-time gamers (not players of the game, but new gamers in general) with probably less than 60 seconds trial-and-error. But instead, they go and belittle everyone involved.

And I do agree this is becoming more common as time goes on. Here's my example: Mega Man X1, praised by many for being a good, straightforward game that lets you learn on your own. You figure out what buttons do what, you find out what upgrades can be used for what, you discover new platforming concepts on your own. That was 1994. Mega Man X5? Every stage, like three times per stage, you get a popup from your "navigator" telling you what to expect. "X! Shoot the Totem poles!" I was going to do that anyway. All I do is run, jump, and shoot, and that thing reaches floor-to-ceiling. "X! This boss fight will be against a plant-like foe! Maybe try a fire weapon?" I'm in a giant botanical garden and the bad guy has "Rose" in his name. I never would have thought of that. Fire burns plants? What a novel concept. "X! Those platforms don't look sturdy. Be careful!" I have like twelve lives right now, I think I can sacrifice one for a learning experience. For a more recent example than that, thank you, most stealth games made in the past ten years, for letting me know that hiding behind something can help me not get caught by bad guys. I totally don't know from my own human life experience that having an opaque object between me and someone looking for me will help prevent me from being found.

I don't know. I just feel disrespected when games don't acknowledge I can figure these things out on my own. Tip-of-the-hat to Pony Island and Kairo and Missing Translation for not teaching me anything outright, letting me learn on my own, and having some of the best completely un-aided puzzles I've ever seen in games ever. I want to see more of that.

 

I believe the games are getting easier, but not because the games itself are easier but because I grow more skilled over the years. I even use that as a trick to beat games I wasn't able to beat before: stop playing it, then return to the game after a few months have passed. For some mysterious reason, I always find myself able to beat the games when I do that. I wonder how long I can keep that up though... I mean, I can't expect this technique to work forever.