Game difficulty is something to be analyzed in tandem with the current technology.
Back then, the very first games were simple in concept, such as "defeat all aliens", or "eat all dots". If you really think about it, old games were not difficult in concept due to the hardware of that time - but variables (such as speed, different/pseudorandom patterns, input) got progressively harder and since old games had no ending, the only reason a player would endure hours of gaming would be to get the high score.
Old games were made to kill you - there is no actual final level and every time you progressed, surviving became even harder until all your lives were lost. The reason for this is mainly two: the limited hardware as I said earlier, and game credits.
Games were purposedly made hard to eat up all the nickels from gamers back then. Every time they died, a coin would be deposited to try again, and so on and so on, until you ran out of lunch money. The feeling of incompleteness and frustration when you failed drove many players to spend tons of money - and SNES/Mega Drive games, mirroring that ideology, had many games with limited lives and continues even though you didn't need coins to boot the game.
Nowadays, I believe this ideology isn't required anymore - there are games without lives, or without continues, and even games where you can't even die. Because of the advancements on hardware, developers could make inventive games where 'surviving' isn't the main point, but rather 'telling a story' or 'experimenting new ideas'. Some even subvert the idea of classic difficulty by making the protagonist immortal, but challenge him with head splitting puzzles and enigmas.
At a first glance, looks like games became easier. And they did - but it's not like old games were fairly balanced, either. Games deemed 'easy' aren't a problem if it does its fundamental job of entertaining.
Now, we have a plethora of games for you to play - easy games, hard games, and Dark Souls. If you look well, you will find things that will please you.
Back then, the very first games were simple in concept, such as "defeat all aliens", or "eat all dots". If you really think about it, old games were not difficult in concept due to the hardware of that time - but variables (such as speed, different/pseudorandom patterns, input) got progressively harder and since old games had no ending, the only reason a player would endure hours of gaming would be to get the high score.
Old games were made to kill you - there is no actual final level and every time you progressed, surviving became even harder until all your lives were lost. The reason for this is mainly two: the limited hardware as I said earlier, and game credits.
Games were purposedly made hard to eat up all the nickels from gamers back then. Every time they died, a coin would be deposited to try again, and so on and so on, until you ran out of lunch money. The feeling of incompleteness and frustration when you failed drove many players to spend tons of money - and SNES/Mega Drive games, mirroring that ideology, had many games with limited lives and continues even though you didn't need coins to boot the game.
Nowadays, I believe this ideology isn't required anymore - there are games without lives, or without continues, and even games where you can't even die. Because of the advancements on hardware, developers could make inventive games where 'surviving' isn't the main point, but rather 'telling a story' or 'experimenting new ideas'. Some even subvert the idea of classic difficulty by making the protagonist immortal, but challenge him with head splitting puzzles and enigmas.
At a first glance, looks like games became easier. And they did - but it's not like old games were fairly balanced, either. Games deemed 'easy' aren't a problem if it does its fundamental job of entertaining.
Now, we have a plethora of games for you to play - easy games, hard games, and Dark Souls. If you look well, you will find things that will please you.
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