Difficulty looks like a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

For some, masking with a sense of normalcy and making it through the day without a full on breakdown is difficulty enough

As has been the usual case with me for some time now, I am currently haunted by a mid-week bout of the uncertainties, making me evermore thoughtful, to the point of restlessness. For me, thinking brings with it a serious sense of satisfaction, almost trading in a vivacious force of fulfillment for me, so when the cognitive faucet is seemingly at full blast without recourse, the torrential flood of relentless reckoning bearing down upon me is a bit too much to bear, hence a far slower, more methodically driven kind of day must take place. These moments are usually where my articles involving the entitlement “Quick Posits” come from, as I contend with the overclocked sense of internal turmoil from my bed as I attempt to ground myself in the most comforting way possible.

I wrote an article awhile back discussing difficulty levels in Soulslike games, and like many of my write-ups, it wasn’t necessarily about a singular game in a sense, nor was it *really* addressing a single example or point in time. Most of what I tackle, where deconstructionism is concerned, may signal one source of inspiration, though often times, utilizing what I’ve referred to as “framework thinking”, is really dealing with an entire body of thought, that sometimes extends far beyond the initial metaphysical premise I originally contend with. An excellent example of this was just yesterday, when I was writing about “Chicken Nugget Gaming”, which didn’t even mention a specific game by name, as the whole discussion was more a focus of methodology and thought process then just the problems that plague a singular noun involved in the process.

Digressing back to my point about difficulties in Soulslikes, I initially used the metaphor in my original address as akin to different levels of spice strength in prepared dishes of food, and I think that well enough likens the point to familiar and similar territory to plant a firm point upon. In taking it a step further, withour belittling my original point or unnecessarily dragging out the metaphor, we continue to discuss, for a brief period of time longer, the purists who are adamantly against a range of difficulties, citing as their reference point the notion “the way the game was intended to be played”. The irony here being that devs fine tune their games all the time, due to rebalancing endeavors, feeling as if they didn’t get it quite right the first time, sometimes, much to the chagrin of those who have spent ample amounts of energy practicing said titles, and perfecting their craft involving the “battle math” that helps frame the dance of combat to a mathematical precision. This is also after the fact that FromSoftware has discussed adding a new *harder difficulty to Elden Ring: Nighrreign, for the more endearing masochists of their fanbase, which then automatically makes the old default an “easy mode” by contrast, so in a sense, they will have agreed with its implementation that volumes of difficulty enhance their own games, truly negating the haters and naysayers of this matter, though no one was ever taking them seriously to begin with, hence my suggestion for them to “touch grass” upon my initial criticism.

In adding to my point involving the spice metaphor, I also stumbled upon an extrapolation during one of my thinking sessions, where I was considering the notion of the “wu wei” during play, where one enters the state of flow, due to a number of factors at hand, but essentially boiling down to being “in the zone”, as it were, with the individual acting without thinking, due to their level of capability, usually on account of practice, vs the state of existence they tended to be up against. The concept of wu wei is far more in-depth than that, and worthy of investigation, though for the sake of the discussion at hand, we are radically simplifying the notion for ease of accessibility. In any case, I know there are many reasons one engages with games, and there are likely as many responses as there are people as to the ultimate reason as to why they game, but I’m sure a not insignificant number of people who game possess at least, on some level, a yearning for exploring sense of self, in a way, in finding out more about who they are, in a continual process of “becoming” authentic self, something I discuss and fixate on a great deal in my philosophical writings on ATE in one form or another.

So, while some most certainly game to tune out, or perhaps just enjoy the social aspects of it, others still loving the artistry or narratives involved, there are plenty who do fascinate themselves with systems of design and the difficulty involved, loving their chance at mastering a system, or feeling accomplished in a small way at besting a challenge that helps them explore who they truly are in the process. I think quite obviously, some find this state of flow or form of mastery against the elements easier than others, and therefore are able to operate at higher levels against greater odds for any number of reasons, and well on them for their expeditious sense of competency. For others still, similar desires may exist, but they may operate on a different part of the spectrum within the pretense of this particular process, their innate abilities lying elsewhere, but these individuals remain ardent in seeking similar desires all the same. It is to these individuals that perhaps a more tempered sense of difficulty lends itself to, but one that would help them comfortably slot into their own designated wu wei state of being, reaching a sense of flow, and with it, a rediscovery of self, and enhance their own process of “becoming”, as they enter another world of understanding, taking their place in both reality and the metaphysical, through the sheer act of authenticity, and an altered state of transformative experience of heightened sense of existence, even if only for a moment.

I think there is much to elaborate and extrapolate upon with this topic of interest, and a subject I have a keen interest in, so I will most certainly revisit this at a point in the future, but like most of my best moments on ATE, my part has been played, with the seed of an idea planted, and a curiosity now firmly embedded within the soil of possible thought, as I cross my fingers that perhaps a dialogue will propagate from a garden of thoughtful endeavor, with my posit of creative intent.

Until next time.

-Pashford