Difficult and challenging games are always fun for me. An easy game will put me to sleep, but a challenging one gets my undivided attention.
Why is that? I know I can beat any human problem with a cup of patience and a tablespoon of strategy.
A good example are the comets that appear in Super Mario Galaxy. These comets create challenges, like racing against the clock. A couple of years ago, these challenges seemed daunting to me. After all, a busy life had estranged me from video games during my late teens and early twenties. Galaxy nudged me in the ribs and laughed at my lack of experience. At first, I gave in. I shook my head in disbelief, saying “This is impossible. I can’t do x, y or z.” I was wrong.
Sometimes I need to stop and think to solve the problem. Sometimes I need to plod through trial and error, rinse and repeat. Then sometimes I just rush in and things work out. Go figure.
When it’s all over, I feel pretty good about myself for having overcome all the game’s challenges. I sometimes like that an achievement cements that accomplishment for me. I’m left with a warm, fuzzy feeling.
What is that good feeling? I think it’s confidence. It’s feeling confident enough to solve big problems that seem impossible. After overcoming one challenge, I’m likely to try an even harder problem while believing in myself.
Beating a difficult game or part makes me think I can do anything. Hmmm tell me more about these Dark Souls games.
Bonus post: Goldilocks & the Three Games
Video Games Nebula 
Overly difficult games tend to frustrate me, but I can certainly understand how overcoming a challenge can prove to be satisfactory.
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Sounds like we’re on the same page on this one.
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I’m not very fond of overly difficult games, but I do like a challenge every now and then. Have you ever played any of the games in the Professor Layton series? Those provide a good mixture of challenging and fairly easy puzzles.
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No, I haven’t played the Layton games, but I would love to one day. It would be nice if they came to other consoles as I don’t own any Nintendo hardware these days. They look great.
Good puzzle games are one of my favourites because they are challenging but fair.
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Difficulty in games is absolutely important. When it’s used correctly, it motivates you to get better and rewards you with that confidence boost and a sense of accomplishment. It’s finding the balance that can be the hard part.
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Yes, I know what you mean about finding the right balance. I even wrote a silly post about finding balance in video game difficulty settings. I forgot about it but added it now to the bottom of this post. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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Yeah, balanced difficulty is important. That’s why games like Mega Man can be incredibly challenging, but still fun to play. We’ll have to check out your post on balance now, too 🙂
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