Difficulty and Accessibility - Not an Easy History
/Do you like hard games? I know I do. Games like Bloodborne and Monster Hunter are among my favourites of all time, and both are well known for the intense challenge they offer. There’s a certain sense of pride to be had from facing up against a difficult obstacle, like a tough boss or a tricky puzzle, and overcoming it through skill and wit. A lot of us think that challenge is what makes games fun. But what if the obstacle you’re faced with isn’t a boss or a puzzle, but your ability to read text on the screen or make out colours and objects? What if you can’t reach every button on a controller at the same time? For gamers with disabilities, struggling to simply play a game isn’t fun. Thankfully, a lot of modern games include accessibility features like subtitles, colour-blind modes, descriptive audio, customizable controls, and some developers have even experimented with high-contrast filters for the visually impaired. One simple way to help make games more accessible is to select an easier difficulty option. But with this last option comes a sense of derision from the gaming community. Why is that?
Game: Pac-man // courtesy of vintagearcade.net
Back in the late 70s and 80s, arcades were at their peak popularity. Games like Donkey Kong and Space Invaders turned the industry into a titan of entertainment, raking in $8 billion in the US alone in 1981. How’d they do this? Easy. They were hard. Difficult arcade games meant kids would keep spending coins to try and beat them – after all, if they actually won, they’d be satisfied and might stop playing. Of course, if they were too hard, gamers would quit because the game felt cheap, and so a careful balance had to be struck. For all their difficulty though, these games were generally simple to control. Some games, like Pac-Man, only required you to operate a single joystick to play. This meant that gamers with physical disabilities were generally able to play, though difficulty still proved to be a hurdle. One of the earliest home consoles, the Atari, emulated this simplicity, so much so that John Dutton, a quadriplegic gamer, was able to operate it, though it took a little modification. The Atari even had switches that could modify difficulty, making it more accessible than arcade machines.
the nes hands free // courtesy of Ian hamilton
Home video game consoles rose to prevalence with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. A lot of conventions carried over from arcades, like lives, continues, and of course, making games tough as nails. A lot of older gamers could probably trace their anger management issues back to Battletoads on the NES. One thing was certainly new though: the controller was designed to be held in two hands with thumbs resting over the buttons. Between the more complex controller and games so tough that “Nintendo hard” became a saying, things were getting tougher for disabled gamers (to their credit, though, Nintendo did eventually create an accessible device called the NES Hands Free).
As tech got better in the 90s, it became easier for developers to implement multiple difficulty modes, and the practice became widespread to broaden the appeal of video games. Was this finally the start of gaming becoming a more accessible hobby? Yes and no. There were more options, but some developers gave these new modes colourful names, with dangerous, cool-sounding names like ‘nightmare’ or ‘legendary’ for harder difficulties and belittling names like ‘baby’ or ‘timid’ for easier ones. Wolfenstein took things a step further by labelling its easiest mode ‘Can I play, Daddy?’ The accompanying image of the protagonist wearing a bonnet with a pacifier in his mouth added insult to injury.
Game: Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus // Courtesy of SVG.com
Is this funny? You could argue that, sure. But it also feeds a toxic culture where the hobby is gatekept by self-declared elite gamers, and anybody who dares to play on a lower setting is shamed. Ask for advice on any gaming forum and it’s almost assured that the first response you’ll get is “git gud.” Modern games are much more diverse than their arcade predecessors, and many have done away with concepts like scoreboards and limited tries in favour of art and experience. The options are expanded too, with many devs making accessibility a priority. This also means more creative attempts at managing difficulty, like Nintendo’s Funky Mode in Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze or Assist Mode in Super Mario Odyssey. Despite these steps forward by devs, some gamers balk at the very idea of making games easier. Any attempt at discussion about adding difficulty options to games like Elden Ring elicits pushback and contempt. At best, it’s elitism. At worst, it’s ableism. In either case, it’s toxic.
Difficulty is malleable. It arises when a player meets an obstacle and is relative from player to player. The goal should be to achieve enjoyable difficulty, not frustrating difficulty. Not every video game is made for everyone, sure, but everyone should be able to at least play without being barred by a lack of accessibility, and difficulty options are a part of that.
Chris Hodgins is an aspiring writer and avid gamer, which is probably obvious enough from his involvement in this blog. He’s also a cat whisperer with wild dreams of opening a cat sanctuary someday, if he ever manages to strike it rich. Until then, he spends his time gaming, writing, and sharing his life with his lovely wife and three furry kids.
