This is a dumb debate, and just wastes time.

The company using said thing, standing behind whatever product is being sold, is, just like using any other tool.

If you’re a landscaping company, and your lawnmower runs over someone, you get sued, not the lawnmower company.

If the reason it happened was because the tool malfunctioned, then you separately sue the AI company.

As no one says their bot is capable of being used in situations that could result in loss of life, that isn’t 100% accurate, because no one should be doing that.

This feels like a nonsensical bot response its so illogical.

You make no points and call me names.

It’s literally the whole deal

If this were true, and you weren’t just supporting useless gatekeeping, then removing it would result in a non working game.

This is a preference you have, to specifically eliminate choice for other people.

This is a nonsensical and unrealistic fear/threat to be putting at the top of your list.

The biggest problems are happening right now not in some 90s sci fi films.

One of those threats is automated weaponry and mass surveillance, but not in the comic relief way you speak about it.

In this context, though, yes, you are obviously not the target audience and that is specifically your issue with it.

It literally isnt at all. You know you’re wrong too and thats why this is a frustrating argument. You aren’t arguing with your real opinions here.

If you made your restaurant analogy honest, it would be like a restaraunt has peanuts sprinkled on a dessert you like, so you ask them not to sprinkle peanuts there, and some other patreons flip their tables and bark like dogs at the idea that you would dare ask them not to do that, acting as if it must mean you don’t like the dessert if you don’t get the peanuts.

You really are just being a crybaby about something not having a specialized programming element to allow you to customize the game to make it just right for your specific taste and play style preference.

This part is just childish.

Oh dude … I don’t know how to tell you this but at this point you’re just wrong. Sorry to be the one to break it to you.

What riveting, useful commentary.

I’ve broken it down several times in this topic already, but sure, let’s do it once more. Difficulty is a complex equation that is the result of various components like level architecture, encounter design, world puzzles, and complex stat curves across enemies, equipment, and player characters in addition to intricate boss fight routines with varied movesets. There’s no “slider” here. Everyone keeps mentioning these mythical sliders and THAT is the magical thinking here. That there is a simple way to adjust the game to Easy that adjusts all those other variables.

Just because you state something repeatedly doesn’t mean you’ve made a logical argument or a good point.

The easy rebuttal to this nonsense, is the question, for a game that is already made, where you are already happy, lets say they keep everything as it is right now, like they literally have the games they already have and add some difficulty options like less annoying backtracking. How does this “ruin” your experience?

There has yet to be a legitimate answer to this question.

The truth therefore, is that the only answer is gatekeeping, because you don’t want other people to be able to experience the game in a way they enjoy.

More than that, the idea that difficulty is just a series of sliders is something entirely constructed in your mind.

Atomfall for instance has things like live hints vs you figuring it out your self. Stamina, vs infinite running, etc etc. There is so much more that can be done with difficulty than your simplistic view that its about sliders.

Basically your whole point is nonsensical.

Here is criticism: “I do not like this game because I find it too difficult.” Here is not criticism: “This is a bad game because the developer did not make more effort to cater to the wide range of entirely subjective opinions on what difficulty is.”

Just because you make a hyperbolized version of opinions you disagree doesnt mean they arent criticism. Also, its 100% legitimate to criticize something for being too focused in certain areas.

You are here literally gatekeeping criticism. Is gatekeeping all you do?

I hate to rely on arguments from popularity but

Then don’t. This should be a sign to you that your point is weak.

and the game is so popular it literally

Just because something is successful does not mean every single element of it is what made it so, or is good.

I think you need to look up what gatekeeping is. At this point looking at your other responses in this topic I think you’re kind of a troll?

Least obvious attempt to troll possible by you here. When you don’t have an argument you just imply the other person must be trolling for not agreeing with your bad take.

But I mean I don’t care, I have fun talking about and critiquing the finer points of games online

Evidently not judging by this conversation.

Cheat. Just cheat.

Modding games is extra effort and not immediately available, especially for consoles. This isn’t a solution and you know that.

It’s interesting you literally cant answer the question.

Its because there is no answer. The truth is its 100% about useless gatekeeping.

Lets say they keep everything as it is right now, like they literally have the games they already have and add some difficulty options like less annoying backtracking. How does this “ruin” your experience?

Every one of these arguments is based on the entirely made up idea that sacrifices must be made to achieve these improvements.

You sound ridiculous because you’re making a cartoonishly bad faith argument where you pretend not having good difficulty options is a genre.

What a trite, immature, troll like response this is.

Not having good difficulty settings is not a genre. It’s a lacking.

This tired response of pretending any criticism of anything means a person “must clearly not be the target audience” is extremely thoughtless gatekeeping.

It’s such a bad argument on its face too, as if someone disliking a flaw in something means they clearly must haste the thing in its entirety. insufferable people.

Based on the detailed arguments of the entire post you just replied to without responding to any of those points.

They were not detailed arguments at all. You just “feel” like game difficulty has to be this magic thing that can’t possibly have settings without compromising your dream experience. You have no evidence for this. You just want it to be true to justify the gatekeeping.

This is not gatekeeping. It is explaining why I like the game as it is and implore others to experience and enjoy the game where it wants you to be.

Using fancy verbal diarrhea to say exactly the same thing is not convincing.

You are absolutely gatekeeping as you want games not to have options because you think people should play the game how you want to play games.

For fuck’s sake, yes! Everyone is allowed to criticize but everyone in this thread is trying to “fix” the game and demand the developers do things to cater to them that they have directly stated they do not or have no intention of doing and somehow we’re the selfish ones here?!

You absolutely are the selfish ones here. I mean look at that ridiculously bad faith summary of the comments here.

People are 100% reasonable and right to complain about games doing things they don’t like here, on a forum for discussing games.

They aren’t at all unreasonable for doing so. This specific excerpt from you is such nonsensical double speak, where you start by saying yes people can criticize, but finish by calling people selfish for not liking aspects you like.

Im sure youll try to weasel around that being what you’ve done, but thats what it is.

Look, I can review a Barbie game, but I’m going to hate it because I’m am must in no way the intended audience.

This is a bs weasel though, because many of the people are the intended audiences. These arent crazy mismatches, these are developers being stubborn and stuck up in bougie, high artsy, self important ways that a great deal of their playerbases don’t appreciate.

From what you’re suggesting, you basically think all the games you like should get about half the sales numbers they are getting because anyone who doesn’t like any noteworthy aspect of the game clearly just isnt the intended audience and shouldn’t have bought it.

Its a silly, childish black and white view solely there so you can continue to be angry at people for being critical about the aspects of a game you gatekeep around.

Don’t make arguments about how the game should be when other people love it the way it is.

Why? This is you pretending to be for open conversation but not at all being… This is the gatekeepy bullshit I am talking about.

Adding difficulty options does not cheapen the game, it widens its appeal and makes games far more fun for a larger amount of people without subtracting from the experience for others.

For instance, lets say you have a game that has painful backtracking that a large number of people complain about. Who does it harm to have a setting to skip the painful backtracking? Fucking nobody.

You can’t argue even for a second that this ruins the experience for those that say they do like the painful backtracking as this by no means would take away from their experiences, yet you would argue that people shouldn’t complain or ask that developers include that because you want to gatekeep experiences.

Sit with your opinion and recognize it for what it is. Your opinion.

This is a bullshit way of you insisting your (shitty) opinion is objective (where you think people shouldn’t complain about things you like) while pretending people stating their opinions are somehow doing exactly what you’re actually doing.

Insufferable.

and I insist that that is a wildly incorrect assumption.

Based on nothing but your gatekeeping feelings.

Gamers have a hard time properly articulating their critiques and I absolutely abhor the “git gud” mentality,

No you don’t, thats literally just one of the excuses you use here for your gatekeeping.

. And if you still don’t like it, it’s not a game for you.

They are absolutely allowed to criticize a game that you believe isnt for them. They’re allowed to review it poorly if they’ve bought it, and they’re allowed to shit on it for not being to their liking just as you’re allowed to praise it.

For some games, where hardship and strife is a genuine core element of the creative vision, a single level of difficulty doesn’t just create a striking apprehension of the genuineness of that hardship, it also allows the developer to tune that difficulty with great care, further pushing that choice to serve the intended experience.

This is all a very flimsy excuse for annoying gate keeping.

Pretending that difficulty tuning has to suffer if there is more than one difficulty is absurdly nonsensical.

Of all the parts of a game that take significant effort, this is not one.

Studios literally already tune their games for a specific difficulty firstly usually, and tune up or down from there.

You are just imagining that magically one difficulty means higher quality difficulty.

The game is only “just better” with difficulty options if you have implicitly accepted the idea that you should be able to complete any game you buy. If you don’t feel that way about, say, books you purchase, please investigate that feeling.

This is such an absurd prick opinion that makes no fucking sense whatsoever.

Who in the fuck buys any media they don’t intend on being able to finish. What???

You think people are buying books they think they’ll want to stop reading half way? Movies they’ll want to walk out of?

How did you get so deluded you even thought you were making a cogent argument here.

Jesus Christ.

All games should have difficulty settings as fleshed out as Atomfall.

The idea that games should be a set difficulty with the set annoyances that game includes is stupid.

LIke I personally, would delete all minigames, fuck em, and have hard combat. Thats my preference.

I fucking hate creatives who believe super deeply they’ve created some masterpiece meant to be played one way.