Artificial Difficulty

Artificial Difficulty (also referred to as Fake Difficulty) is a term which is used to describe 'cheap' methods of creating difficulty used in games to increase the likelihood of failure. These methods were especially prevalent in older games where the short length of most games meant that the difficulty needed to be increased to prevent players from completing them too quickly, but they still appear regularly in modern games. Though these methods are not inherently bad and are often necessary for a fun experience, when misused they can create frustration in the player.
The common methods of creating Artificial Difficulty can be split into groups: Technical, Design and Communication
==Technical==
These methods include technical aspects of the gameplay, such as poor controls, horrible physics or an inadequately programmed camera.
===Examples===
*Ratchet Scrolling, a form of scrolling where the screen only scrolls forward which prevents the player from backtracking. When used for vertical levels, this leaves the bottom of the screen a scrolling bottomless pit, even if there had been platforms just underneath.
==Design==
These methods are aspects of the game which were intentionally designed by the developers. This could include certain types of mission where performance is not based on the skill of the player, or progression being based on luck.
===Examples===
*"Damage-Sponge" bosses, who are given overly large amounts of health (relative to the player's damage output) to artificially increase the length of their fight.
**Particularly nasty cases are ones where the boss has the ability to heal, whether through an active ability or via passive regeneration.
*Escort Missions will often fall foul of this as many escortable NPCs tend to be incompetent. This often comes in the form of NPCs advancing forwards into a group enemies before you've defeated them, or moving into your line of fire to block your shots and, in particularly frustrating missions, get hit by friendly fire.
*Lack of Checkpoints or Savepoints, where few or no checkpoints or savepoints are placed in a level so that the player will have to restart if they die.
**Some games will take this further by lacking any checkpoints or savepoints entirely, though this is uncommon outside of Rougelikes, 8-Bit games and optional difficulty modes.
*Random Drops, where there will be a set chance (often undisclosed) of the player receiving an item or triggering an event after defeating an enemy/clearing a stage. This can be particularly frustrating when the item/event is necessary for progression.
**Often the rarest items in games with random drops will be hidden behind a random drop, usually from a rare enemy who may on its own be difficult to kill.
==Communication==
These methods are caused by the failure of the game to properly communicate important information. Examples of this could be the game failing to explain the use of certain abilities to the player or giving outright false information.
===Examples===
*Explanations for items or abilities which do not adequately explain how they function. This often takes the form of tooltips leaving out side-effects which may significantly affect the usage of the item/ability.
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Category:Game Elements