I have REALLY gotten sick of the “git gud” crowd.

I've always been sick of it. It's impacted how developers create games.

Once upon a time, hard and difficult games on 8-bit and 16-bit platforms were created accidentally, either because of design bugs, or developers not having time to run through proper play-test cycles, or only doing the play testing themselves. We put up with it because we were kids and had a limited budget for games, so we played what we had. It was never intentional, since they wanted to make sure it was balanced enough to appeal to the general audience, but still have difficulty levels for people who wanted to try out a second harder playthrough.

Then, games like Dark Souls came along, which pretended that hard games were a From Software invention, and propped up a community of egoists and digital sadomasochists. All they did was make the designs more deliberate, to the point of developer trolling. (I know this started earlier on in the indie scene, especially roguelikes, but Dark Souls popularized it.)

The "git gud" crowd pushes this narrative of "if it's possible to do, then it's the player's fault for not having the skill to do so", to the point of personifying a game with statements like "the game is punishing me with bad RNG" or "the game is actively trying to kill me". This completely ignores the developers' responsibility of instituting balanced difficulty levels, since it's the developers' fault that "the game" does these things.

Again, it has really impacted how developers create games nowadays. First, the "git gud" crowd is loud enough that developers now think they deserve a voice, as if difficult games weren't absolutely everywhere, even before Dark Souls. The popularity of speed running makes them think that have to cater to that crowd, and streamers streaming impossible challenges skews that difficulty Overton window even more. Developers think they have to make some impossibly difficult game, so that streamers, who famously play video games for a living for thousands of hours a year, will advertise their game and push it to the top.

I encountered these people while playing Divinity Original Sin too. They basically exploited the mechanism, stole everything, abused the chest/telekineses method, then felt good about themselves, look down on everyone who don't play that way.

Finally something worth discussing on this post.

Isn't it a similar "ego" phenomenon that someone would want the highest difficulty setting to be something they themselves can complete? I fear it's solely because you get to select the difficulty level that anyone even has an issue with Helldivers.

If you use Call of Duty as the example, they match you with people at your ping and skill level. So why isn't level 10 on helldivers considered to be the Challenger version of the game. If it followed any similar logic to the bell curve, then very few people should be able to complete it without a coordinated team effort using comms and highly tech focused builds.

Yet I started Helldivers a month ago and have completed a 99% full clear super helldive with 0 deaths with randoms (Fking lidar tower).

Anyways, I'm kind of thinking if they nerf the game it will be too easy. I envy that steep learning curve and great heights by which the game demands you rise.

Unfortunately, developers are left in a position where they have to simply decide. To favor the people who find entertainment in being able to finish the highest difficulty vs. the peoe who desire an never ending demand for evolution to higher skill.

I am happy with the dev team quite a bit due to the fact they do engage and adapt with their community. Much more than other games...