What difficulty do you usually play on?

I know if varies from game to game, but I usually play on normal modes, sometimes trending toward easy for shooters... It's not so much that I can't beat things on harder levels, but sometimes I like to kick back and enjoy the game without having to worry about being killed or w/e a bunch of times.... I really don't like to repeat levels, that's a pet peeve of mine...

What do you guys generally game at?

Whatever is the default, then work my way through it progressively on harder difficulties (if I actually liked it the first time through).

The only exception is the AD&D games. Always on the hardore rules difficulty, first time.

Well i voted for "Zomg Insane Difficulty".If im not wrong,this should mean something like "Very Hard".Rylsadar

I guess such an interpretation is acceptable :) I was thinking more along the lines of "hardest" or "insane" or "extreme." You know, things of that nature. It seemed a bit more interesting to name it z.i.d., though :D

At least hard, often Hardest, on my first play through. I normally find normal is just not challenging enough to be satisfying, although its still fun to go back to a particularly good level and run through slaughtering everyone :P.

Of course, sometimes it backfires... I would have played through CoD 4 for the first time on Hardened if i had realised what a b&*ch Veteran is, particularly with a terrible checkpoint system and no saving...lol. Hardened is super fun by comparison.

I usually play on normal modes, sometimes trending toward easy for shooters... It's not so much that I can't beat things on harder levels, but sometimes I like to kick back and enjoy the game without having to worry about being killed or w/e a bunch of times...Staryoshi87

I'd agree with that... I play games for the enjoyment of it, not to prove something to anyone. I put the 'casual' in casual gaming, I guess.

I always start out on normal level. I like a challenge, but if I'm not making progress, what's the fun in playing?

I always used to play on normal but since FEAR (which I didn't find too difficult on V Hard) I've started selecting the next one up (Hard). Also I've been playing fps & CS for years now.

RTS depends though. I would play on hard if the damn cpus didn't rush at the first 5 mins in every game. Why do they all do that? Rush you & be a pain in the a*s for 20 mins then sit there & let you wipe them out? Even C&C3 was the same! I'd have thought they would've resolved this AI habit by now.

Varies greatly, but usually either hard or whatever is hardest. I realized with CoD2 that I enjoyed every screaming second of that hellish nightmare more than I had an FPS in a while. Now if a game does hard badly, then i'll just do normal, there are games that's difficulty makes no sense and isn't balanced, it's hard just to put the option there, the game isn't tuned to function well on hard making it unfun.

Then there are some games which on max difficulty are just beyond me... like Guitar Hero... sigh... I can't move past medium through any of the three sequels, just occassional jaunts into hard, then getting my ass beat everytime by expert.

If there are three difficulty settings, I choose difficulty 2 (medium). If there are four, I choose difficulty 3 (medium/hard).

I usually prefer for games to be about the experience more than the challenge. There is certainly satisfaction in playing through a hard game, but I value fun over satisfaction, usually.

If there are three difficulty settings, I choose difficulty 2 (medium). If there are four, I choose difficulty 3 (medium/hard).mfsa

Coward :)

Like many others, I've been playing games on hard, but not quite the hardest recently. Started with Bioshock just because I didn't want the game to be over too quickly (and I didn't use the cheap respawn chamber) and has carried over since.

Gears of War on Hardcore was tough for the first little bit, just took some time to get used to really. Basically, I don't mind having a grossly accelerated learning curve and dying 3-4 times before I get it right, makes it more fun. Though to be honest, I got pretty frustrated in CoD4 when you're waiting for the dang chopper to get to you, died probably 10 times before I got it right.

It depends on how the difficulty scales with the game, but generally I play my first time through on normal. A few years back, it used to be on easy, but I ended up blowing through games too quickly. With easier games, like Bioshock, I'll quickly switch to the hard mode. Otherwise, I save it for the next playthrough if I enjoy the game a bit and want more of a challenge.

I haven't played through too many games on the hardest modes. Call of Duty 2 is probably the last one, and it got too aggravating towards the end of the Russian campaign.

I first go on easy to see what im up against. Then I steadily make the difficulty higher.

I always play the hardest setting because it's just a cake walk otherwise.

i always play normal every gamethat i play is really rare that ever play hard mode is not that i can not beat the game in the hard mode but is that i want to play others games but know that i read this interested topic i may start playing in hard mod only the games that i find most enjoble and addicted.

I always begin on Hard now a days. More of a challenge = longer gameplay time.acidBURN1942

Exactly why I play on the hardest difficulty.

I have some sort of obsession with pushing games to their tactical limits to see what the devs true intentions were...and more specifically if their intentions are carried out properly.

Ever since seeing Mario speed runs I came to the realization that this "secret game" exists that offers more challenge than anything thought to be possible. It's more fun than anything imaginable to find a "secret challenge" and master it.

It depends on the game type. I generally like the harder settings for the simple reason that I like the game to last longer. However, on some games the hardest setting is just stupid ridiculous (Civ IV *cough*). On RTS games, I'll generally play normal if there even is a difficulty setting for the campaign. FPS: usually hard. I don't even play those types of games much these days, but those seem to be the kinds that actually have difficulty settings more often. I never set the difficulty below normal, unless it's a strategy game with quite a learning curve, and that's just until I have some idea what I'm doing (Civ IV again).

I really can't stand it when games feel like a pushover, unless the game really isn't designed around the idea of player skill anyway, such as a RPG. Of course, I grew up on games that most people would consider generally more difficult than most of today's offerings, so maybe my perception is skewed in that direction in that regard. It might not even be that today's games are easier per se, but just that when you die, you usually aren't set back very much; the Jak and Daxter series is a perfect example of this.

I always play on the hardest difficulty available.D9-THC

You must love Oblivion.