Do you ever set self-imposed challenges when playing videogames?

pcgamer.com:

Find all previous editions of the PCG Q&A here. Some highlights: — Have you learned a real-world skill from a game?

-Number keys or scroll wheel weapon switching?

-Worst PC-building catastrophes?

Pacifist runs, "Nuzlocke" attempts of Pokémon, heck, even the venerable speedrun are just a few ways that players have derived new challenges from games outside your usual difficulty slider. Some developers have even responded by building such challenges into their games: the Thief series used to instant-fail you if you killed anyone on the hardest difficulty, while «hardcore» modes in games like Diablo 4 or The Witcher 2 introduce mechanically-enforced permadeath.

I've been thinking about this sort of thing as I replay Deus Ex for the umpteenth time, quicksaving before and after practically every stealth takedown. Similarly, my early game pacifism always gets replaced with a late-game eagerness to slice up MJ-12 commandos with the Dragon's Tooth Sword. I lack the self-discipline for anything else.

Do you ever set self-imposed challenges when playing videogames? Here are our answers, as well as some from our forum.

Christopher Livingston, Features Producer: Heck yeah! I played Fallout 4 non-lethally with a knockout mod and another time without ever leaving Sanctuary. I played Skyrim while trying to only do things an NPC would do, and tried to build an entire working city in Cities: Skylines that fit within a highway offramp. Making up your own rules or giving yourself personal challenges isn't just a fun way to play games, it's the best way to play games. I guarantee the quest you come up with will be better than any official quest the game gives you.

And honestly, you can learn a lot about how a game works by making your own