Forget difficulty, video games have a communication problem

digitaltrends.com:

When we talk about video game difficulty, that usually means one thing: “This game is hard.”

Hard can mean a few different things. In the case of a game like Dark Souls, it means that a game is physically demanding. It can require precise mastery of controls and superhuman reflexes. In a puzzle game, there’s more of a cognitive workout. Baba is You, a game where players essentially code the rules by pushing boxes, features notoriously difficult puzzles that require heavy brain power.

But as video games have grown, they’ve stumbled into a new form of difficulty that other artistic mediums are all too familiar with. A stronger focus on storytelling or thematic intent sometimes demands gameplay decisions that aren’t always enjoyable for players by design. It’s an arthouse approach that raises some complicated questions for a medium where the ability to actually progress through a game can be a barrier to getting its point.

Talk to a cinephile and they’ll tell you that the most celebrated greats aren’t always fun to watch. One of my all-time favorite films is Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, a three-and-a-half hour film about a French widow repeating her same mundane routine over and over. It’s a difficult watch. It features a handful of static camera setups that repeat, hardly a word of dialogue, and five-minute sequences where the main character prepares veal in real time.

It’s excruciatingly boring, but that’s the point. If a film is going to paint a portrait of mundane, domestic life, it wouldn’t make much sense for it to be entertaining. Instead, the glacial pace forces viewers to sit with the silence. They start to feel antsy just as the titular Dielman begins to unravel, leading to a shocking