/vr/ - Retro Games

Artificial difficulty is a means of temporarily blocking the player's progress which wants you to THINK it is legitimate difficulty but is not. The usual reason for this is to give the game fake longevity by stalling the player, or to eat up their quarters.

>The game kills the player simply for not knowing something they couldn't have possibly known in advance, i.e. the invisible block scenario. This IS artificial difficulty.
>The game gives the player a false sense of progression when it's really forcing them to perform some repetitive action disguised as new gameplay, i.e. grinding (for lives, exp, etc.) This IS artificial difficulty.
>The game throws dangerous situations at the player that require pinpoint accuracy and timing. This IS NOT artificial difficulty.

Learn the fucking difference.