Level Difficulty Tag Deflation

[Pteriforever]

Medium is the new OMG.

I've noticed something peculiar recently. It used to be that Easy meant a level built with newbies in mind, Medium was a fairly easy, but still challenging, level, Hard was a very challenging level, but one that most people could still finish if they tried hard enough, and OMG was a ludicrous level that people made to test just how hard a level they could make.

But in the past few months, I'm seeing a pattern. The 4-point-scale of ours has been slowly evolving into a 2-point scale. Either a level is MEDIUM(A hard level) or a level is HARD(A really hard level)

This is for 2 reasons:

1. Almost all levels people make are designed to be challenging. People generally don't make too many easy levels.

2. People are too hesitant to use OMG. Most people nowadays still make levels where they put their level-making skills to the limit and come up with the hardest level they can, but they're not sure of themselves and, thinking that their level isn't hard enough, slap a HARD label on it and move on. I was guilty of this at some point, too.

So, how do we fix the problem? I have a few ideas.

1. Let the people who play the level vote for a difficulty tag

This seems a good idea at first, but it really isn't. The problem arises because of the two reasons above, nobody would vote anything mother than MEDIUM or HARD anyway.

2. Remove the system entirely.

This could work, but only if it gets out of control. It would make it impossible to tell how hard a level is from the thread list.

3. Add more levels to the system.

How about this: We could roll forward all the tags by a level. An immediate problem is a ridiculous overflow of HARD and OMG levels, but this would be fixed by the new levels pouring in, which will of course be all MEDIUM and HARD anyway.

Seems convenient. I suppose it could work, but there's also the long-term problem of having level sets of the same tag being vastly different in difficulty. That and the fact that you'll need to do it again a couple of months later.

And finally,

4. Add a difficulty table.

This would be the most effective method IMO. We set up a simple table like the one below, where people compare their levels to three  level sets whose difficulties are set in stone.

OMG: harder than IWBTMT.
HARD: harder than Archer Man 2 but easier than IWBTMT
MEDIUM: harder than Bae's Adventure but easier than Archer Man 2
EASY: easier than Bae's Adventure

So, what do you guys think?

[Bae]

>>Medium: Harder then Bae's adventure

xD idk whether I should be offended or not, I suppose when I made that set I was going for an easier feel then usual but I think the difficulty increased *some* with the update i made to it

but I digress

is it possible to make polls in the level sharing thread? if so you could just add a poll to whatever level you were sharing, with either the current easy-medium-hard-omg options or a 1-5 scale, anything more is probably going overboard

[halibabica]

I think we're overthinking something simple.  The difficulty tag is just there to give the player some idea of what to expect.  Whether that difficulty coincides with their own experience in the level or not is another thing entirely.

Eguee, for example, would argue that every level ever made was Easy difficulty.

In all seriousness, though, it's really to subjective and any attempt to further refine the rating process would not yield worthwhile results.  Just play the levels and decide for yourself!  And maybe gripe about it if it's really too hard!

[Arucard]

I think a good rule of thumb (which means what exactly?) was mentioned early on. Take the difficulty you think it is, and add one. Since being the designer it will be somewhat simple for you, and your also making it based on your own skills in testing and such. Plus, it can be changed after getting feedback, or you can always have someone else test it too.

[marsgreekgod]

The man issue with the fix is that, well we have no mods here.

so we can't change anything of fourms.

I think a good rule of thumb (which means what exactly?) was mentioned early on. Take the difficulty you think it is, and add one. Since being the designer it will be somewhat simple for you, and your also making it based on your own skills in testing and such. Plus, it can be changed after getting feedback, or you can always have someone else test it too.

so for the OMG levels I made a while ago...?

[halibabica]

It means the levels you thought were OMG! hard were actually of a 5th higher difficulty level, so great in its magnitude that it's unfathomable by mortal man.

In other words, it's unnecessarily cruel.

[Arucard]

Mars, buddy you really gotta do your research before assuming. I just changed my level 'the long way down' from easy to hard. Same way you change the threads heading, modify the original post.

And obviously the hardest level, which I doubt you considered OMG for yourself, would be the cap. Unless you'd like to put an added disclaimer in the thread itself. And yeah, unnecessarily cruel does seem a fit description for your style, in my opinion.

[ManaUser]

My rule of thumb, is that it's if there's basically no chance of losing. It's if an average player would be challenged, but have a shot at beating it in one try. It's if it takes an average player several attempts. And it's if an average player can't finish it.

The trouble, of course, is I can't find this average player guy to get him to test my levels. 

[marsgreekgod]

Mars, buddy you really gotta do your research before assuming. I just changed my level 'the long way down' from easy to hard. Same way you change the threads heading, modify the original post.

And obviously the hardest level, which I doubt you considered OMG for yourself, would be the cap. Unless you'd like to put an added disclaimer in the thread itself. And yeah, unnecessarily cruel does seem a fit description for your style, in my opinion.

I couldn't beat this level. I just used the code to make sure it could be done.

saddly an error lost it, other wise it would be posted now.

[Pteriforever]

I've got an insanely hard set called The Quest For More Donuts that I plan to make. I've made one level.