This is something that gets talked about a lot and there are a bunch of games that implement survival modes or hardcore modes and in absolutely every one of those cases, I simply opt out. I find no fun in any of that. Yet lots of people act like if you’re not playing the hardest of the hardcore modes, you’re doing something wrong.

Those people are idiots, but here’s why I don’t want to.

Now first, I want to stress that I’m not against these modes existing, nor am I insulting people who play them. It’s your game. Do what you want. I’m just sick and tired of people getting upset that absolutely everyone isn’t trying to make the game as frustrating as humanly possible. If you enjoy that, knock yourself out. I don’t and I have every right not to if that’s what I wish.

See, that’s really the thing. I play games to have fun. Not to be stressed. Not to be frustrated. I do it to have a good time, maybe unwind a bit and to have something interesting to do in my down time. I am not challenging myself or anyone else. I am out for personal enjoyment. I get that a lot of people, especially younger people, are looking to show off. I find that childish. It’s why I don’t do it.

There are three titles where this has come up in recent years. I’m sure there are many more, but these are the games that I’ve actually played and the communities have turned largely into man-babies beating their chests, declaring that they are superior to everyone else because they play a harder mode. I’m not at all impressed, but whenever someone asks who doesn’t play ultra-uber-punishing mode, anyone who holds up their hands, those people tend to get attacked, insulted and down-voted. Go figure.

Anyhow, the first was Fallout 4. I love Fallout 4. The Fallout franchise is probably my favorite video game franchise of all time, so long as you don’t count the abysmal Fallout 76. Yet it has a survival mode where you have to eat and drink and everything has weight and you can’t save without a bed. If that’s your thing, fine. I find it a terrible experience. Yet the game itself is so inherently unstable that the forums are constantly filled with people complaining that they lost hours and hours of progress because the game crashed. Duh. That’s what it does. I have zero sympathy for someone who purposely chooses a play mode that makes losing progress nearly inevitable. Don’t do dumb things. It’s worst to watch how many people simply don’t save when they have the chance, then they whine loud and hard that they just lost 6 hours of progress. Duh. Figure it out.

Subnautica has a hardcore mode. If you ever die, the game deletes your save file and you have to start all over. The problem is, like Fallout, the game is buggy as hell and dying often happens through absolutely zero fault of the player. Why in the world would you do that to yourself? I can’t tell you how many times I materialized in walls or fell through the environment or had a creature come out of absolutely nowhere and kill me. Who in their right mind would give up 10 hours of progress because the game glitched? Yet lots of people seem to.

Finally, State of Decay 2 recently introduced a new “lethal” mode. I’ll never play it. It’s just dog-piling enemies on the player in absurd numbers, just to frustrate the player. What’s the point? The fact is, this game is a buggy mess a lot of the time too and there are known bugs, like hordes of enemies just appearing in the road ahead of you that you can’t avoid hitting, which always makes me scratch my head and wonder why in the hell would someone voluntarily sign on for something like that? Is it challenging? Maybe. I consider it an exercise in asinine frustration. When the zombies literally appear out of nowhere right next to you without any warning, how is that a challenge? That’s just masochism with a joystick.

Now if you like these things, go for it. It’s not my place to say that you’re wrong, but neither is it your place to say I’m wrong. I am entitled to my opinion, just as you are. I have a lot of very good reasons not to bang my head into the monitor and whether you like it or not, running around beating your chest like a 2-year old doesn’t impress anyone. If you like it, cool. Go like it. Stop trying to be an evangelist for your preferred play style. I think we have enough children in the world without watching gamers pretend they get to dictate the actions of others. I know it’s gone on forever, but it’s been dumb forever too.

Geez, can we get rid of the dumb people already? I’ve personally had enough.