Rename: Fake Difficulty

I know Fake Difficulty has been around for a while, but I honestly don't think it fits the trope.

Fake means not genuine or real, contradicting the trope, where the difficulty is very real- just not done on purpose. Perhaps Inadvertent Difficulty or Accidental Difficulty would work better regarding the actual definition.

Thoughts?

edited 2nd May '10 7:51:21 PM by Fahrenheit

I think the current name makes sense. I suppose the Fake Difficulty is being compared to so-called real difficulty, i.e. the game is just hard even though you are given everything you need to beat it. I think mentioning something with skill might work here if you do want to rename it since the trope seems to be about a game being hard without requiring a great deal of skill. Still, I have not seen many problems with names right now so I personally see no urgent need to change it.

edited 2nd May '10 8:21:54 PM by LouieW

I personally think that the current name is not bad and it fits the trope. However I also think that a slightly more complete name may be of help. For the uninitiated, or for people who don't have English as first language, "fake difficulty" may seem to mean "this game appears to be more difficult than it actually is" which, although not untrue (were not for design errors the game would be not-as-difficult), is not the spirit of the trope.

I'd support a name like Unnecessary Difficulty or Unintended Difficulty if a decision to rename the trope is made. Otherwise, I'd keep the current name.

I say keep. The term predates the wiki.

^ This.

Plus, things in Fake Diffuculty are accidental or inadvertent. They're intentional, but they're sort of like copouts that make the game more trying but not necessarily more challenging.

I agree. A Luck-Based Mission, for instance, is Fake Difficulty, but is not unintentional difficulty.

Keep. Name makes sense.

Keep.

Fake = Unfair

I support the name and I think it makes sense. It's also apparently a term predating this wiki. I wouldn't mind giving it an easy to search for redirect, but anything more than that seems unnecessary without evidence of misuse.

Fake doesn't mean unfair, but it does imply that something is not genuine. In other words, it's difficulty which isn't proper.

Another vote for keep. It's pretty obvious what it means, because there isn't really any such thing as "something that looks difficult but isn't", because I have no idea how something could "look difficult". Unless you want to include some of the screens from I Wanna Be The Guy - but of course, they look that way because they are difficult.

Of course something can look difficult, if it looks like it wouldn't be easy.

Regardless, Fake Difficulty describes the trope.

If I had to guess what Fake Difficulty meant, I'd think it was "this looks a lot more difficult than it actually is," not "this is a lot more difficult than was actually intended."

Er, it's not "this was more difficult than originally intended." It's essentially "this is difficult because of bad design, intentionally or not."

Rename. The current name makes no sense to me.

Can anyone come up with a single example of "something that looks like it would be difficult, but really isn't" that doesn't fall into Fake Ultimate Mook territory?

For the record, I have no problems with this name.

It's like being a fan of a sports team (or any other intangible concept like that); Real fans are fans because they actually care about their team, wheras fake fans just like the team colors and so have the outward trappings of fandom. Real difficulty comes from within (woo, mysticism), wheras fake difficulty is all in the outward trappings - it's hard not because it's actually hard, but because the design was such that it makes it harder than it should be.

I think it's a reasonable name; the five criteria make sense.

Cidolfas: a platform puzzle which looks difficult and isn't, for example. I'm agreeing with you on the main topic of the thread, there's no need to argue.

I say keep.

Screw the Rules I'm the Creator.

Nope.

In layman's terms, "Real" game difficulty is something that you can overcome with more practice and better skills. "Fake" difficulty ... you can't.

Keep. It's one of those tropes that doesn't have the most informative or accurate of names, but is memorable once you learn its meaning. I think a good way to know if a name is a problem is if you continually forget its definition, even after visiting the page.