People in general could use a lot more of Soulslike mentality(a.k.a. Why Dark Souls/Elden Ring CAN’T have an easy difficulty)

I’ve just finished playing a Rocket League match, but this wasn’t the first time, this happens often:
The time is 3:00 or such, the score is 2:2. The dude gives me a goal, so now it’s 3:2 for him, at 3:00.
He says “FF” in chat, meaning “forfeit”, suggesting I should do so.
I respond “you’re free to do so any time”.
He spits “fuck you” at me.
…seriously?

He barely manages to get 1 point lead not even at the midpoint, and he already thinks he’s won and I should forfeit to not waste his time?
The match continued, and he won closely, 5:4.
During the match, we had a bit more conversation, I told him that I prefer my wins to be earned, and I prefer when the opponents earn their wins as well.
And “you should too, if you’re not just a rank whore”. (Meaning person who just cares about the in-game ranking).
And that I most enjoy close games like this. Because I really do.

To be frank, I’m not sure why does this even need pointing out, but obviously it does, in our society, because there’s clearly something wrong with it, and with the mentality it instills in people (including me).

And since it does, I’m pointing it out, and I’m calling it “Soulslike mentality”, since that’s the gaming series/design philosophy which seems to be the only one in the gaming sphere built on this core principle, which makes it accessible to people who may have not ever encountered it before (which is the problem).

The philosophy that victories are EARNED. Through blood and sweat and screeching teetch and giving it all you’ve got, and bashing your head against the brick wall as your head gets more and more bloody and broken and you get more and more stressed out and enraged and desperate and exhausted.

Did you know?: This is the normal way how successes are achieved. This was always the normal way. This is often even the normal way how utter failures are prevented, made into just mild failures.

THIS is how reality works. And this is also why the Souls series is so valuable, and why so many people love it so deeply and hold it so dear, sometimes unbelievably much so. There’s countless essays of “Dark Souls helped me get through deppression”, and “Dark Souls saved my life”. And they’re not exaggerating, they mean it, and I am sure of it, because if I could be bothered to write an essay, I would write one like that too, because I experienced it.

And the core of how powerful those games can be is precisely this: they have their own, set-in-stone, unrelenting difficulty. And you either grit your teeth and rise to their level, by focus, perseverence, learning, and giving it all you’ve got, and are rewarded by success, …or you go hollow.

There’s tens of thousands of games which you can play if you just wanna not care, and not engage yourself, and be showered with wins and successes, just to feel the fake lie of “i’m awesome”. That’s what “power fantasy” means. The fantasy of being powerful without having to really try. The fantasy of everything just falling into your lap as a “reward” for you just being there. We don’t need any more of those. If someone wants/needs that feeling, for no effort, they’ve got literally decades of pandering games to choose from that will provide that.

However, soulslikes give you something entirely different — they give you the feeling of true achievement. They let you experience how it feels when, after several hours of dying to the same damn single enemy, to the same damn single section… you finally prevail, TRULY prevail, not by the game finally deciding “oh you poor soul, I’m gonna give you the win out of pity because I can feel your frustration”, not from the game stepping DOWN to your level, but from YOU defeating YOUR frustration, anger, YOU mastering YOURSELF, YOU winning OVER YOURSELF, and THEN, YOU LEARNING, and YOU STEPPING UP to the game’s level.

Because that’s how world works. Nobody will ever step down to your level to let you defeat them. YOU will have to STEP UP to THEIR, and STEP UP ABOVE THEIR level, to defeat them.

And that’s a feeling… no, not just a feeling… That whole journey, including all the defeats, that’s an experience which no amount of (any media, any experiences, but in this case games) “power fantasy” can give you. Will never give you.

It’s exactly the same answer as when Jordan Peterson is asked “why do you think your message resonates with so many people?”
Why do you think Souls games resonate with so many people?

Because so many people, pandered to, pampered by, the current gaming landscape, the current world, the current society, are STARVED for the experience, of having to FIGHT and STRIVE for something, of having to LEARN and BECOME BETTER, STRONGER, to step up to the challenge until they finally overcome it.

It’s precisely the same message, the same lesson. One is in the form of philosophical monologue, the other is in the form of experiential videogame. The point is the same.

And THAT’S why so many people sincerely (and probably correctly) believe that whichever Souls game helped them get through deppression, saved them from suicide, and so on.

None of that would ever happen if Souls games had an easy mode, because people are pussies nowadays. (Including me, btw, I’m still working on it.)
“I finished Shadow of Mordor” means nothing, because it’s set up so that anyone can finish it. Besides the fact that it’s quite easy in its design by itself, there’s also difficulty options.
“I finished Dark Souls” means EVERYTHING, because YOU know the level of challenge you had to step up to, and over, to achieve that. And everyone else who finished the game, and even many people who pussied out from it, know the level of challenge you had to step up to, and over, to achieve that.
“I finished a 50km marathon” means nothing when you can decide how long a kilometer is.
It means everything when what a kilometer is, is fixed.

Back to the real world, though:
people are whiny coward pussies, which is the core reason behind why the world is going the way it is.
People could use a lot more of soulslike mentality, which would be then the core reason behind why the world stopped going to shit.

P.S. As long as people are weak whiny pussies, the world will continue to need Jordan Peterson, same as it will continue to need more and more Soulslikes.

Enjoy your evening.