I think Difficulty is an important subject in gaming, so here's my take;
Gamers should always have a choice, because we all have different skill levels. The worst case for a developer is when they make a game and everyone gets stuck on a specific section of the game. In games like Candy Crush Saga the difficulty spikes can come as a surprise (probably to get you to buy the powerups but thats another story), whereas other games gradually ramp up like Plants vs Zombies and Pokemon.
There are some games which require time like Animal Crossing and ones that require you to go outside (3DS's Streetpass and other games that require WiFi connection scanning). While these aren't 'difficult' you could argue that they are challenges to overcome.
While I love Assassin's Creed I must admit that it's quite a forgiving game. There are many checkpoints, ample opportunities to gather supplies and autosaves. When you collect an item such as a feather or sea shanty it's in your inventory forever. In older games you would have to manually save or reach a checkpoint before all your progress is stored. If you die, you basically just get put back into the game and often there is very little penalty. Contrast that with the highly challenging multiplayer mode where dying can get your teammates killed or give the other team points.
Online games like CoD and DOTA2 I consider very challenging. RTS games are tricky too, particularly with powerful AI opponents. Certain games like FTL require strategy and tactics, but if you follow the rules and guidelines you can try to minimise the risk of getting killed. Of course random events can often cause difficulty spikes but they're also what makes roguelike games so compelling.
One thing I dislike is when games do not have enough difficulty settings. FIFA games often have three difficulty settings... THREE! That's idiotic in my opinion. Most games have 5 and Smash Bros has 9 so why do they think that just three is fine? That's just laziness in my opinion but there you go.
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