10 Times YOU Made A Video Game Harder

6. Taking No Damage - Left 4 Dead

The Left 4 Dead games feature Valve's much-ballyhooed "director AI" mechanic, which is pretty much a fancy term for "adaptive difficulty," in that the game continually responds to how well (or badly) you're doing.

Basically, the first-person zombie shooter internally scores players on how well they survived the previous undead wave, and for players who maintained most of their health and spent little ammo, the director will ensure the next wave is decidedly more intense. Similarly, those who are near-death will get cut some slack next time.

As such, it makes sense to actually engage the zombies with a certain degree of modesty, not allowing yourself to play too well, for fear that the next engagement might over-correct a little too eagerly.

By kicking ass so thoroughly, you're actually making whatever comes next much tougher for yourself - until you play badly enough that the game takes mercy on you, of course.

Keeping the needle somewhere in the middle is clearly what makes the most sense, then.