what if, instead of assigning difficulty modes a name that reflects an arbitrary skill level, we let people have a wide selection of customization options for their gaming experiences (and skippable sequences) so they can adjust wherever they need to

just a thought. names that reflect skill levels cause defensiveness. It'd be nice to tweak specific settings, especially in like, fighting games

another thing that could be helpful would be not assigning an "easy mode" but instead, a regular mode that is accessible to everyone, with only subsequent mode names reflecting a change in difficulty. In other words, START with easy mode but call it something different

that may seem pointless and equally arbitrary but wording influences our framing. a change in language can shape a change in attitude