Dark Souls changed gaming by turning frustration into gameplay and failure into content, creating a template that spread throughout the industry and beyond. This cultural shift reflects our relationship with an increasingly unfair world where Dark Souls offers a transparent hostility that feels refreshingly honest compared to life's hidden rules.

• From Software's trajectory: Dark Souls (2011) sold 3 million copies over years while Elden Ring (2022) sold 25 million
• Difficulty-related gaming discourse increased 400% after Dark Souls
• Dark Souls' appeal lies in its honest meritocracy where failure is your fault, not due to microtransactions or algorithms
• "Git Gud" evolved from joke to worldview, spreading to other industries as "bootstrap theology for the digital age"
• Difficult games generate more content through player suffering—every death a clip, every rage quit a video
• Only 30% of players complete Dark Souls, yet this failure rate is celebrated rather than seen as a design problem
• We're training a generation to expect perpetual struggle without meaningful resolution
• We choose simulated suffering with clear rules over real-world challenges with hidden rules