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Updates to Hack Difficulty labels: new Kaizo categories, multiple tags

After years of talking about it, months of planning, and thanks to the hard work and dedication of the admins and Hack section staff, we are excited to reveal changes to the way we handle Hack Difficulty labels.

Notably: the evolution from “Kaizo: Light” and “Kaizo: Hard” into a more accessible labeling system, and the ability to add multiple difficulty tags to a hack.

New Kaizo difficulty classes

Gone is the “is it RTA or not?” method to describing Kaizo difficulty. All of the current Kaizo: Light, Kaizo: Hard and Kaizo: Pit hacks on the site have been reclassifed according to these new standards:

  • “Kaizo: Light” has been separated into three new categories: Kaizo: Beginner, Kaizo: Intermediate, and Kaizo: Expert. For the sake of transitioning to the new setup, all current “Kaizo: Light” hacks have been reclassified as Kaizo: Intermediate for the time being
  • “Kaizo: Hard” has been renamed Tool-Assisted: Kaizo - this is a change in name only, meant to distinguish hacks intended for RTA play from hacks where tool usage is moderate but required.
  • “Kaizo: Pit” is now Tool-Assisted: Pit - this is a change in name only, meant to distinguish hacks intended to only be played with extensive usage of tools.
  • No changes have been made to Standard hack difficulty labels.


The question you’re probably asking yourself: Does this mean kaizo hacks will be re-moderated?

The answer to that is “No.” The kaizo hack moderation team, with the help of some trusted external advisors who, will be re-categorizing hacks without doing a full moderation.

If you have a preference as to what you feel your hack's new difficulty should be, you can message one of the kaizo hack moderators. That said, every hack will be considered, so don't assume that just because your hack is labeled as Intermediate for now means that is where it will stay.

Also, please don't submit an update to your hack if all you are doing is changing the difficulty rating.


Multiple difficulty tag selection

When submitting a hack, you can now ctrl-click to select multiple difficulty tags.

While there's no technical limit, the moderator team is asking that hacks limit themselves to no more than two tags from two different categories for the purpose of keeping things orderly. For example, you can label your hack as "Kaizo: Beginner" and "Standard: Very Hard" if you see fit, where choosing "Standard: Easy," "Standard: Hard," and "Kaizo: Intermediate" all for the same hack will likely raise eyebrows from the mods.

All difficulty selections will be subject to the moderation process - a moderator will be able to add, remove or change difficulty labels if they feel it necessary.

When your hack is listed on the site, all selected difficulties will be included, and the hack will show up in searches or filters for any of its difficulties.

Why do this? If your hack isn’t neatly packable into one difficulty box (say, because you have a kaizo level in your otherwise standard hack, or if you make a hack that ranges across the entire difficulty spectrum from easy to depraved), you can now select all of the options that apply.




Speaking as someone who has been around this block a bit, this has been a long time coming. A massive thank you to idol, telinc, Atari, Eevee and all of the moderators and community members who contributed to this process!
I'm not a doctor.

I look forward to seeing how much this affects the hack search process as well. Finding the right difficulty hack should be much easier now.
                                                                                                                  
                              
This makes me especially happy for newcomers to the kaizo scene. It can be difficult to parse through which hacks are more accessible than others just by going off of what other people say.
I still remember how I got heavily despised by the staff team back in 2017 when I argued for such an idea.
Finally, you're bringing up this change and some old wounds.
Thank you. and sorry for some salt








I am very happy this is being done, I always wanted some kinda way to play through entry-level Kaizo hacks properly and this seems to be ideal.
stil l waiting to [play the kaiizo: ball crushing mode hacks, but this is fine #smrpg{:O}