HeatBombastic: I like a game that challenges me more with difficulty than just the experience. Does that mean I don't like games that are focused on the experience? No, I just prefer difficulty-based games more.

Lyserg.Z: I think difficult could arguably be part of the experience and many things that would be part of an "experience" are what can make a game hard (I was hoping for the part when puzzles would be mentioned as difficulty elements, since for me they go both ways).

Also I was thinking of the third argument for difficulty the whole time I was reading and I am glad the Dark Lord made it since it is specially compelling to me. Without trying to think too much about it I'll choose difficulty, beacuse I really like the heart-pumping feeling of being in the middle of a challenging game and hving to be 100% focused on what I'm doing. But I choose The Stickman as the strongest debater (might be cause he made more new points to me than Dark did).

As for the argument itself. It really depends on what genre you're playing and kind of player you are; a game that's more like a visual novel (say, AA:PW) will have to relay more on the experience (memorable characters and story), while, personally, I find that when I play, for example, platformers I'm looking for something that presents at least some kind of challenge to me.

About the replayability thing: A challenging game has a lot of it, but is not necessarily because it is "impossible" or frustratingly hard to beat. For example, in rhythm/music games there'll be lots of songs/levels you will easily beat, but that you'll also want to get better at. Same thing can be said for many other kind of games (fighters are a great example, or any kind of game with competitive aspects really). I find that games with a challenge more easily draw players back than "experience" (as ambiguous as that term is) based games. Even if, yes, there's games I'll want to repeat to experience the story and characters again (or in a different way than I did the first time), but generally it will take some time to make me want to go through that same game again if a new playthrough doesn't represent a challenge. It also helps if there's optional paths or alternate ending to be gotten through optional challenges on a game (like the Hell level on Cave story, which, while being compelling for the difficulty, is also an addition to the story of the game).

... Actually I was just thinking of that today after I randomly searched for the Brave Fencer Musashi OST. It's a really fun game for me, but last time I played it I found it way easier than the first time I played it as a child. As a result I was a little dissapointed and it'll take some time to make me want to go back to it.