My parents are poor and I'm a lazy gamer... so sir your post is an error.
Well to be fair, he did say "Lazy gamers TEND to have richer parents", not "Lazy gamers have richer parents". His statement is more believable using the word "TEND" instead of making a sweeping generalization. However, whether or not there is a definite correlation between one's financial status and one's diligence as a gamer is questionable. You have to consider there are a lot of variables and statistics are often one of the most cherry-picked things around. It's easy to skew them to try to make your side look more favorable.
But anyway, back on-topic, I think games have gone soft. I know before I went on a rant back on page 1 about having to beat Zelda II as a kid WITHOUT a guide and no chance of having the difficulty lowered because I suck at the game. But let's face it; I did get life lessons out of it, mostly to not quit and give up. Also, you feel a lot more satisfied when you beat the game fair and square. All those deaths you had, and you finally get the ending after months of frustration, tears and near broken controllers.
On difficulty, I think some games do it right. You have an Easy difficulty or something, good for beginners and kids. Then you have Normal, which is more on a softcore gamer's level of skill. Then you have Hard, which if you thought you mastered the game on Normal, it gives you a rude awakening when you're getting mauled 5 minutes in the game. Oh and on the Expert/Very Hard mode, if you're not on the top of your game, expect controllers and TVs to be broken. God of War is one game like that. The fighting sections are a joke on Easy and just about any gamer, regardless of skill, should do well in the fighting sections, save for against Gorgons and other tough enemies. You never have to get skilled and learn how to use all of your moves on Easy. That same play style can probably pull you through Normal, but on Hard mode, you better be good at dodging, blocking and have enemies mastered. Then on Very Hard, your skill is tested to the extreme; can you defeat Medusa before she hits you twice and kills you from full health?
One thing I don't mind as much are "anti frustration features". In God of War for example, if you're playing on Normal and say one fight keeps on killing you over and over again. Eventually, the game will ask you if you would like to lower the difficulty to Easy. That's okay. But if say you're playing Normal and die in a battle constantly and are asked if you want to skip it or have infinite magic for that one battle, then no.
Another thing I like is done with Kirby's Avalanche. You have four difficulties; Easy, Normal, Hard and Hardest. The only difference between the four is how fast your Puyos drop. On Easy, they drop very slow. On Hardest, they drop lightning fast. As far as I can tell, the AI strength is the same regardless of difficulty.
For the Competition mode, you can pick Easy (3 Learning Stages), Normal (starts you at the first opponent) or Hard (starts you at the fourth opponent). On Easy, once you defeat three opponents, the game ends and King Dedede says, "Congratulations! You are a fast learner. I underestimated your skill...MAYBE!" Basically, it's the Easy Mode Mockery trope played. If you want the real ending, you have to play Competition on Normal or Hard (the global difficulty is still set to Easy/Normal/Hard/Hardest). Once you best those 13 stages, then you get the real ending.
I mean some games like Contra 3 on the SNES does that. It's not an easy game, and beating it on Easy denies you an ending. All it does is challenge you to beat the game on Normal. Beating it on Normal challenges you to play the game on Hard. Only after beating it on Hard do you get the ending you fought for. Personally, if it was up to me, I'd have the next Super Mario game have Easy, Normal and Hard modes. Easy mode is just the first 3 worlds. After beating the 3rd world, Bowser gives Mario a letter challenging him to play on Normal mode. Easy mode would also be the hand holding mode with tons of 1-ups, power-ups, etc. Normal would be the classic 5 life setup. Hard would be only 3 lives, all damage Mario takes makes him small, regardless of power-up, and he cannot store power-ups with levels having shorter time limits. You get the ending on Normal/Hard modes, but only getting all the Star Coins on Hard would unlock the "World 9" of that game or Champion's Road, whatever it's called.