Which Difficulty Level Do You Normally Choose in Video Games?

Hard, most of the time. It depends on the genre of game really.

Easy, cause I'm a pussy and not ashamed to admit it. 
 
Also, it gives me an incentive to go back.

On first playthrough, it depends on my experience with the franchise and genre. If I have little to no experience in a genre, I'll choose easy at first and restart on a harder difficulty if it's too easy. But if I'm familiar with the genre or especially franchise, I'll often choose hard and up. Unless it's notoriously hard, in which case normal is what I end up choosing.

Depends on the game, typically Hard.

Hard. That way it's not a cake walk and actually requires some skill to get through.  Then if I want to play it again I'll go harder.

Normal, or whatever the default might be.

it really depends on my mood the day i get the game.  ill usually pick hard cause i really dont want to go on normal or something and play the game again on a higher difficulty...

Hard or above for most games. 
Except for games like Rock Band when I just wanna have fun with a bunch of friends.   
Of course when we wanna get all "serious" we put it on Pro Expert and have fun

I go with whatever the default setting is.  My theory is that is how the game is meant to be played.  I'm not so sure how much that theory holds up though.  Sometimes it really feels like the default setting is cruise control mode on newer games.  Other games don't even feel right on the default setting.  Parts of combat don't even matter or any depth the combat might have had was stripped out for normal mode.  That really sucks and it makes me at least look at the harder difficulties out-of-the-box to see if I'm getting cheated on gameplay in normal mode.

It usually depends on the game. If there's a nutsoid option that's greyed out, then I'll usually pick the hardest below that, because I know there's a level to step up to that's going to be more punishing than my first playthrough.
 
If I'm already aware that there's a hidden hardest mode in a game, like Dead Space, I'll always pick what is the hardest setting on initial play to make sure the really difficult shit pops up.
 
Halo I'll always play on Heroic first time through, then Legendary the next. For whatever reason (and I've stated this before) Legendary is always a cinch that way.
 
So, yeah. I like things to be pretty rough, but I still like to know what I'm getting into before getting my arse truly kicked.

Normal, because that is what the game was meant to be played on.

Hard usually.

normal because i like fun 

Normal. 
 
I like a challenge, but not the point that I would prefer it over having fun.

" normal because i like fun  "

Almost always the hardest .... but because not all games go beyond hard I choose very hard , as an average

" Normal, or whatever the default might be. "

I'll usually start with normal and change it if it's too hard or easy (It's usually the former).

I play on hard, because most games these days are easy as fuck on normal.

usually hard or up ... unless the game gets just unfair on that setting. 

I usually go with the hardest difficulty unlocked at first-launch. I really don't replay games, and the highest difficulty is usually the most engaging and entertaining.

It depends on the game.
Heroic in Halo.
Normal in most games.
Normal (Casual on annoying boss fights) in BioWare games.
When I used to play RTSs, Hard.

Usually the second hardest for my first playthrough, then the hardest (if it's possible) for my 2nd

Normal, because odds are that is what has been play-tested. Harder modes usually just alter metrics and nothing else.  It does depend on the game though.
 
If the game is good enough, I'll try the harder modes to see if it improves anything or if I plan on reviewing it. The depths of the mechanics really reveal themselves on the harder modes.

The lowest I will go is normal for games of which it's contents and mechanics are unfamiliar to me, or if I feel that I would need to have a feel for how the controls handle first.  Otherwise I would move on to as hard a difficulty as possible, going down if the difficulty level ruins the fun in the game.
 
Sometimes I scale the difficulty back if the elements that are scaled up become more tedious to overcome.  An example is Oblivion, where increased difficulty led to stronger enemies with so much health that it was tedious to me.  The fact that even rats took more than a few hits to kill at the beginning of the game was absurd.

It depends on the how much fun I am having. If its too hard and mind numbingly so  I will go lower, but if I am essentially taping a button down and still winning then I bump it up. As long as the game is being fair and not cheap with its difficulty. 

I used to go on hard difficulties occasionally, but Call of Duty 2's achievements kind of made me do every game that way.

" I check the achievements/trophies, and if there is a lot awarded for playing on hard then I'll choose it. Otherwise I go normal. "

 I usually play on Easy or Normal settings. I never really understood the attraction to a high difficulty level. Sometimes I do play stuff on hard (or whatever the highest setting is for the game), just to see if I can not get destroyed. But I never really was able to have fun while getting my ass kicked by AI, maybe I'm just weird like that though. On some games (like God of War) I have to play on Easy or it's just impossible to get anywhere- for me, of course.    

Normal. No point in artificially making the game harder when it won't benefit from it. Only certain games benefit from difficulty, imo.  
 
I will put strategy games on easy though, as I'm awful at them.

I choose normal. It's for the player who likes to enjoy combat.  
 
But yeah, I usually pick normal. It's still fun in most games, and until you've been through a game at least once, you don't know how hard a game is going to be. Imagine if you started Devil May Cry with its difficulty or Mass Effect 1 with its autosave issues and didn't know what you were in for. Not what I want in my experience, anyways.

i always choose the hardest setting. i hate how some games unlock a harder setting once you beat it. i don't play games not named mass effect more than once.

 Normal unless the game sets it for me (ala inFamous - Hard) or the game is ridiculously too easy/hard.    

Generally I pick normal, unless it's CoD, and then I pick Veteran. Mostly because there are so many CoD Veteran achievements. BFBC2 I picked Normal, because the only Hard achievement is for one level (I'm assuming the last). SW:TFU I don't play on hard because that requires a warm-up round first, and I don't play it that often anymore.
 
Pretty much all RPGs I play on Normal, because I really don't play them just to prove I can play on Hard. Although I did play through the DA:O DLC on Hard for achievements.

Hard on FPS's and normal on everything else. I'm not amazing at FPS's but increasing the difficulty makes the game last a bit longer.

Normal most of the time unless I feel like I know the series enough to try and up the difficulty. 

Normal, but only in the last 3 years or so. Before then, I'd go on easy.

Most of the time, Normal.  Some games I like to choose the hardest like the Kingdom Hearts games.

Used to start on the hardest difficulties but more recently I'm dropping down to normal, and easy.

" Normal, or whatever the default might be. "

I always choose the hardest. I beat games too quickly on normal or hard.

Normally, Normal.

Heroic/Medium-Hard

Normal. It's the norm. 
After that, if I come back I'll go onto the next harder setting.

Always normal ^^

It kind of depends. If the game has 3 difficulty settings, I always go with Normal. But if it has 4, I go with the second hardest. I rarely go back and play through a game a second time on a harder difficulty, and when I do it's only just for achievements. (I.e. Halo: Reach and Mass Effect 2)

Depends on the game. If it's a horror game, then clearly you play on hard for the full experience. If it's an FPS, and has more than 3 difficulty settings, second hardest. If it's a game like Dragon Age, always easy or normal. It's all about context.