Awareness
Immersion
Custom
Or:
HUD Options:
Full
Minimalist
Custom
Or:
Complete
Raw
Custom
Or
Assisted
Unassisted
Custom
It says what it does, and does not imply anything.
But if you want to imply difficulty:
Starter/Recruit
Experienced/Veteran
Custom
Or just add a subtitle to the other modes:
Awareness/Full:
Enables all HUD elements, recommended for players who are new to Red Orchestra, or simply want a more relaxed laid back experience.
Immersion/Minimalist: Disables most HUD elements, recommended for players who are familiar with the game and want a more immersive and tough experience.
Custom
I like those three. Though I wouldn't use "complete" as that implies the others are incomplete. Also I'd use Full HUD not just "Full". Same with Minimalist etc.
I still think using some kind of historical names would be the coolest though.
(with thorough descriptions when you mouse over of course) It gives flavor to the game. Players and reviewers alike enjoy those kind of simple touches.
Maybe:
For Ruskies:
Realism >> "Guards Mechanized Division" (elite and better equipped unit) or "Penal Unit" or "Gulag" (my favorite
, and one that most people would immediately recognize)
Relaxed Realism >> "Rifle division"
Custom >> "Razvedchiki" (I really can't think of something else historical that would fit this other than NKVD but that raises too many redflags)
I very much like the idea of having separate names depending on what side you choose.
For Germans:
Realism >> "Panzergrenadier" or "Sturmkompanie" (again more "elite" and better equipped unit)
Relaxed Realism >> "Volkssturm" or "Volksgrenadier" (implies it's easier without making people feel stupid because anything with "sturm" in it sounds badass---and yes I know there were no Volkssturm units at Stalingrad)
Custom >> "Wehrwolf" is the only thing I could think of for this... either that or custom
People aren't as stupid as you think they are and again many very popular games have used historical names etc. for units instead of some bland English relabeling. And again, it gives the game FLAVORRRRR!!! (which is so important IMO and can make the difference between a great game and an all time classic)
The way it would play out is... for example, you mouse over "Panzergrenadier mode" and immediately a nice, visually appealing tooltip comes up that explains "A more realistic mode for hardened veterans!"
I definitely would
NOT use classic as that sorta implies "old and outdated". Also I would not use "Standard" for any mode as that will make most players jump to that mode which will result in bad things happening. (if it's the harder setting that's "standard", people will give up easily, if it's the easy mode that's "standard" it'll tick off the realism nuts and make it less likely for people to eventually go to the harder setting once they've learned the game mechanics). Arcade is also a bad idea IMO because it implies that people should play that mode like they would TF2 or something.