A top executive from EA Games has suggested that most video games are still too difficult for the average person to learn. We suspect that this statement is going to go down like a lead balloon, but we reckon that chief creative officer Richard Hilleman, who was speaking at the 2015 DICE Summit, may actually have a point.
"The average player probably spends two hours to learn how to play the most basic game," he told an audience at the event. "And asking for two hours of somebody's time; most of our customers, between their normal family lives, to find two contiguous hours to concentrate on learning how to play a video game is a big ask."
We honestly think that he's got a point. Pass a DualShock 4 to any non-gamer in your family and they'll instantly struggle to wrap their head around the controls – and that can take weeks of practice to overcome. Even this author occasionally struggles to acclimatise to different control schemes, and your humble host is lucky enough to play more games than most.
Unfortunately, this doesn't seem like a simple thing to solve. We suspect that the majority of you reading this will represent a more 'hardcore' mindset, and thus will demand more depth from your games. However, that complexity leads to the problems outlined above – but we need to introduce new players to the industry if the medium's ever going to grow.
We suppose that, in some ways, smartphones and tablets have solved this issue to a degree, as virtually anyone can understand and enjoy Candy Crush. But at the same time, if we want traditional console games to remain relevant, we need to find a way to ensure that the people playing those titles are able to successfully graduate to controller-based experiences.
[source gamespot.com, via playstationlifestyle.net]
Comments 28
It's an interesting point, and something that we more 'hardcore' gamers take for granted. I do think more can be done to make games even more accessible, but that's not to say we need to phase out games with difficulty curves all together. Again, I guess variety is best.
Well a entry barrier exist in any media, what makes different in video games is that your are in control of that action.
You can see a film but sometimes do you really understand what the director/producer are trying to say with the frame, angle, colors or even the position of the actors? There's always a message where the "normal" people who aren't familiarized can't see.
In games the low barrier entry I can think is Telltale games, they have simple controls, just have to make a choice, use some control to movement and done, others games are difficult to adapt very quickly and I can't think of a simple solution to this "problem".
They're right to be honest, still have no idea how to do all the tricks or celebrations on FIFA.
I think EA are just preparing everyone for the inevitable 'streamlining' of mechanics in their core titles
Please watch the comments. If you can't watch the insults please don't post anything. -Tasuki-
Is this a joke? Children can beat megaman 2 but the average person is bumbling for 2 hours?
This is true. I mean I can't remember the last time that a game's control scheme took much time for me to learn. OlliOlli took me the longest to learn in recent memory, and that was only like three minutes to get used to. But when I try to get my older cousins to play, they press every button with their index fingers and move the analogue sticks with their index fingers and they can't even do two of anything at once, yet they can type 200 words per minute at work. Some people just don't get this stuff.
This actually kinda makes me sick. I think if games became any more "accessible" I would want to poke my eyes out. Anything worth doing isn't easy. I enjoy challenges. At one time that's what gaming was all about. I don't think we need to change anything. There are always going to be games for entry level gamers.. and the more games they play, the better they will get. For example, I just started pc gaming for the first time in my life. So obviously I'm not good with a pc/mouse combo so I clearly wasn't going to rush out and get a game like titanfall or some other twitch shooter because I would be absolutely destroyed. I'm playing easier games at the moment to learn how to play and once I get better I'll move on.. I just don't see why we should have to dumb down the things we enjoy for people who don't want to put the time in to learn.
Persona 4 arena and Ultimax did it right. Both are amazing fighting games that are also pretty easy for any normal person to pick up and play a few rounds (since all they have to do is exactly this site's name). Not only does the square auto-combo let them pull off relatively safe, sufficient combos, it was given other mechanics to still be a viable use at higher level play. I can't really yet wrap my head around how a non-fighting game would do this.
Invalid opinion. Gaming is a hobby like any other. No one is giving SKIING or SKATEBOARDING a hard time because it takes time to learn. The only problem that EA guy sees is: if more people could INSTANTLY play and understand our stupified, simplified games, we would make even more money. Every person with a right mind understands that no matter what I want to do, if it's new I need a bit of time to wrap my head around it. Be it sports, playing music or even using my new set-top box. Stupid.
@mitcHELLspawn not always a case they don't want to put the time in just that they don't have the time required. I have 3 kids and a full time job that I work 12 hours a day. I love gaming and have luckily grown up playing games, however I do struggle to find the time to master certain more niche games controls so I have no choice but to give them a miss. I can see both sides of the argument, there should also still be the mechanics in place for those who have the time to master them. Maybe developers can work a way into games to have control sets for both types of player
What doesn't help is bad level design or bad controls.
Kick and Fennick is a prime example. A platform game where the jump mechanism is both fiddly and hit and miss. You can also add Assassins's Creed where the run and climb operates from the same button which leaves you climbing when you don't want to.
@Scollurio Do we really want gaming to become as niche as skateboarding, though? That seems like a surefire way to drain all of the money out of the industry.
I would rather go skateboarding my games. If they are to easy no point in me playing them. If they make them accessible for newborn babies I only hope they also make them with much harder settings and be able to remap the controller to not shun hardcore player base like myself. I have been gaming since 1983 and let me tell you I know a hard game when I see one.
@get2sammyb No of course not, also I wouldn't think of Skateboarding as niche (not professional level, just some fun skating in summer) as maybe para-gliding for example. I just don't want games completely drained of all challenge just to appeal to a wider market. Just see what happened to the Army of Two series. Cleverl game design to make it more approachable YES, any day. Stupification for idiot masses, no thank you.
I guess what I mean is, that everyone who has gaming as a hobby KNOWS how to work a keyboard and mouse or a controller. And for all others, the newcomers, there is a certain hurdle learning the ins and outs of this new hobby just like any other hobby. Also the statement on average a gamer spends about 2 hours getting to know the controls of a game is mostly out of this world in my book. Except a few select awkward, mostly japanese games, every usual gamer should be able to perfectly control a new game within 15 to 30 minutes don't you think?
My first console had a joystick and one button. That was great because I could hand the joystick to anyone and they could pick it up and play without being scared. So, I can totally see their point. That said, back then you were controlling a stick figure who could jump. Games have grown much more complex, and the controllers have had to keep up. There's really not much we can do about that. For the more casual gamer or for someone wanting more simplicity, Nintendo is still making great consoles.
Can you imagine where gaming would be without people vouching for accessibility?
It's narrow-minded to think that us more 'hardcore' players could support the industry, as it is now, by ourselves.
This is a pretty interesting point. I've been playing games since I was at least 4, so I don't really understand difficulties of starting to play games. The only time I have trouble with games these days is when I play Tekken, a complex-ish fighting game. Doesn't help I like the more difficult characters (Hwoarang, Lars).
I can understand not having time to play. As a 19 year old who doesn't have a job currently, I'm sometimes worried about never having free time to experience games. As much as I enjoy(ish) playing Tekken and learning my characters, in the near future I may not have time to do that. And eventually I'll get married and have kids and a job, and I'll have to play fighting games casually, if at all. Accessibility is a good thing these days.
Really, most hardcore gamers have been doing this since youth, so most challenging games are less so for them than an adult who just started gaming in his 30s. This one of those things that keep game designers up at night.
It is a task to learn a controler i remember when i first started a game would say hit square by the time i looked down to find it I was dead. It's not that games need to change its that simple games need to be made for the purpose of controler training for them to start on. Also games could have a help button for hints on what you need to do next in case a player gets lost or quits and restarts a game and don't know the current task that needs to be completed. I have myself wondered around 30 min and gave up on a game unable to find what i needed to. ICO was one I got a horse and i was lost unable to find anything. A well done tutorial that can be skipped is a must today. instructions are not included!
I'd never really considered it all really until Christmas. My partners sister got a PS4 as a surprise gift for her kids and it was the 1st time they had owned a Playstation or any games console. It took a while for them to get used to it.
I sometimes have trouble with new control schemes, especially if it's the same genre of game that I've just played but has different controls.
I just see learning controls as part of gaming...only way around it is ending up having games being like QTEs or taking on the more intuitive motion control of things like the Wii and some mobile games. I've been a gamer since I was a child with a NES so learning controls is just an accepted thing to me.
I think there has been some confusion about what the guy was saying. He said it takes two hours to learn how to play a game, not just the controls. There IS a difference between the two...case in point: FFXIII and its infamously long ramp-up in mechanics. Controls didn't really change much over time, you just had more options. And I think that game is a good debating point for this problem in general; it clearly didn't manage to strike the balance they were presumably going for. I found its ramp-up decent on a first playthrough, but on replays it's SOOOOOO SLOW!
There are certainly ways to ease a gamer into the basics...have them play something that goes out of its way to explain things to them and has low consequences, like any Lego game. I think those are a great way to introduce people to the medium because they're legitimately fun AND relatively simple to learn.
I hate it when people say motion control was/is "intuitive." As a life-long controller gamer, I found a lot of those schemes difficult to adjust to. I similarly had trouble getting used to swiping UP to scroll DOWN on a touch device because I grew up navigating menus with D-pads. Point is, this issue is even HARDER to tackle when you consider user experience in a wider range of interactive media.
Also, remember there's a difference between accessibility and difficulty. Modern games are generally considered EASIER than Mega Man Classic, but they DO still have more complicated buttons and mechanics. Mega Man, when you get down to it, was just jump and shoot with a LITTLE extra complication from enemy weapons. It was hard to master, but easy enough to grasp and THAT'S what he's saying we're missing nowadays. So I really don't think the point here is to make games too easy to beat, just easier to get into in the first place.
What he meant is that we are losing money by not simplifying every game down to the lowest common denominator.... EA...wrecked DeadSpace, Battlefield and countless other game series. Now they want to wreck the very way we control our input into games.
I for one am rather proud of the fact that a Xbox or PlayStation controller can also be used to fully control a Predator drone.
The pads at the moment are pretty good and it takes bad design choices in a game's control scheme to make things difficult.
Another thought; formula & rally cars are pretty tough do drive well/fast....we should dumb that down too....?
Anything worthwhile takes effort EA.
@mitcHELLspawn " I just don't see why we should have to dumb down the things we enjoy for people who don't want to put the time in to learn." This! I totaly agree with you... its like enithing Art-Music ect ect so menny ppl give up because there not leonardo davitch or Motsart in 2 freekin seconds of picking up a pen so WHY suld this apply to other hoppys sutch as gaming in this case.
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Sure this has been sed but the problem is Most "Gamers" now are mobile phone / tablet gamers IE 1 button comand games So having the normal 10+ buttons confuses the Heck out of them (= in most screaming the game is s*** like a spoilt child and yes I seen this happen more than once in public at home and around ppls houses so no im not just assuming this)
I can see the point most people in my family wouldn't have a clue and moan about there being too many buttons but I personally think most games are already dumbed down enough these days, spamming what does what every couple of seconds and glistening objects and stuff like that annoys me
I can understand the point. While Ive been playing games since NES, with work, kids, and actaully paying attention to my wife, it can be a week or two before I get more than an hour to play. With that, I almost spend part of that time relearning the controls for newer games.
BUT, isnt this sentiment why EA usually has a difficulty/gamestyle option on their more complicated games? Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age come to mind with options to play with a more cinematic experience which takes out the necessity of mastering combat controls?
While I can totally see the point he is making, that is what mobile games are for. Once familiarized with a touch screen, learning the next touch screen game is much easier. Mobile games are for the casual general public. Someone who buys a PS4 or Xbox one isn't going to be afraid of the controller.
Now I'm not saying some or even many console or handheld games shouldn't have simple controls. Indie games do this very well. Often times, less is more. However, I just don't want EA to use this as a mission statement to start dumbing down annual releases. If they thought they could get more sales by making simpler and easier games, they would do it. That is what worries me about these statements, the death of a challenge.
Any twit could pick up Jack & Daxter and be fine within seconds, and that game gets a little more difficult by the end. Doesn't have to be a Souls game to be interesting.
Re-entering the game console experience was a bit intimidating. I started with the Atari, which had the one joystick and a button, and early arcade games had a similar mechanism. It was hard to imagine I would ever get accustomed to the much more complex controller on the PS2, but like anything else, the more you use something the more natural it becomes. Many games these days have the tutorials built in as you're playing, so you're learning the control mechanism without even realizing. It wasn't that long ago when I had the game booklet laid out in front of me to help me figure out how to jump, run, etc. Now, it's pretty much fed to you in real time. I don't agree with dumbing down systems to get everyone involved. That's what the Wii is for. And Facebook, for that matter. You don't need the gaming world to cater to you to enjoy a gaming experience. If you're looking for something more advanced, as with pretty much anything else, then expect to spend some time. Ya gotta 'wanna'.
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