Comments 9

Re: Soapbox: Some Games Assume You Know How to Play Them, and It's Kinda Weird

TheSwitchBit

@PegasusActual93 I have a podcast called The Gamer and the Newb and it follows me and my wife as she dips her toes in my favorite hobby.

As soon as she figured out the stick moves in one game, she just assumed that was the method of movement in other games. The article falls flat because he looked at the simplest thing and assumed the player was too dimwitted to press buttons.

I agree that gaming in general can do things to empower new players but this article isn't really thought provoking. It's very superficial and undercooked imo.

Would love to read something deeper and with more research about gameplay mechanics and good examples of natural tutorials that teach mechanics through gameplay and how that can empower newer players.

Re: Soapbox: Some Games Assume You Know How to Play Them, and It's Kinda Weird

TheSwitchBit

Pretty sure someone firing up Sekiro is gonna know the stick moves. What would be more beneficial is to look into mass market targeting games and compare. My mom isn't like " ooooooh I don't play games but I'm gonna jump into this one here called Demons Souls !, sounds cute!" ... I purposely don't tell my 4 year old the buttons so she can figure them out.

There is something to experimenting and figuring stuff out on your own. If you don't know what the buttons do,just manipulate them and figure it out. This could be a good premise for an article with a deeper dive into mechanics and stuff but to remark on the lack of the most basic movement instruction in games known for their hard-core gameplay makes your point fall flat. Bake this up some more with relevant titles and specific mechanics.