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Gaming Instincts
HamHamJ
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
There's something that I've noticed before but that was really apparent today so I though I'd make a thread about it:
When you've played enough video games, you start to develop instincts that just make you better at video games. Put another way, "gamers" are in possesion of a collection of memes that enhance their ability to do well at games.
What brought this to mind is that today we got Mario Kart and the Wii Zapper and I busted them open and my mom and I tried them out for a while. Both of us started out doing the same races in Mario Kart and while she did fine (with a 1st place and like a 2nd place) I not only got 1st place all the way through the first circuit but did so by and large by a half a lap or so. This was the first time playing the game for both of us.
And on Link's crossbow training, I racked up two bronzes and silver on my first cold run through the first three levels while she didn't even get a bronze on level 1 after a half-dozen times playing on Practice.
Even without reading the manual, I could easily grasp things like "oh, the gold targets are extra and it looks like I get more for combos with no misses in between" and "probably shouldn't shoot that one with the blue X thing" and "I bet that ruppe is worth a bunch of points, not to mention the meteor". But she did not. And things that I ignored as obviously decorative she tried to walk through.
And this is not, I think, because I'm younger and adapt faster or something because I notice the same thing with friends I have who are my own age but don't play nearly as many games.
Nor is it a matter of pure ability or reflexes, cause my mom can totally kick my ass in Wii Tennis now.
I admit that all of this evidence is anecdotal, but it back up the logical point that most games are pretty similar in many ways to a lot of other games. And thus by being familiar with the usual "tools of the trade" you do not start each game with a blank slate.
The main point of application for this idea is I think that when a game breaks the conventions and tropes we are used to, it comes across as either revolutionary or horrendiously bad. Thus a lot of games that use non-standard mapping for things like jumping and shooting will just not feel right.
Thoughts?
When you've played enough video games, you start to develop instincts that just make you better at video games. Put another way, "gamers" are in possesion of a collection of memes that enhance their ability to do well at games.
What brought this to mind is that today we got Mario Kart and the Wii Zapper and I busted them open and my mom and I tried them out for a while. Both of us started out doing the same races in Mario Kart and while she did fine (with a 1st place and like a 2nd place) I not only got 1st place all the way through the first circuit but did so by and large by a half a lap or so. This was the first time playing the game for both of us.
And on Link's crossbow training, I racked up two bronzes and silver on my first cold run through the first three levels while she didn't even get a bronze on level 1 after a half-dozen times playing on Practice.
Even without reading the manual, I could easily grasp things like "oh, the gold targets are extra and it looks like I get more for combos with no misses in between" and "probably shouldn't shoot that one with the blue X thing" and "I bet that ruppe is worth a bunch of points, not to mention the meteor". But she did not. And things that I ignored as obviously decorative she tried to walk through.
And this is not, I think, because I'm younger and adapt faster or something because I notice the same thing with friends I have who are my own age but don't play nearly as many games.
Nor is it a matter of pure ability or reflexes, cause my mom can totally kick my ass in Wii Tennis now.
I admit that all of this evidence is anecdotal, but it back up the logical point that most games are pretty similar in many ways to a lot of other games. And thus by being familiar with the usual "tools of the trade" you do not start each game with a blank slate.
The main point of application for this idea is I think that when a game breaks the conventions and tropes we are used to, it comes across as either revolutionary or horrendiously bad. Thus a lot of games that use non-standard mapping for things like jumping and shooting will just not feel right.
Thoughts?
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HamHamJ on
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That shit's bananas!
Even "revolutionary" games are usually based on a hodge-podge of familiar "gameplay ideas" so to speak. I'm not sure I would call them instincts - just learned skills.
Wouldn't immediately go push that block into place like you or I would. It's interesting because one of the things that people trying to design casual games need to do is to implement game design based on common sense and not gamer common sense, if that makes any uh... sense.
That's a good example, but there's so much more they could do with it.
Someone with minimal gaming experience also wouldn't know:
That water is dangerous (a logical thing to gamers, who expect game worlds to be divided into accessible and fatal areas).
That almost anything moving is dangerous.
That anything that doesn't look like floor or water is probably important.
That blocks can even be moved.
Games encourage a certain division of the world into section. Interactive elements vs. uninteractive elements. Safe areas vs. dangerous areas. Etc etc etc. As gamers we're used to the cues given by the designers, but we learn those cues by playing game after game that use similar cues (or at least cues that work on the same logical levels).
For example, my non gamer friend playing Braid kept trying to jump onto 'platforms' that were actually just part of the background image.
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This is a bad example. Even some veteran game players can be confused by a lack of menu options or an overworld system that doesn't automatically snap-to-target to select the next zone.
I'd say that this is more like mnemonic recall or a kind of Pavlovian response and less about being instinctual (which suggests a knowledge about subjects that are, in fact, unknown).
Do not engage the Watermelons.
The closest thing to instinct would probably be dungeon navigation. Being able to predict the dead ends so that you can hit them first for the goodies is really just a less easily quantifiable skill though.
It's just like how there's almost always 7 things you have to collect. 7 or 3. If you're shown how to do something or given something, you will more than likely be immediately putting that new item/skill to use.
The same users who claim inexperience and need a lot of help do not tend to play games either, especially those that have complex and changing game mechanics. I think instinct is the wrong word but there's something deeper than having quick hands or having played a million other games at work here. It's about the way a person observes the world around him and his brain's proficiency for processing these observations into a working mental models.
Stuff like this is common.
When I got the PS3, my dad asked "So...what are you going to do with your PS2?" I told him "Maybe give it to a friend," and he was like "Well...if he doesn't want it, I'll take it." So I gave it to him. The next day he went to GameStop and picked up a couple sports games and some Medal of Honor games (he's a WWII buff).
He tried playing Medal of Honor: Frontline, but tried to play the game like, well, a real soldier, which severely hampered his enjoyment of the game.
XBL : lJesse Custerl | MWO: Jesse Custer | Best vid ever. | 2nd best vid ever.
Doesn't matter how long I play it, it's 2D, "feels" like Contra, and I want to jump.
Wrong. On the Genesis C is jump always.
It's definitely true; there are things that long-time gamers will do automatically that would make no sense, initially, to new people. Smashing everything destructible in every new area for items, health, etc. is a good example. It's second nature for anyone who played a lot of Zelda games as a kid, but there's no logical reason for someone without that experience to do it.
Get him a PC and buy him Operation Flashpoint.
Or something.
Stuff like you're trapped in a well and there's a rope, but you don't climb the rope you soak it in oil and set it on fire to find the secret tunnel.
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While I'm all for making games more accessible, that strikes me as a tremendously silly idea. Games are supposed to be fun and good game design is supposed to relate the skills to you before you need them.
"Oh, if only someone would teach me how to be good at video games!"
"Now class, turn to page 213. Today's lesson will be on the finer points of party management. Right before a pivotal story battle, generally indicated by healing items in a small, screen-sized, otherwise empty room (see chapter 6 for more details), be sure to assign the best equipment to to the core members of your party, as auxiliary members may soon die permanently or defect in a cinematic, taking that hard-earned loot with them. Now, a quick note on unwinnable or otherwise scripted battles..."
I think that may have been sarcasm.
At least I hope so.
See, I'm different .
I blame Resident Evil.
Or anything mentioned in this particular section of the SA Manhunter LP. http://fromearth.net/LetsPlay/Manhunter/Update%2013/index.html
Yea those too. That was a good read, read it about 2 months ago.
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Red [noun] = explode.
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The idea that water, no mater how friendly and harmless it may look, is evil and will kill you is a meme that we've all picked up from one of the many games that use and it has propagated because it is effective from a game design stand point and simply because it has been in lots of popular classic games. Someone who has not aquired this meme is entirely unprepared to deal with it and has to learn it when they encounter it for the first time.
Also, you mentioning it made me realize that that whole thing in Psychonauts was a a truly brilliant justified trope.
"It's a gypsy curse thing."
I would like to also expand on a point someone mentioned: in making "casual" games, it's not enough to simply make them "easy" (that is, not Nintendo Hard) but also intuitive to someone not familiar with video games and not possesing a vast reposatory of relevant memes.
Also, a lot of memes take hold because they are effective. Someone however are there simply because some orignal game had it and then every other game that copied it also had it and now it's become "iconic" and "classic". The latter should probably be weeded out in making new games.
Other times, people draw direct similarities to other games that gives them an edge. For instance, I am pretty terrible at Halo (I don't own an Xbox or a 360, and I'm not fond of the game in the first place) but I used to play a lot of TF2. When my friends pulled out Halo 2 back around January I discovered that the trajectory of the sticky grenades was identical to the oneused by the Demoman's primary weapon. From that point on, any map with sticky grenades saw me getting 10 or so sticky kills. It was quite a surprise for my friends, who would ordinarily kill me rather frequently, to suddenly have me as a rather potent threat.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/minigames/namco-bandai-to-release-video-game-training-ds-seriously-333189.php
I wish he were.
EDIT: Although apparently it's a WarioWare clone that makes you play small sections of games, like how in WW you had to walk through the door in The Legend of Zelda.
That actually doesn't sound that bad.
For example I was playing Twilight Princess for the first time at a friend's house. We got to a boss (I forget which) who started shooting projectiles at us. I knew right away that "swing sword> reflects giant lightning ball> hit boss 3 times = win." I knew that not because "well a steel sword logically should reflect electricity (not really)" or because the game gave the player any hints, but because Zelda has been pulling that shit since the NES.
It seems to me what we as gamers chalk up to intuition, is mostly just a learned response to lack of imagination on the part of game designers.
You're thinking too high-level. Here's an example of an intuitive piece of gameplay. Holding down the jump button longer makes your man jump higher in most 2D platformers. Imagine if you couldn't figure this out. If this piece of information wasn't instantly transported into your mind almost subconsciously after playing a game for 3 seconds, how would you enjoy games?