Comments on Above 49: Improving Readability: Empathy

@Mike Every time I hear someone say, "Players are ...

2009-05-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

@Mike Every time I hear someone say, "Players are stupider and lazy these days. They just want easy games with big explosions" I reel and seethe. While it's certainly true at times, this is whinging more often used to excuse unengaging gameplay.

Nobody can control the audience. If something is working, the only option is to find a way to fix it.

I can't agree strongly enough with this Nels. Empa...

2009-04-30T23:03:00.000-07:00

I can't agree strongly enough with this Nels. Empathy makes us better designers, but it also has the added bonus of making us much better collaborators.

Some people will argue that understanding what other people are thinking was the entire reason for us evolving our large brains. I wouldn't be surprised if it were true. Almost any human failing can be improved by improving empathy, as can almost any game design problem.

Mike
mikedarga.blogspot.com

@Alan Looking at Far Cry 2, you can even se...

2009-04-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

@Alan Looking at Far Cry 2, you can even see examples of good readability in its random systems. Rusted guns jam far more frequently than shiny new ones do. The guns' models communicate that very clearly, so the player understands they're using crap gear.

If the models for awful and pristine guns were the same, but they had different jam probabilities, this would confuse the player. Worse yet would be if broken/reliable weapons had models that didn't correspond to their chance to jam at all.

I realize I may have been a little unclear, as I tried to clarify here. A game with good readability isn't necessarily obviously, it is consistent.

Excellent work Nels. It brings up an interesting ...

2009-04-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

Excellent work Nels.

It brings up an interesting parallel with Clint Hocking's GDC talk on Improvisational game systems - there is a balance between predictable and chaotic systems that allows for maximum enjoyment. As you said, some systems are made to be confusing - if we knew exactly what would happen from our actions, it would be less fun.

This cuts into the core of "fun" which Ralph Koster explains is essentially an abstract form of learning - as he puts it "an exploration of a possibility space".

When you discuss how old games were harder to play straight-out-the-box, you have to remember that there was a time (and I'm talking mid 80s here) when game systems were so obtuse they required you to consult the manual before you could stand a chance of playing the game. Nowadays, even a dedicated "training" section is frowned upon. Some have argued this is impatience or laziness on the part of the player, but in reality its the simple case that "fun" should not incorporate the kind of learning that is more like work.

There is a delicate balance of readability with deliberately introduced chaos that produces a fun game. Looking forward to the "data" blog post now!

@L.B. Thanks. It's interesting how the "vocabulary...

2009-04-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

@L.B. Thanks. It's interesting how the "vocabulary" of interaction in some games has quickly become an archaic dialect.

Old RPG might be the most extreme example of this, although that could be because most other games of that era were very linear and has to misinterpret. I remember playing the re-release of the original Final Fantasy on GBA and ye gods, I almost never knew where to go or what I was supposed to do.

Maybe that was part of the appeal, but I can't help but worry those foundational games are only going to become increasingly inaccessible. But then again, how many people read Beowulf or The Divine Comedy these days? Certainly not the folks at EA Redwood Shore (oh snap!).

Great read, I've been playing Ocarina of Time rece...

2009-04-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

Great read, I've been playing Ocarina of Time recently and that nails what I've been trying to explain bugged me about it. I never played many games from the N64, PS1 era, so I'm not used to reading the graphics or understanding what it's trying to communicate. Now that I'm almost at the end, I'm used to it and don't need gamefaqs, but there was a while where it was a real chore.