Too Many Buttons
- Thread starter John Scott Tynes
- Start date
That's an awesome way to simplify a control scehme! Definitely extreme, but if the extreme case is possible, something less certainly is, and for the love of god I don't want controllers to evolve into especially ergonomic keyboards.
The Escapist needs to keep this guy; I like him at least as much as Yahtzee!
And he's less than 40% dick jokes!
The Escapist needs to keep this guy; I like him at least as much as Yahtzee!
And he's less than 40% dick jokes!
Anyone complaining about how terrible it is need to shut up and get a brain. This idea isn't for you, Mr. or Mrs. hardcore gamer on a gaming website talking about video games. It's about people like your dad, who see you playing Halo or Resistance and go "Hey, that looks like fun, teach me!" Then you get the hour of co-op campaign involving you killing everything while trying get your dad to walkin the right direction, but he can't because while he moves forward he is also looking towards the ground, holding both sticks down to move. You people need to stuff it and step out of your own bubble for once. The author might have taken it to an extreme a little (I think most people can wrap their heads around two buttons and two functions), but he was just trying to prove a point that almost everyone here uncerimoniously stomped on, chewed off, and ripped out until they forgot what they were talking about anymore, the stupid gits.
A good point but lets not add much more to our controllers otherwise they WILL be a problem, and to you my good author... all I can say...no... all I can do is this.../FACEPALMHG131 said:
What you are proposing is that we should dumb down our games to make them easier for newer players, however there are plenty of new-player friendly games around, they are called casual games... or possibly Halo 3 ODST... that game was too easy...even on legendary
so its not for everyone on a gaming site?.So for people who don't know how to use a gaming console or PC.Why do you think there are a lack of FPS on the Wii because if your introducing people who don't normally game.A tactical FPS would be a bad choice due to mistake equals instant death.matrix3509 said:
So think about what you are writing before claiming everybody else are idiots
The problem here is the goal was wrong to begin with, more than anything this article highlights what's wrong with the assumption that buttons is the only barrier to play. What he's designed is something totally unplayable even for an expert in FPS, it would be beyond ludicrous trying to explain this to someone unfamiliar with gaming.
A more worthwhile experiment would be to translate the essential gameplay of an FPS into something that is accessible to a broader audience, ideally with some sense of scalability.
A more worthwhile experiment would be to translate the essential gameplay of an FPS into something that is accessible to a broader audience, ideally with some sense of scalability.
Yeah you just made my point for me so thanks for that at least. Your statement of "mistake equals instant death" is interesting in that it points out the very thing that turns off most inexperienced players to FPSs.Spygon said:
I myself couldn't stand the complexity of current gen games until I wasted untold hours of my life learning to master the idiotic controls. I also know plenty of other inexperienced players that don't have to time nor patience necessary to master something as time wasting as an FPS.
I honestly don't view having tons of buttons as a bad thing. Once I've learned how a controller works, it feels completely normal to me, and having more than 2 buttons to work with allows me to react more quickly to whatever game I'm playing, especially if it's a fast paced game.
I would be interested in seeing how your idea works, but it seems like it could be overly simplistic and possibly frustrating.
I would be interested in seeing how your idea works, but it seems like it could be overly simplistic and possibly frustrating.
I've seen people right longer explanations on even more pointless endeavors. No matter how long or how short, the point remains that the example in the article was simply that: An example. Not an honestly expected suggestion.Smokescreen said:
For the first part of this quote: Yes, I agree. For you and I learning something new in a game IS standard. Thus I tend to pick-up on things fairly quickly. For someone who's just starting-out on gaming though, it's far from the standard. Between all the buttons on the controller and all the information on the HuD, it's very easy for a new-comer to get over-whelmed and decide to just say screw it. The person was so busy just trying to learn how to play the game that he wasn't having any fun with it, and since he isn't familiar with gaming in general he just decides it's not worth it. At this point a potential customer has just been lost when he could have been won-over had there been options to simplify things for him.
As for the second part, I did go and check out the topic attached to Susan's article, and here's what I found:
One person was comparing gaming to the NBA. A very egotistical stance to take, because I can guarantee you that this person doesn't make a living playing games. Not to mention what this says about his own perception of himself. Simply put, gamers are /not/ NBA player quality. At least, very few are. To keep to the comparison of gaming to sports, we'd have to compare what we're talking about to playing basketball in your own back yard. By your logic, we shouldn't allow people to have hoops on their garages because playing from their driveway isn't the way Basketball was meant to be played.
Another person argued that it's a bad idea because the industry has enough customers as-is. This is a very ignorant stance to take as it shows no knowledge of business and marketing. As a business, if you aren't making customers, then you're going to run out of customers, because you are always losing customers no matter what you do. Even if you do everything right, your customer base will only go down unless you do something to keep that number up. So by limiting your product to only the most hardcore of audiences, then gaming cannot thrive because gaming will dwindle in its customer base to the point where it won't be able to support a company.
Basically, I saw mostly just elitism. Perhaps there was some informed post that you're referring to which I didn't see. If that's the case, then feel free to tell me all about it.
Allow me to tip my hat at you, sir. It's good to know there are at least a few people out there to who get what's being said here.SilverKyo said:
Yes, would you like chocolate chip, or macadamia? Because you just earned a cookie.almightywabbit said:
Any questions?...
I think there's a much simpler solution that makes everybody happy and to see it look at the way I learned how to game. When I was a kid I started out playing Super Mario Bros. I had a controller with a d-pad and two buttons that allowed me to move left and right, jump, run, and attack. Over time i mastered this set up and when the Super Nintendo cam out i moved on to Donkey Kong Country, now I had a controller that had four face buttons a d-pad and two triggers, but that wasn't two big a jump from what i had started on and i soon mastered that. As gaming progressed the controllers got more complex but I evolved with them as I played. I'm betting that this is how alot of other twenty something gamers learned how to play. The solution to having too many buttons for new gamers to figure out how to use is not to map a complex game onto a simple controller. The solution is to make simpler games that use less of the inputs and let them slowly build up the skill we have all spent years learning. And the fact is this is already being done on x-box live and PSN. Games like pixel junk monsters and everyday shooter use few of the inputs sometimes only two or three. These are good "starter games" for new gamers to learn how to use the joysticks and maybe a button or two. Being thrown into all the inputs all at once can be intimidating for new players, but it's just a matter of building up their skills not axing the controllers.
isnt that the whole point of the arcade shooter for people who dont have the time or patience to learn a tactical FPS.I cant see the point of complaining about a game that has too many buttons for newer or less "motivated" gamers when your trying to play a tactical game like johns example of farcry 2.matrix3509 said:
Its like teaching someone to swim by trying to teach them in the middle of the atlantic during a storm.
Wow seriously? You play with the controller 5 minutes and you know all the buttons by heart. And that idea is just terrible, it would require ALOT less skill and would be painful to play.
Hmm, you should try something more out of the box-ish. Your 'game' does indeed use a lot less buttons, and maybe it's playable. But it definitely isn't an improvement over what we have. Yes, casual gamers might be able to play this, but they'll be playing a dumbed down, less-fun version of how we experience 'complicated' games. A much better solution would be something like the Wiimote: walk with one button, use one button for shooting, and do everything else with the motion technology. You might not be able to play a complicated first person 'shooter' like Metroid, with all it's extra features and skills you need to use, but at least you'll get a game that keeps the experience intact.
wait... so multiplayer matches are not all about shooting and grenade spamming? WHAT HAVE IVE BEEN PLAYING?!Krakyn said:
Insofar as I agree that any more buttons would be ridiculous, most of these buttons are designed for convenience. We're not expected to use them all at once.
Simplifying things for the sake of it is counterproductive, though it has been said:
"True engineers know they have achieved perfection not when they can no longer add anything but when there is nothing left to take away".
But that invalidates my point, so ignore that.
Simplifying things for the sake of it is counterproductive, though it has been said:
"True engineers know they have achieved perfection not when they can no longer add anything but when there is nothing left to take away".
But that invalidates my point, so ignore that.
What's wrong with more buttons? It's not like it's impossible to pick up and use 19 different inputs. Us lot have done pretty good so far and there's only so much you can do with a small number of inputs. I'm waiting for the Xbox 360 full size keyboard or a PlayStation keyboard, that would rock.
Ok first, to many inputs? I know someone who has use of only one hand who manages the 360 controller. Secondly, the wiimote has conservatively (not counting the nunchuck which you use for virtually every game) an almost infinite amount of controls because it is movement based but even if we only discount the movement controls that would still leave another 6 of which one is light gun style aiming device that requires constant screen positioning.
Furthermore, did you actually play far cry 2? The game had huge amounts of verticality for players willing to play it as something other than a corridor shooter, and removing the ability to slide and duck would remove one of the things that an otherwise quite broken game did well. Also saying that there are so many controls to learn is a misnomer since virtually all FPS games run a similar control scheme, if anything as console gaming has matured I have noticed that I no longer need to check a manual to see how to control my character in FPS games since any deviation from the norm is explained.
Furthermore, did you actually play far cry 2? The game had huge amounts of verticality for players willing to play it as something other than a corridor shooter, and removing the ability to slide and duck would remove one of the things that an otherwise quite broken game did well. Also saying that there are so many controls to learn is a misnomer since virtually all FPS games run a similar control scheme, if anything as console gaming has matured I have noticed that I no longer need to check a manual to see how to control my character in FPS games since any deviation from the norm is explained.