Over the past year or so I’ve been having my wife, more professionally known as the
Lady I Live With, try out a handful of video games in an effort to learn more about what
they are like for people who don’t spend a lot of time playing them. Through these
informal experiments I’ve gained a better understanding of some of the barriers that
exist for inexperienced players; there’s a lot about the basics of video games that
I and many others take for granted, and watching her try to figure these things out has led
to me viewing games through a new lens—one of someone unfamiliar with typical game conventions
and mechanics.
So, to continue her videogame education and in turn mine, I decided to run another experiment.
This time, I wanted to look into how she would handle being thrown into what is maybe the
most unforgiving space in video games: online multiplayer
Online Troll: "Get out of here Laci. You're Fat."
Lady: "That was...that was so mean!"
Given that most of the titles
she has played so far for these experiments have been single player experiences, I figured
it was about time to really throw her into the fire. So I had her play a sampling of 5 titles:
Overwatch, CS:GO, Rocket League, Fortnite, and because I’m a bad person, League of
Legends. I chose these titles because they’re prominent examples of some of the most popular
genres of multiplayer games, and also because they have playerbases of varying levels of
intensity. Pretty much, I hoped it would give her some insight into the wide world of online
multiplayer, and also shine a light on the best ways to help inexperienced players figure
things out. So, this is how it went.
With any game, it is important to teach players the basic mechanics and functions in a clear
and concise way so that they can get into it as quickly as possible. Developers need
to find the right balance of dispersing enough information to the player so that they can
engage with the core gameplay while not putting too much on them too quickly. The more time
a player spends being bored, frustrated, or confused, the less likely they are to enjoy
the game. And I think this is even more important when it comes to online multiplayer titles
because a player’s understanding of a game not only affects their own enjoyment, but
also the enjoyment of every person they play with. In team-based games, if one person doesn’t
understand how to play, they can inadvertently make the experience terrible for everyone
else. So having a tutorial that properly prepares players seems like it would be a pretty massive
priority.
With the games my wife played, it was pretty mixed.
Only Overwatch and League of Legends prompted her to try the tutorial, which makes sense
as both games are pretty complex. With that said, neither of them did that great of a
job with teaching her how to actually play. Overwatch’s tutorial taught her basic mechanics and how
to use special abilities, but it didn’t do much beyond that. When she finished it,
she then got prompted to go to the training ground which on one hand was good because
it gave her some time to become familiar with different characters, but on the other hand
she found it overwhelming to be hit with 30 new faces, each with their own move set.
I think the tutorial would be far more effective as a learning tool for new players if it was
more specific. For example, it could start with a brief explanation of the 3 main
roles, Tank, Damage, and Support, and then have players choose one of those roles and
be assigned one of the easier to understand heroes. From there the tutorial could give
a detailed explanation of how that character fits into the actual game--things like where should they
position themselves, which abilities should they use most, things like that. While Overwatch
does do a good job of easing players in by first prompting them to do the tutorial, then
the training ground, and then games against bots, it never really explains how to be an
effective teammate. A pretty common frustration my wife had while playing was not knowing
how to best help her team, so any sort of assistance with that would have been valuable.
I understand that game metas constantly shift, but there are certain elements of basic play
that stay pretty consistent, and letting inexperienced players in on that information makes a difference.
League of Legends has similar issues in terms of onboarding new players. The fact that there
are a limited amount of heroes to choose from did make it far less overwhelming for her
to dive in, but even with this smaller scope, the game didn’t do anything to explain the
roles of different characters in the context of an actual match. It didn’t even do a
good job of teaching her how to use her abilities. There was a moment when a big arrow pointed
at them but as she was focused on the actual action and there was no voice prompt for it,
she missed the cue so I had to explain them to her.
The tutorial would have been far more effective had it gone over each
specific ability and how it is best used in an actual game.
And because there aren't that many characters to choose from at the start
It seems like a no-brainer to do this.
Another issue with League’s tutorial is that it prepares players using settings that aren’t the default in other
modes. The big one being the camera. In the tutorial, it is locked on the character which is really
helpful for new players as it is easier to control and less overwhelming, but as soon
as the first game starts, it is no longer locked. While having free range of the camera
is certainly a more efficient way to play, by teaching players with one method and then
switching it without an explanation or warning, it puts them at even more of a disadvantage.
It is easy enough to relock the camera, but it added a level of unneeded stress for
my wife as she wrestled with a control scheme she had never used before.
Lady: "It's fine. I'll just lose more."
The tutorials of the other games definitely did a better job preparing her for actual
matches, but I should note that part of that has to do those titles being far less complicated.
Rocket League went over basic controls in a contained environment, which gave her an
understanding of movement and how to win. Also the fact that the game is just soccer but
with cars, made it so she could take something she was actually pretty knowledgeable about
and apply it to how she played.
CS:GO’s tutorial did the best job of the titles she tried as it not only went over
the basic functions and objectives of the game, but it also taught her a few slightly
more advanced tips like where to aim, how to bank grenades off of walls, and that switching
to the pistol is always faster than reloading. This made it so she considered these aspects
when playing in an actual game. As a somewhat offtopic side note, my wife didn’t know
the names of any of the guns in CS:GO, and at first that surprised me, but after thinking
about it, I realized that pretty much everything I know about weapons comes from playing video
games. Obviously, there are other avenues to learn about that sort of stuff, but as
guns have never interested her and she didn’t grow up playing Goldeneye, it makes sense
that she wouldn’t know much about them.
Anyway, the only real problem with CS:GOs tutorial is that it is sort of buried in menus,
and while it isn’t difficult to find, if a player doesn’t know to look for it, they
most likely won’t play it, which happened to my wife at first, leading to some frustration
when thrown into a game not being properly prepared.
Lady: "I don't like this game."
Rocket League has a similar issue.
Its tutorial is easier to find, but it also doesn’t prompt players to try it. I know that this may seem insignificant,
but the reality is that a new player is more likely to do the tutorial if they are explicitly
told to do it. And as the skill of any individual can drastically shift the tide of a match,
games should do everything they can to properly onboard new players. I don’t think tutorials
should be mandatory, but pushing inexperienced folk in the right direction is easy to do
and can go a long way.
Fortnite was the only game she tried that didn’t really have a tutorial. After launching
the game, my wife was tossed into a match before even hitting the main menu. A few tips
did come up on the screen during that game like how to harvest materials and where she
should go, but it left out a lot of other basic information like how to build structures
and even the objective of the game. I later learned her being tossed right into a match
was part of an event that was running at the time, and it doesn’t typically just toss
players in with no real explanation. Regardless, there still isn’t a tutorial. This surprised
me a bit because a large portion of Fortnite’s audience are kids, so I assumed it would
give a little more direction for inexperienced players. Given the way Fortnite exploded into
relevance, it is possible that the dev team figured most new players would have a base
understanding of the game from seeing it on streams or YouTube. That wouldn’t really
be a good excuse to not include a decent tutorial, but it wouldn’t be all that shocking either.
All in all, I was surprised with how little focus was given to the tutorials. They either
didn’t do a robust job of actually explaining how to play or it was somewhat easy to miss.
While I understand that a lot of players often go into multiplayer games with some sort of
pre-established understanding of them, it's still important to have an effective tutorial
for those who don’t. Otherwise, they will be at even more of a disadvantage when they
have to
There are a lot of factors that go into how enjoyable an online multiplayer game will
be for a new player, but I think the most important is being matched up against people
of a similar skill level. As I imagine you've already guessed, this did not go well for my wife
Lady: "Can I play an easier level?" Raz: "What do you mean?"
Lady: "Like, I just...I don't wanna die."
I’m not sure if it was because most of these titles don’t have playerbases big enough
to have properly balanced games for new players or if they just have bad matchmaking systems,
but my wife was often paired up against people who had clearly put in far more time than here.
At best the teams were typically balanced by having an equal number of experienced and
inexperienced players, but that often just led to the inexperienced players like my wife
getting pushed around by those who have played a lot more. In worse cases, like when she
played Rocket League, there didn't seem to be any balance, and
one good player could swing the balance so much that every game
was a blow out. Due to poor matchmaking, she didn’t really stand a chance which, understandably,
made her enjoy the games less.
The only title that seemed to have a playerbase big enough to give her a fair level of competition
was Fortnite. All of the other players she ran into were around the same level as her,
so it felt like a more level playing field, and she ended up having a fair bit of success,
coming in 3rd place during her first match. To be honest, I was kind of surprised by her
placing so high and expected her second game to go far worse, but she ended up getting
a victory royale.
Lady: "WHY ARE YOU SO SURPRISED?!"
After she won,
I learned that somewhat recently, Fortnite started including bots into their matches who seem
like real players—the goal being that more new players will do well while still thinking that
they're playing other actual people. I have no idea how many people in her matches were
real or bots; I spent a little time trying to figure it out based on their movements,
but then I realized that a lot of people probably would have assumed my wife was a bot based
on how she moved, so I gave up on that. Either way, while I wouldn’t blame anyone for being
annoyed with Fortnite’s deceitful practices, it did lead to her enjoying the game a fair
bit because she felt good at it right off the bat, and if it hadn’t been for me looking
into stuff for the sake of this video, she never would have known that a portion of her
competition were bots. So, uh, sorry lady.
In general, I think having a mix of real people and bots can help inexperienced
folk get invested in a game. My wife played a handful of matches in Overwatch with a team
of real players against computers. This proved to be a good balance because she got the experience
of playing with others while not being outmatched by her opponents. I want to note that League
of Legends also had this same mode, but she hated the game so much that I could barely
get her to play it at all,
Raz: "I need you to play one more." Lady: "Come on."
Lady: "Please! No!"
so she didn’t try it.
Regardless, these kinds of modes give inexperienced players a space to succeed. With that said,
while these kinds of modes seem to be made to help players smoothly transition into games
with real players, I don’t think they do a great job of that.
Like, with Overwatch, she mostly played as Brigitte, which for a random panic pick she
made due to the character she wanted to play as already being taken, ended up being a pretty
solid one as Brig doesn’t rely on twitch skills or accuracy, both things my wife isn’t
good at yet. When playing both easy and medium bots, it didn’t take a whole lot of strategy
for her to do well. She would run right at the enemy, swing her mace, bash with her shield,
occasionally heal allies, and this ended up working pretty well for her. When she tried
this strategy against real players though...
Lady: "Oh my god, this is so embarrassing."
What I realized is that her playing against bots prepared her in the wrong way. It rewarded her reckless
approach to matches, which is a strategy that doesn’t translate to actual games.
Along with a more fleshed out tutorial,
I think it would far more effective for the game to have more modes that actually
help players practice useful skills and strategies.
Beyond just the typical and expected frustration that comes from continually being crushed
by the opposing team, my wife also felt bad that her playing might be frustrating other people.
Lady: "Oh my god, did I let everyone down?"
Lady: "No. Seriously. Did I? Raz: "Well..."
With pretty much every team game she played, at some point
she made a comment about how her team didn’t want to play with her. The idea of making
the game worse for everyone else stressed her out to the point where she didn’t want
to continue with most games. I think this is a sentiment that exists to some degree
for anyone who plays games—I know I’ve steered clear of certain titles because I
didn’t want to deal with pissing anyone off—but for those one the inexperienced
side of things, I imagine this ends up being a massive deterrent, which frankly sucks.
I do want to mention that the only game that my wife didn’t worry about letting her team
down in was League of Legends. In fact, she said maybe the most capital G gamer thing
imaginable
Lady: "My team is so bad."
She acknowledged that she wasn’t good at
the game either, but she constantly felt like her team wasn’t around to support her. This
mostly comes down to how League is designed. There are three lanes for players to go down
and only 5 people on a team, so everyone is going to be fairly spread out, and while with
communication this isn’t really a problem, due to her being solo queued and not knowledgeable
of conventional strategy, she assumed her teammates were doing nothing and therefore,
hated them.
While all of these frustrations and stressors ultimately led to a net negative experience,
I will say that when she did pull off something impressive, I’ve never seen her more excited
about doing something in a video game.
Lady: *Panicked Screams*
Lady: *Excited Screams*
Lady: "I did it."
Ultimately, I think a lot of titles would benefit from
finding more ways to give inexperienced players the sense of competition without throwing
them in over their heads.
Online multiplayer titles are a pretty common entry point into
video games for new players. Most people end up being drawn to trying a game because
of a friend who wants to play with them, and playing online is typically the easiest
way to do that. But I think when those of us who play games a lot want to introduce
them to our inexperienced friends, partners or ladies we live with, we have to be careful
with how we do it.
While watching my wife play, I realized that I viewed everything in terms of how each game
was preparing her for the modes that I am used to playing, but I don’t think that
is entirely fair. Some of the modes that I look at as stepping stones to the “core
content”, are actually the destination for a number of people. For example, when my wife
played against bots in Overwatch, a fair amount of the folks playing with her seemed to play
against bots regularly. And while it isn’t how I would play the game, I get it. My guess
is they preferred to experience everything at a slower pace as they beat down on AI.
They didn’t have to deal with being paired against players far above their skill level,
and they could just focus on the aspects of the game they enjoy most.
Having alternative modes, especially ones focused around more relaxed gameplay, can
give inexperienced players a space to enjoy themselves when playing online. It can help
them avoid frustration that comes from consistently losing and it can keep them out of situations
where they may be the target of toxicity. While I do think that all of these games could
do a far better job of teaching and easing in inexperienced players, I also think it’s
important to consider that there are a ton of different ways to play a game, and for
titles that have a lot of options, sometimes it’s more important to find which of those
options best suit the skill level of the player instead of solely focusing on shaping the
player to best fit the most popular mode.
The recurring theme of this series is that games are often best when shared with other
people, and clearly that is a big part of why online multiplayer games have become so
popular. They offer a space for friends to play games together no matter how far apart
they live, they provide a way for individuals to meet new people with a shared interest,
and they make it possible to compete with folks from all around the world. Playing games
with other people can lead to some of the most enjoyable gaming experiences, and part
of my hope with this experiment was that my wife might enjoy one of these games or genres
so much that she’d want to play more because I think it’d be fun for us to have a game we
consistently play together. The thing I did not forsee was that her favorite would end up being the
one I was least interested in.
But especially with inexperienced players and online multiplayer games
Sometimes you just have to meet people where they are
and take what you can get…
Raz: "Aight. Where do you wanna drop?"
Lady: "Uhhhh"
Raz: "Let's go to the che-" Lady: "NOW!"
Raz: "OH GOD!"
Lady: *Laughing*
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Anyway, thanks to Raycon for sponsoring this video.
For all of you still watching, thank you so much. I appreciate your support. If you would
like to keep up with me on a more regular basis, follow me on twitter where you can
get my bad opinions about stuff and also on Twitch where I stream games a bunch—yeah
that’s what you do on twitch. So, yeah. Have a great day and/or night, and I will
see you in the next one.
Raz: “You wanna tell Laci she’s just fine the way she is?”
L: “Yeah”
*Screams*