Coming into games as someone who doesn't play games is hard, because it is like learning a language while you are being tested on it at the same time. As you learn controls you will find that many games have similar control schemes, and it gradually becomes easier to learn a new game because you have a baseline from your experiences with other games.
Agree. But she need first to find what genre shes good at. The number of videogame genres, plus the wide variety of mechanics, makes almost impossible to master all videogames. I am almost pro in gathering/farming and PvE, but i really, really suk at PvP.
@@sanhcman666 Yea that's the fun thing about videogaming in general, both halo and crusader kings are considered hardcore games for entirely different reasons .
13:31 considering the average gamer is early 30s married and with kids, It's definitely a fantasy thing. Learning to skate irl takes years and hundreds of hours of practice and physical exertion, while in the game you go from ameture to internationally famous within 30 hours or so (30 hours irl, while years and years would've passed in the game).
Also less likely to be limited to the environment i.e. lack of access to skate parks or weather. There is also the interaction of other people at such places which could be harder on introverts. Risk of physical injury is far lower especially if such could impact your livelihood or family. Also cost. Like, I love shooting but the cost of ammunition is high. Granted the physical feedback of feeling the air pressure change, and the kick back of the weapon in hand, and sound is far different from playing on a video game there is still the satisfaction of hitting a target on point or hearing the familiar and comforting sounds.
I think it's hilarious that you turned you face up at the gore in Doom Eternal! And once you began playing you switched over to revelry upon killing a tough enemy and gaining all those resources LOl!
Hey Hannah. Since you asked for recommendations and you're an author... How about a role playing game that focuses heavy on clever writing, interesting characters (fully voiced) and cool world building? And almost everyone can play it since it doesn't have a combat system! I'm a huge fan of the title "Disco Elysium". If I could only pick one game, to convince someone that video games are art, this title would be it.
This is the exact reason I want her to play something like BioShock or twilight princess at some point. I'd love to see her play a narrative driven game because she'd still have to work at playing a game but I think her reaction to the stories would also be just as entertaining as the gaming side of things
I've got a recommendation. Considering the fun you seem to be gravitating to action games with flow and challenge it might not be the most exciting game. But there's a charming game that is a master class in interactive story telling using player choice. Or perhaps it's better to say by controlling player choice. Either way, it's called "The Stanley Parable". You wake up at the office as Stanley, and have to unravel the mystery of where all your colleges have gone. Also, you have an unreliable narrator in your head. It has good repeatability, and it's good for a chuckle. If your twitch audience is down for it they might help you from getting lost along the way.
First! Love the series & the journey you’re on Hannah. Like anything else it will come in time but some of us have different skill sets… I tend to be vastly better at sports, racing, platformer, 3rd person action games over music, puzzle, shooter games but I’m not super great at math or logic or multitasking/reacting to things on screen. I think best way to go is to play what you like or play what you think is cool and willing to take a little punishment in even if you’re not good at it first.
As someone who has been playing video games for 25 years, I can definitely understand how toggling the settings can make you feel like you're not accomplishing as much because you're making things easier in some way or another. I personally am a stubborn person and can beat myself against challenges for hours on end. But I also LOVE the challenges. I suppose what I would say to you is that because all of this is so new to you and games these days are way more complicated than they were when I was growing up and learning way back in 1995, perhaps you shouldn't feel so bad toggling those settings. You have to start somewhere, right? Try to temper your expectations as someone new to gaming and I promise you'll get better as time goes on. It takes practice just like anything does! Whether it's feeling better using the controller itself, or understanding concepts games generally give you, you will improve and you will get better. And I'm totally here for your journey.
Looking at settings for a game is the best thing to do when starting a game. Not only can you tune things to your preference, but you can get a taste of what the game allows you to do or mechanics that you will use. Plus that is where the controls menu is, which is nice to look at.
Playing through the Arkham games with limited hug and zero hints on hard is a really fun experience that both gives you a challenge while also making you feel like The Batman even if you fail or die.
I'm a *huge* fan of Game Maker's Toolkit, and I especially love his yearly videos where he assesses the accessibility of the most popular games. As a person who's done some amount of game dev and is deeply concerned with accessibility in general, I both appreciate learning things he brings up (as I often haven't played many of the games in question) and knowing that it brings attention to something so important.
I myself love the process of learning. It's why I'm into fighting games, a genre known for high skill floor and even higher skill ceiling. In recent years, various fighting games have tried using simpler control inputs to pull in newcomers and even providing in-depth tutorials that explain how the game works, but most people still drop off the genre nonetheless for the simple fact that most people just don't like having to sit down and learn to "play" a game. As the video says, easing a player into learning a game through story or mission context is far more effective. The thing is, learning IS the game for fighting games. Just like how in Chess you have to know what each piece does before you could even play one match with another player. And after your first match, whether you want to grow further as a player depends entirely on you. There's no progression bar, no concrete objective to strive to, no real reward for mastering the game, no ending to the story, per se. Everything hinges on whether you enjoy how the game is played alone. Chess players don't play Chess to win. They play Chess because they enjoy playing Chess. It makes the fighting game genre really, really niche, but it also means I'm able to meet and befriend like-minded people who love learning and sharing knowledge. To say I didn't struggle initially with the genre would be a lie, but I also have found it very fulfilling.
I'd say the complexity, the time pacing of introduction, and all the other things mentioned in this video can also apply to Writing. How many new characters can you introduce in the first chapter before the reader starts to lose track? All new names, trying to remember who is who and what personality traits belong to which character. Who was that mischievous one? Who was the "always honest" one? How many new places and groups and factions can you introduce and how fast? How many new artifacts can you throw at the reader before it just becomes a jumbled concept of Fantasy-sounding names..? Similar to "false advertising" like he mentioned towards the end, where you are sold as being the "God of War" and you die to a few cockroaches attacking you, or in Doom Eternal where you massacre your way through Hell and now the lowest of minions are a challenge. If you sell the "Big Bad" in a book then the pay off must be that the Hero has to put in proportional effort to beat the enemy, and if the "Savior of the Realm" is sold to the reader as this amazing person with omnipowers then there is no challenge to beat the Big Bad.
Omg I wish. I liked the video but I felt it only applied to a certain number of games and certain motor skills with the controller. What if someone want's to experience the fantasy of being a detective or figuring things out or problem solving. There's games for that too, Obra Din being a great example.
13:21 Same reason people play sports games or watch sports of games instead of playing them, but as someone who doesn't do any of that I don't have an answer to that question.
I don't think watching sports and playing a sports video game is the same. Watching sports is more passive. And the reason I said that is because as a basketball player, NBA 2k has very little appeal to me. That's why I thought that, just for myself. And it's interesting to hear people's responses
One thing I haven't seen mentioned about skateboarding vs. video games is price. Good skateboard decks can retail anywhere from $70 to an easy $200, with professional boards going up in price from there. That's just the deck and doesn't include stuff like wheels, bearings, safety gear, shoes, and so on. A video game costs ~$60 brand new on day of release. Video games are way to "try out" hobbies without having to invest in them. Racecars costs thousands of dollars, on top of stuff like driving simulators. Hunting can set you back hundreds. Sure, you could actually shoot some guns at people in things like airsoft, paintball, or even historical reenactments. But again, that's hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars. A term not brought up in the video is "time tax," or the amount of time it takes to learn all of a game's mechanics, rules, and pieces. Tic-tact-toe has a really low time tax. There's barely any rules and optimal strategies become quickly known by the players. It's not uncommon for children learning the game to "solve" (i.e. know the best possible strategy that always wins or at least ends in a draw) the game. Compare that to something like StarCraft 2. There's dozens of "pieces" with their own unique mechanics, with dozens of stats, and whose performance depends on the level being played. Then you have the time tax of actually understanding the controls, building up muscle memory, and so on. Then you have to memorize all the different levels, match ups, differences between 1-on-1 and 4v4, etc. etc. so on and so forth. It's possible for a game to have a high time tax but low skill ceilings and skill floors. Chess is an example. The rules are simple. Most board states are "deterministic" (the winner is guaranteed assuming players make the best moves). However, there's lots of memorization and studying that goes into learning what all the best moves are. The best Chess players are the ones who can navigate through a board state where the outcome is unknown, which takes years of practice to create such games.
One game that does this well is Shadow of the Colossus, has a low base level but a high ceiling if you wanna. Give it a look Hannah, one of the few games that I consider a Master Piece from the medium
I think something important that wasn't touched on in this video is how a lot of entertainment media (and art in general) is not interchangeable. For example, I think the Forza game mentioned is a great example for the type of game which _can_ easily be substituted. If a particular racing game has too high a skill floor, there are lots of other (practically identical) racing games you can enjoy. Often, the skills from one game even translate to skill in another game, so your skill might surpass that skill floor even if you never practice on that game. Meanwhile, things like Batman and Spider-Man are not interchangeable. There's usually only one Batman or Spider-Man game at a time. A low-skill fan of that IP doesn't really have alternatives if they want to play an easier game. Therefore, it makes sense for the skill ceiling to be low to get lots of people in the door. Then, there are the original IPs for whom difficulty is essential. The memetic game of this type is Dark Souls, whose community has rallied around breaking through difficulty with some combination of skill, persistence, and sheer force of will. To many in this community, the thought of making the game _inherently_ easier is heresy, because to them persevering through the struggle _is_ the game. Whether the perseverance manifests as mechanical skill or as just redoing one area over and over so the character levels up, to make it "easy" can seem wrong. That's not to say that accessibility options wouldn't be appreciated, but as hinted at in this video "accessibility" and "difficulty" aren't the same thing.
I don't remember if you've looked at them before but there's a youtube series by Razbuten called Gaming for a Non-Gamer I think you'd enjoy watching. It tackles a lot of the same themes of this video but more from the perspective of the players, rather than the designers. I highly recommend it to basically anyone who shows any interest in video games haha. It's also just a really cool/cute series, so definitely worth watching if you haven't yet. There's also Barry Kramer's video on Immersion which is a really good watch too. He has others that are about specific games and they're all both well thought-out and very funny.
Hey hanah, about the skate question, let us think this way. The whole video was about being able to live a fantasy, about people who can"t, for skill or for some physycal problem, play the games. Now think about your question. You see I enjoy playing FPS (shooter games like call of duty), yet I HATE guns, I could never actually shoot them. The same with Skate, I think it is cool, I enjoy watching sometimes, and the game is FUN. Yet I do not WANT to fall in the ground over and over again. You see this mentality of "you could have been doing something else" is dangerous. I'm a published Writer (in Brazil, so sorry for my english) and when I was writing my first novel I had a problem where I just HAD to be writing. I did not allow time for anything other than work, writing and then some nigths reading before bed. When I was finishing the novel I fell into a burnout state, literally feeling like complete shit when I went to write. So I took a 3 months break to watch and play everything that I wanted and then I came back and finished. I use this " 6 months marathon then 3 months break" in everything in my Life and that has helped a lot in my production schedule and overall work-relax system. I KNOW that after 6 months I will be able to relax for 3.
Ooh, Hades! That’s actually a pretty good recommend, because while like he said you do unlock more benefits to make things a bit easier, you’re also expected to lose over and over and over again, each time hopefully making it a little further than before. Not only that but you get to know the characters more as you interact with them (the first boss goes from “you are powerless to get past me!” to “sigh… guess we’re doing this again” to “you know my sister’s being kind of a bitch, can you talk to her?”) On top of all that, you eventually unlock options that make the game HARDER for more rewards, so you have a reason to keep pushing yourself to get better and better. It’s very addicting.
this is very true, I remember being so happy to find out the the new spider-man games were coming to PC but when I finished it I basically was like... Cool game, interesting story and characters. Doom Eternal on the other hand when I finished that game for the first time I immediately started up a new game at the Nightmare difficulty (Highest except for ultra-nightmare which is 1 death only). This was because the game was enjoyable to master and the harder the game was the more I had to improve to be able to beat it which only made it more satisfying.
That clip about struggling reminds me of myself. I always take the easy route. Why make things hard? As a result, I play video games a lot because I’m really good at that and they’re easy for me. Sure I fail but I fail a lot less than if I tried learning the piano or tried writing a book or really anything else that is harder than what I’m doing now. Whenever I try doing any of these things, I just give up not far into trying it and go back doing what I know I will succeed at and what will give me satisfaction.
GMTK has a wonderful video on difficulty settings and accessibility modes specifically. Strongly recommend watching that if what you heard here seems compelling.
13:20 As someone who skates and plays the Stake games, I play just for the pretty much impossible stuff you can do. There are many things in the game you just can't do in real life. Also you'd need 50x-100x more time to be a good skater in real life compared to being good in the game
The reason I played Skate was because actually skateboarding requires a completely different skill set and dedication for me to become good at it, I also am not a fan of hurting myself. Falling of my skateboard, getting cuts and bruises from hitting the ground or worst case I end up with a broken bone, I don't have those issues when I'm just sitting on my couch playing an Xbox 360 game.
As someone who skated and who also played this games. I can assure you that the amount of time it actually takes to get good at skating is very long lol. The same time it would take you to master and finish the game is probably less time spent than learning to ollie lol. Speaking from experience and from a bunch of friends who also skated
Regarding SKATE, there's still plenty of power fantasy that is 'given' to you to feel cool but IRL is almost 100% 'earn it' Not to mention IRL you are restricted to the places you can reasonably travel to, restricted by risk of injury, and also tutorials are 100% not given but sought out
I feel like much of the game industry assumes their players are familiar with controllers and the language of video game (like how people always assume A button is jump if they've played games before). I think they expect most players to have played on consoles as kids, but there are also people who didn't get to play games as kids and are trying them out as adults. I hope game studios find ways to make their games more intuitive to new players.
I know why I don’t do learning the skateboard when I can get that in a game. I have a fragile skull, personally so I’d learn it digital personally but even one who’d just say “I don’t wanna scratch my knees” is enough to wanna just learn how to do it in the medium your want. There may also be peoples who can’t do so because of some physical disability.
13:20 To be honest, the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games and the X-Games on ESPN made me wanna get into skateboarding. As a kid, I was all about the tricks rather than the adventure. I lived where sidewalks weren't easy to ride on, so I practiced ollies and kickflips in the back yard... for months... only while standing still because doing it moving never worked... before giving up. With the Skate franchise, there's the fantasy of not actually doing the sport, but still having something of a "mechanical construction" of making the tricks happen. Also, if you wanna know who invented a lot of the most impressive and popular tricks in skate boarding, look up Rodney Mullen. He does things I think most still cannot do, and he's 57 right now. He has a form of autism, but proved that ain't mean a JOTUNN DAMN THING when it came to what he did.
Reasons why sports video games are better than irl sports: Less risk of injury Less energy cost (and sweatiness) Can be played indoors where no one can see you And, of course, you don't need friends to play multiplayer
question about skateboarding... simple answer is: no When Tekken 3 came out I was in awe of Hwoarang, and his fighting style to the point I started training taekwondo... after 3 years of training I just got to the point where I could do most things he does in game...
Gaming is a skill (actually a set of skills). And like any skill it improves through practice, and requires you to push yourself beyond your current level to get better. Imagine if basketball had a "beginner" mode, where the court was 2/3rd as long, the hoop was half as high and twice as wide. Would that be any fun? Would anyone get any better by playing that mode? Now imagine that pro players get paid the same whether they play regular or "beginner". Which one would you pick? The point is that there has to be a differential both in mechanics and reward to incentivize the higher skill play. If the only requirement to experience everything a game has to offer is the $60 price tag, that defeats the entire purpose of an interactive experience. That's not a game, it's a movie.
I would say the reason why the gamers would rather do skating via video game vs real life, less broken bones and hospital visits. :) If you are looking for a next game, I don't know if you have picked up the Witcher 3 yet, but that is solid and my personal favorite game is a Metroidvania, Hollow Knight.
Remeber, the games today are generally packaged for the average gamer, average meaning they've learned how to play for the past decade, changing settings should not be seens as an easy out, but as trainning wheels that as soon as you get better, will be removed and the best part is that once you've mastered the basics, it will carry over to other games
That audio was David Goggins. He grew up poor and lonely most his life from a rough background. He got tired of being fat and decided he was going to start doing something about it. Long story short he became a navy SEAL.
Counterpoint to the Struggle makes you stronger clip: That only applies to real life. Video games are an escape, we NEED easy games so that we can finally WIN for once, more so for those of us who live hard lives daily. We're not supposed to turn on a video game and keep getting reminded that we suck, or have to struggle in our entertainment, because we already do enough of that in real life. What's a "power fantasy"? Its so we can have power, when we are in fact powerless in real life. Isn't that the purpose of fiction? To offer an escape from the realism of real life? If I had to earn power in my video games, then why would I play it when I had to do the same in real life anyways? I would even go as far to say that it's patronizing when gamers without real life struggles complain that games are too easy. If they want struggle and challenge, they're welcome to come live my life.
Yeah Im the opposite: with every new game, I play my first time on lowest difficulty for about an hour or two, and then switch to the highest and start all over. I do it because I wanna be challenged in game, but I do not like getting frustrated cause I do not know the controls and mechanics.
On Skate: I think real life skating requires far more investment than the video game version, no matter how realistic the game version tries to be. As for why I personally would invest in the game rather than the activity: I am clumsy AF. I bump into doorways on occasion. Not closed doors. OPEN doorways. Not narrow ones, either. I'm so clumsy I am capable of losing my balance whilst standing still. If I tried to Skate, I would die. This was true even when I was a kid.
13:20 The thing is that the average person can have multiple hobbies. You can’t tell an Olympian that they should’ve spent their time somewhere else. Gaming allows the flexibility of accomplishing many hobbies in a short span, until you’re ready to commit to one. (small analogy, just the one I could think of at the moment).
Great question that made me think about it though. Based on what you’ve expressed so far, you are very “Open”, in terms of your last video about personalities in gaming.
In the case of the skate game... Def faster on console, mostly cause you do not have to heal in real time, scrapped knees, twisted ankles, a broken foot or wrist are non issues. Also learning a few button presses doesnt even come close to the complexities of things like balance, foot positioning, trial and error, random rocks on the sidewalk etc. Theres also very minimal fear of failure in video games, you can try a life and death trick 40 or 50 times to get it, nvm that youd have filled an entire hospital wing and part of a graveyard learning the same way irl.
I get the idea of "earn the fantasy" but my problem with it is that a lot of the time people are in the game and reaching for that power fantasy because they want a break from having to earn life. They've had a shitty day at work, or a fight with their partner, or bad news about a family member or whatever and they just want that escapism. So yeah, hitting the balance is important, but so is making sure a player isn't necessarily locked into a given difficulty once they've selected it. Nothing sucks more than having a game you like but having to completely start over to turn your difficulty down if you're just not feeling the challenge that day. As to Skate, I never played it but I played Tony Hawk all through my teens, mostly for 2 reasons: 1) my cousin skated, and he faceplated off a halfpipe and spent 2 months in the hospital with brain damage, so my parents forbid me from even thinking about actually skateboarding. 2) grew up in Northern Ontario, so even if I'd been allowed to skate I only could have done it for maybe 4 months out of the year, which hardly seems worth it.
I think you would like Borderlands, especially the second one, after you finish Doom. And you don't really need to play any of the games to understand the other ones, but playing them in order would probably be best.
Everyone, every gamer is resistant to changing the difficulty options, it is a known problem in game design. People rather give up and stop playing a hard game, than turning down the difficulty in the settings. I circunvent this problem by always googling how difficult a game is before playing it, so I start the game in a perfect difficulty setting for me. That way is harder to want to change the options midway through.
13:21 I’m sure you’re being sarcastic when you mention, if people have considered actually practicing skateboarding. Because you could criticize everyone who watches court based TV dramas, that they should have spent their time wisely and actually got a law degree with the time they spent watching the show. Developing gaming skills is just like developing how to tell jokes or how to play chess. They can be valuable as a breadwinner skill, or just to enrich your life.
I don't think that is an accurate comparison because watching TV is passive. Like I don't think watching about basketball game and playing NBA 2K are the same because when you play NBA 2k you actually affect the outcome of the game. I was not being sarcastic because as a basketball player I have no desire to play basketball video games. It is however, very interesting how defensive people got at that question.
You’re right, it wasn’t the best example and I’m sorry if I sounded confrontational. I think the reason why I and others got defensive about this question, was because it really sounded similar to how others in our lives have criticized us for “wasting time instead of developing a real skill”. It is such a common criticism, and I hope you understand that it has become second nature for game fans to act defensive. Games as a simulation, narrative tool or as a stress reliever are absolutely amazing, and we might be a little tired of receiving the short end of the stick. Furthermore, we might have felt a sense of betrayal, when a person who seems to be trying to enjoy gaming, used the same phrasing we fear to hear. I hope this clears some bad water, and I think your bluntness / honesty can be very fresh for us. I hope you continue to have a good experience with games.
@@a-toma-sphere6616 I think it's been pretty clear from the beginning that I don't really understand video games and that's part of what I'm doing on this channel. And I don't understand the appeal of sports games. Maybe I will one day, but I don't right now.
As someone who skates for 14+ years I can say I am decent at it but far from being great as you can be in skate games. To put it in perspective I never broke anything or had any serious injury and I am glad it's like that, but there are 14 years younger kids now who are skating better than me and acquired their skill in much less time. Even for people like them acquiring skill in skateboarding takes time in years not hours or months and almost every skater has to accept the fact that there will be tricks they won't be able to do ever in their life. Games, same as fingerboarding are very good to try new tricks and lines of tricks or get feeling what it might feel to do those dream tricks that are just very hard for average or even above average skateboarders. In terms of game design skill cealing in skateboarding is also getting higher every year. More stairs are jumped, longer rails slid or grinded, more technical tricks are done. But as a hobby it is very fulfilling because you are always battling with yourself, with your fear and there are plenty of tricks you can learn and doesn't have to worry you learn them all because there is always something you can learn or do on different obstacle :)
I wouldn't call it "getting better the 'hard' way". Rather, the "intended" way. I agree, games should be played without changing the difficulty at the beginning because it can be a good indicator of how the gamer is supposed to feel throughout the game. Maybe at the beginning you're supposed to suck, so you feel that much more rewarded by the end. But also change things like the brightness, audio, or button placement if it feels like you're fighting the environment.
I think the answer to the Skate question is the risk and harm of failure in real life vs a game. Also lazyness because when I was younger I played guitar hero and rock band a ton but do not know how to play an actual guitar and could have learned. Personally for me my excuse was I can't read music sheets (played piano for years just can't) so that was my justification to the time and energy into a game guitar.
I would HIGHLY advise checking out SovietWomble's essay series on game development starting with DayZ early access essays, it gives a great look into what means "beta", "early acces" and "stable release".
Kind of crazy this video didn't mention Dark Souls at all. I wonder what you (Hannah) would think of that series even just watching explanation videos around the kind of game it is and the fandom and why it got popular.
You are a good padawan, hannah. Im also improving in albion online with my first 2 kills today. And thats huge for me mainly because i epically suk at pvp ( player vs player )
On the playstation store (and every system's store for that matter) there's a section for demos if you want to try some different games. (a demo is a segment of a game you can play for free to see if the game is interesting to you or not) I was thinking a slow paced jrpg (japanese roleplaying game) might do the trick for you, moreso if the combat is turn based like with dragon quest xi or persona 5, there is a demo of the former that last for about 10 hours and i recommend it for you but for playing something off stream.
That was a great video, just one thing though, not all games are for everyone, for example "souls like" titles such as "Dark Souls" have a very high skill floor and its fans love it for it (I don't play the genre), many people who never played it would like difficulty options in Dark Souls, but as this video explained, that doesn't actually solve the problem, it would just water down the reason why Dark Souls is so liked :)
My friends and I have this sort of conversation all the time. And the conclusion we ultimately come to is that while the truth is usually in the middle, the industry has taken this turn away from cultivating an audience that enjoys playing games, ie gamers, and attempting to market all products as "for everyone". To put it in terms of the video, how low can you make a skill floor before its simply patronizing. Can you place the floor so low that there is no motivation to learn anything about the game at all. How much interest should your customer have to make their experience valuable or are you simply trying to collect money from every passerby. The industry likes to couch the issue in terms like "accessibility" but the direction I see happening is a hominization of games to the lowest common denominator. Games being neutered so they can be mass marketed to people who arent actually interested in gaming as a medium or hobby, but simply want to ride the wave of whats popular as publishers make bank. What used to be a personal exploration into finding what entertained you from a list of "artists" has turned into fast food while still trying to claim a degree of gravitas. Like McDonalds is the best selling restaurant in the world, but no one is going to claim its a great restaurant, and I think thats the sort of issue gaming is facing now. Every dev and publisher wants a title that sells a billion copies, but the only way to get a base large enough for that to even be possible is to compromise the experience down to something every one relates to. But if you make a product "for everyone" you end up with a product "for no one." This idea of "who gets to be great at games" is a conflation of whats popular versus whats good. And the industry itself has produced an audience that doesnt actually care about such discussion as long as they get to sit with the cool kids at lunch and devs who are more concerned with industry awards and bonuses rather then actually entertaining experiences. This results in the gamers that do actually care making posts like this one, and advocating for smaller closer communities while the industry calls it entitlement and points to the "normies" that will abandon the product as so as the hype wears off as a success.
In the time it took me to master Skate 4 I could've gone outside and learned how to be a decent skater. Why didn't I do it? I guess it's because I'm lazy and I like having my front teeth lol Game Maker's Toolkit is a goldmine of super cool tidbits and food for thought about videogames. He made a ton of super interesting videos
I can't speak to skateboarding, but if someone is already enthusiastic about a sport I expect they might also have interest in games about it. Assuming they also like video games. Maybe even live out simulated thrills of moves professionals do with grace. It could even be mildly inspirational. There are also niche markets for various types of simulators. While I don't quite understand it myself but there are games out there that let you operate trains, planes, or long distance trucks with a fair bit of realism for computer simulations. I expect that particular audience may not be able to afford the sort of vehicles they pretend to operate in their spare time, but might relish the opportunity to try it in real life. I guess it just boils down to what people enjoy, as broad of an answer as that might be. You know, if you are really craving a hard to master game with simple controls, you could look into the online classic QWOP; there are only 4 buttons to learn..
I personally think the "greats" are the games that are easy for all to play but only some will master. Like you said in video, happy medium. If you're gonna be too easy though you better be damn fun or tell an awesome story in my opinion
hey @hannah. you ever thought of having your books get turned into games. Ive read the first one and I feel like it would be a great setting to explore
I AGREE!!! I have thought about it some. I think some of the story would have to be adjusted but I feel like it could be a solid game! Thank you so much for reading.
9:55 As a mythology/magic book author, I assume you'd be interested in what Bayonetta is (unfortunately, the 2nd and 3rd games are for Nintendo, because nobody wanted to buy the rghts to a dope ass game about 10 years ago). In the game, you play as an Umbra Witch, who has to ability to use a vareity of weapons, including guns on her hand and feet. At the same time, she uses magic that's channeled through her hair... that she wears as clothes. This means that, while you don't get to "see the goodies," when she does certain spells that summons monsters and Lady Butterfly's limbs, she uses some of her hair (clothes) to do attacks. More powerful moves = more nudity (that's not really shown, but implied; they're lucky that it's on Nintendo, because if the PC community got a hand on it and used mods... BRUH!). TL;DR - She wears hair, which she uses to cast spell. More powerful spells, more "nudity" (that doesn't show anything, so still SFW technically).
I would argue that Bayonetta does NOT have a low skill ceiling. Sure it has a game mode that basically plays the game for you, an "story mode" if you will but going up even a single difficulty tier above that one can be grueling. It also has items that can be spammed for those that don't care about scores but having to constantly go back to the menu or quick select because enemies juggle you around like a pinball is hardly empowering. I struggled with Bayonettas easy mode even after beating several dmc games on hard mode and even partially "Dante must die" difficulties but the gameplay was so enjoyable that I stuck around and after months of enduring an intense learning curve I eventually made it to the end of Bayonetta on hard mode but I have made peace with the fact that I simply am not good enough to beat it on more challenging difficulties...
As a seasoned gamer i would've suggested a easier game so you could actually get feel for the controls but i love to see the effort even tho you're on a challenging first game (i died a good few times and im above average skill I'd say) so good work so far😊
Side not id recommend playing dying light its a zombie game but i think it'd be a good game to try and learn on bc its progressive in difficulty throughout the game so it doesn't get too overwhelming
Playing Skate, they get good at the game. Actually skateboarding, they'll twist their ankle and break their shins before even doing their first proper kickflip.
Lets be honest, and this is (for some reason) going to become a controversial opinion (considering the games that are popular now): "Difficulty selection is ALWAYS a fair choice." How it's done can vary from game to game, whether it's the difficulty being able to be changed during the game or permanent until you restart/finish the game. Some people simply wanna have fun. Not everything has to be about "git gud," but if I enjoy the game that I'm playing to care if I "git gud." I never played a game that's fun because it's hard, but I have played games that are fun even if they are hard. If I think I can take on the challenge, I'll go up to hard mode. Something that'll never make sense to me is posts and videos of players saying "This game is hard!" Yeah, you told us you selected the hardest difficulty. OF COURSE IT IS!!! I like Elden Ring, though it was frustrating enough that I beat it and kept it moving. No NG+ (restarting the game with all your upgrades from the beginning, though the difficulty is higher), no plans to play the DLC this June (maybe...). It's one of the very, very few soulslike games I did/almost beat. Note: People will say a game is "a soulslike" because it's hard, when it's really a subgenre of action-RPG inspired by Dark Souls that revolves around tactical combat and "the most annoying death mechanic in gaming" (when you die, you lose your experience points/currency, have to go back to where you died to retrieve them, or if you die before you pick them up, they are gone permanently and you must regrind).
Lots of games have difficulty levels, accessibility options, and all those things that let people play it at any skill level. And then there's Dark Souls style games. Where every enemy, no matter how basic they are, can kill you if you give them half a chance. I prefer to try the game I'm going through on easy mode and gradually increase the difficulty as I get used to the game. Dark Souls games are just not for me. I get frustrated and move on to something else because games are my relaxation time. I don't really enjoy playing really hard games when I can just relax and play a story based game instead.
In skate you can do absurd tricks that would break your spine without any consequences. And it's still way easier and quicker to learn than real skating.
Yes. I actually am not sure why that wasn't the thought that occurred to me in the moment. I think it's because I was making a direct comparison in my head to basketball.
Playing Skate has no consequences if you fail. Skateboarding results in actual injuries so the mental aspect makes skating in real life vastly more difficult. Also it is physically harder to manipulate a skateboard with your feet than to manipulate a controller with your fingers.
i don't say this a someone who is angry or anything but i think the thought behind the game is more important than the game itself, if we use spider-man por example, we are already much more powerful than the goons, and that's what we are supposed to be, why would a guy who can lift buildings be struggling with jhonny who, that pick up a bat and thought he could beat a man who made even hulk sit down, on the other hand, there are the ones where we start as "nobody" and grow up to be THE main character, like jedi fallen order, where we start really weak, one or 2 blasts kill us, but then as we unlock more skills, get more health bars and get stronger in the force we go from that guy who died to stormtroopers to the guy who drag them in front of their on shot, throw them over mountains and literally toy with them, even fighting purge soldiers with ease and toe to toe with inquisitors, i think new players should be honest with them and recognize that some games aren't for them, when i was younger i just wasn't able to be good at fast passed shooters like call of duty, now i am almost a god in them, i don't need to put much effort to win a game even if my team drags me down, and with the vast range of games a played through my life i'm positive that any new one i get o probably won't take more than 15 minutes to at least be able to go through the main story or be helpful on a online match, we gotta understant that we aren't great in everything. some we gotta learn how to do it and train, and some we are just unable to do them, for example in real life i'm a great fighter, but horrible soccer player, i can beat the whole adversary team but i can't score a goal on them no matter how much i try so instead of being a striker i prefer to be the goal keeper, cuz i can catch the ball easily with my hands, when those "hardcore" gamers come to me and go like "oh but you can't do this or that" like when i played dark souls, people would come to be and say shit like "oh but you doesn't know this combo" or "that set you are using is gargabe" bro shut the fuck up, i beat the game just like you did, might not have been fancy but all the bosses i took down with a maximum of 5 tries just hiting them and dodging and just because you did a piruette you're better ?
Who's to say those who play skate aren't already good skateboarders why would it be either or? Side note you say you want the hard challenges, and hades is a game that is hard but can be overcome with skill or time so I wouldn't write it off just because it seemed like he was saying it could be overcome with time.
If you're enjoying these videos, Bricky has a few good videos on game design, game progression, and art vs. graphics. As well as general reviews for specific games. But yea, he's got some more great videos similar to this one.
Because skateboarding in real life is scary and could lead to grevious bodily harm. Why risk that when I could practice kickflips on my couch in my cozy onesie pajamas instead?
I don't think the skills required for playing a skating game necessarily translate well to actual skating. That being said I think games (and all sorts of media) can fuction as a gateways to different hobbies, profession and topics of interest. I don't think the military-entertainment complex would give finacial support for all those military movies and games if it was not at all succesful advertisement. Same can be said for sport games.
Coming into games as someone who doesn't play games is hard, because it is like learning a language while you are being tested on it at the same time. As you learn controls you will find that many games have similar control schemes, and it gradually becomes easier to learn a new game because you have a baseline from your experiences with other games.
Can't wait for the "Pro-Gamer Watches #1".
Agree.
But she need first to find what genre shes good at.
The number of videogame genres, plus the wide variety of mechanics, makes almost impossible to master all videogames.
I am almost pro in gathering/farming and PvE, but i really, really suk at PvP.
@@sanhcman666 Yea that's the fun thing about videogaming in general, both halo and crusader kings are considered hardcore games for entirely different reasons .
@@thecommodore6468 Crusader kings, yes, in its genre, but halo?
I dont know.
13:31 considering the average gamer is early 30s married and with kids, It's definitely a fantasy thing. Learning to skate irl takes years and hundreds of hours of practice and physical exertion, while in the game you go from ameture to internationally famous within 30 hours or so (30 hours irl, while years and years would've passed in the game).
You can also skateboard and have fun with it as a hobby and not be amazing… and also find the game cathartic.
I suspect face planting into concrete hurts a little bit less when skating in a game than irl 😂
I can honestly say I didn't really think about that
Also less likely to be limited to the environment i.e. lack of access to skate parks or weather. There is also the interaction of other people at such places which could be harder on introverts. Risk of physical injury is far lower especially if such could impact your livelihood or family.
Also cost. Like, I love shooting but the cost of ammunition is high. Granted the physical feedback of feeling the air pressure change, and the kick back of the weapon in hand, and sound is far different from playing on a video game there is still the satisfaction of hitting a target on point or hearing the familiar and comforting sounds.
I think it's hilarious that you turned you face up at the gore in Doom Eternal! And once you began playing you switched over to revelry upon killing a tough enemy and gaining all those resources LOl!
I've been playing Doom since filming that video, and that was a little funny to me too, although sometimes the glory kills are pretty gross
Ahh, "Pro Gamer Watches."
My favourite channel on the CZcamss
LOL
actually picked up a skateboard because of skating games....didnt stick with it too long with it because falling hurts 😂
Hey Hannah. Since you asked for recommendations and you're an author... How about a role playing game that focuses heavy on clever writing, interesting characters (fully voiced) and cool world building? And almost everyone can play it since it doesn't have a combat system! I'm a huge fan of the title "Disco Elysium". If I could only pick one game, to convince someone that video games are art, this title would be it.
This is the exact reason I want her to play something like BioShock or twilight princess at some point. I'd love to see her play a narrative driven game because she'd still have to work at playing a game but I think her reaction to the stories would also be just as entertaining as the gaming side of things
I've got a recommendation. Considering the fun you seem to be gravitating to action games with flow and challenge it might not be the most exciting game. But there's a charming game that is a master class in interactive story telling using player choice. Or perhaps it's better to say by controlling player choice. Either way, it's called "The Stanley Parable". You wake up at the office as Stanley, and have to unravel the mystery of where all your colleges have gone. Also, you have an unreliable narrator in your head. It has good repeatability, and it's good for a chuckle. If your twitch audience is down for it they might help you from getting lost along the way.
First! Love the series & the journey you’re on Hannah.
Like anything else it will come in time but some of us have different skill sets…
I tend to be vastly better at sports, racing, platformer, 3rd person action games over music, puzzle, shooter games but I’m not super great at math or logic or multitasking/reacting to things on screen. I think best way to go is to play what you like or play what you think is cool and willing to take a little punishment in even if you’re not good at it first.
As someone who has been playing video games for 25 years, I can definitely understand how toggling the settings can make you feel like you're not accomplishing as much because you're making things easier in some way or another. I personally am a stubborn person and can beat myself against challenges for hours on end. But I also LOVE the challenges. I suppose what I would say to you is that because all of this is so new to you and games these days are way more complicated than they were when I was growing up and learning way back in 1995, perhaps you shouldn't feel so bad toggling those settings. You have to start somewhere, right? Try to temper your expectations as someone new to gaming and I promise you'll get better as time goes on. It takes practice just like anything does! Whether it's feeling better using the controller itself, or understanding concepts games generally give you, you will improve and you will get better. And I'm totally here for your journey.
Looking at settings for a game is the best thing to do when starting a game. Not only can you tune things to your preference, but you can get a taste of what the game allows you to do or mechanics that you will use. Plus that is where the controls menu is, which is nice to look at.
Playing through the Arkham games with limited hug and zero hints on hard is a really fun experience that both gives you a challenge while also making you feel like The Batman even if you fail or die.
I'm a *huge* fan of Game Maker's Toolkit, and I especially love his yearly videos where he assesses the accessibility of the most popular games. As a person who's done some amount of game dev and is deeply concerned with accessibility in general, I both appreciate learning things he brings up (as I often haven't played many of the games in question) and knowing that it brings attention to something so important.
I myself love the process of learning. It's why I'm into fighting games, a genre known for high skill floor and even higher skill ceiling. In recent years, various fighting games have tried using simpler control inputs to pull in newcomers and even providing in-depth tutorials that explain how the game works, but most people still drop off the genre nonetheless for the simple fact that most people just don't like having to sit down and learn to "play" a game.
As the video says, easing a player into learning a game through story or mission context is far more effective. The thing is, learning IS the game for fighting games. Just like how in Chess you have to know what each piece does before you could even play one match with another player. And after your first match, whether you want to grow further as a player depends entirely on you. There's no progression bar, no concrete objective to strive to, no real reward for mastering the game, no ending to the story, per se. Everything hinges on whether you enjoy how the game is played alone. Chess players don't play Chess to win. They play Chess because they enjoy playing Chess.
It makes the fighting game genre really, really niche, but it also means I'm able to meet and befriend like-minded people who love learning and sharing knowledge. To say I didn't struggle initially with the genre would be a lie, but I also have found it very fulfilling.
skate was actually a big gateway for people who got into skating a few years ago
That's so cool!
I'd say the complexity, the time pacing of introduction, and all the other things mentioned in this video can also apply to Writing.
How many new characters can you introduce in the first chapter before the reader starts to lose track? All new names, trying to remember who is who and what personality traits belong to which character. Who was that mischievous one? Who was the "always honest" one? How many new places and groups and factions can you introduce and how fast? How many new artifacts can you throw at the reader before it just becomes a jumbled concept of Fantasy-sounding names..?
Similar to "false advertising" like he mentioned towards the end, where you are sold as being the "God of War" and you die to a few cockroaches attacking you, or in Doom Eternal where you massacre your way through Hell and now the lowest of minions are a challenge. If you sell the "Big Bad" in a book then the pay off must be that the Hero has to put in proportional effort to beat the enemy, and if the "Savior of the Realm" is sold to the reader as this amazing person with omnipowers then there is no challenge to beat the Big Bad.
Return of the Obra Din is always there for you, ready to embrace you with open arms
Omg I wish. I liked the video but I felt it only applied to a certain number of games and certain motor skills with the controller. What if someone want's to experience the fantasy of being a detective or figuring things out or problem solving. There's games for that too, Obra Din being a great example.
You should play Yakuza 0. Its a Yakuza crime drama set in 1980s bubble economy Japan
Oh?
13:21 Same reason people play sports games or watch sports of games instead of playing them, but as someone who doesn't do any of that I don't have an answer to that question.
I don't think watching sports and playing a sports video game is the same. Watching sports is more passive. And the reason I said that is because as a basketball player, NBA 2k has very little appeal to me. That's why I thought that, just for myself. And it's interesting to hear people's responses
One thing I haven't seen mentioned about skateboarding vs. video games is price. Good skateboard decks can retail anywhere from $70 to an easy $200, with professional boards going up in price from there. That's just the deck and doesn't include stuff like wheels, bearings, safety gear, shoes, and so on. A video game costs ~$60 brand new on day of release. Video games are way to "try out" hobbies without having to invest in them. Racecars costs thousands of dollars, on top of stuff like driving simulators. Hunting can set you back hundreds. Sure, you could actually shoot some guns at people in things like airsoft, paintball, or even historical reenactments. But again, that's hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars.
A term not brought up in the video is "time tax," or the amount of time it takes to learn all of a game's mechanics, rules, and pieces. Tic-tact-toe has a really low time tax. There's barely any rules and optimal strategies become quickly known by the players. It's not uncommon for children learning the game to "solve" (i.e. know the best possible strategy that always wins or at least ends in a draw) the game.
Compare that to something like StarCraft 2. There's dozens of "pieces" with their own unique mechanics, with dozens of stats, and whose performance depends on the level being played. Then you have the time tax of actually understanding the controls, building up muscle memory, and so on. Then you have to memorize all the different levels, match ups, differences between 1-on-1 and 4v4, etc. etc. so on and so forth.
It's possible for a game to have a high time tax but low skill ceilings and skill floors. Chess is an example. The rules are simple. Most board states are "deterministic" (the winner is guaranteed assuming players make the best moves). However, there's lots of memorization and studying that goes into learning what all the best moves are. The best Chess players are the ones who can navigate through a board state where the outcome is unknown, which takes years of practice to create such games.
One game that does this well is Shadow of the Colossus, has a low base level but a high ceiling if you wanna. Give it a look Hannah, one of the few games that I consider a Master Piece from the medium
I remember when the old titles had non-gamer written on them, now it's new-gamer. How times have changed
I think something important that wasn't touched on in this video is how a lot of entertainment media (and art in general) is not interchangeable.
For example, I think the Forza game mentioned is a great example for the type of game which _can_ easily be substituted. If a particular racing game has too high a skill floor, there are lots of other (practically identical) racing games you can enjoy. Often, the skills from one game even translate to skill in another game, so your skill might surpass that skill floor even if you never practice on that game.
Meanwhile, things like Batman and Spider-Man are not interchangeable. There's usually only one Batman or Spider-Man game at a time. A low-skill fan of that IP doesn't really have alternatives if they want to play an easier game. Therefore, it makes sense for the skill ceiling to be low to get lots of people in the door.
Then, there are the original IPs for whom difficulty is essential. The memetic game of this type is Dark Souls, whose community has rallied around breaking through difficulty with some combination of skill, persistence, and sheer force of will. To many in this community, the thought of making the game _inherently_ easier is heresy, because to them persevering through the struggle _is_ the game. Whether the perseverance manifests as mechanical skill or as just redoing one area over and over so the character levels up, to make it "easy" can seem wrong. That's not to say that accessibility options wouldn't be appreciated, but as hinted at in this video "accessibility" and "difficulty" aren't the same thing.
I don't remember if you've looked at them before but there's a youtube series by Razbuten called Gaming for a Non-Gamer I think you'd enjoy watching. It tackles a lot of the same themes of this video but more from the perspective of the players, rather than the designers. I highly recommend it to basically anyone who shows any interest in video games haha.
It's also just a really cool/cute series, so definitely worth watching if you haven't yet.
There's also Barry Kramer's video on Immersion which is a really good watch too. He has others that are about specific games and they're all both well thought-out and very funny.
Hey hanah, about the skate question, let us think this way.
The whole video was about being able to live a fantasy, about people who can"t, for skill or for some physycal problem, play the games.
Now think about your question.
You see I enjoy playing FPS (shooter games like call of duty), yet I HATE guns, I could never actually shoot them.
The same with Skate, I think it is cool, I enjoy watching sometimes, and the game is FUN. Yet I do not WANT to fall in the ground over and over again.
You see this mentality of "you could have been doing something else" is dangerous.
I'm a published Writer (in Brazil, so sorry for my english) and when I was writing my first novel I had a problem where I just HAD to be writing. I did not allow time for anything other than work, writing and then some nigths reading before bed.
When I was finishing the novel I fell into a burnout state, literally feeling like complete shit when I went to write. So I took a 3 months break to watch and play everything that I wanted and then I came back and finished.
I use this " 6 months marathon then 3 months break" in everything in my Life and that has helped a lot in my production schedule and overall work-relax system.
I KNOW that after 6 months I will be able to relax for 3.
Ooh, Hades! That’s actually a pretty good recommend, because while like he said you do unlock more benefits to make things a bit easier, you’re also expected to lose over and over and over again, each time hopefully making it a little further than before. Not only that but you get to know the characters more as you interact with them (the first boss goes from “you are powerless to get past me!” to “sigh… guess we’re doing this again” to “you know my sister’s being kind of a bitch, can you talk to her?”)
On top of all that, you eventually unlock options that make the game HARDER for more rewards, so you have a reason to keep pushing yourself to get better and better. It’s very addicting.
this is very true, I remember being so happy to find out the the new spider-man games were coming to PC but when I finished it I basically was like...
Cool game, interesting story and characters.
Doom Eternal on the other hand when I finished that game for the first time I immediately started up a new game at the Nightmare difficulty (Highest except for ultra-nightmare which is 1 death only).
This was because the game was enjoyable to master and the harder the game was the more I had to improve to be able to beat it which only made it more satisfying.
That clip about struggling reminds me of myself. I always take the easy route. Why make things hard? As a result, I play video games a lot because I’m really good at that and they’re easy for me. Sure I fail but I fail a lot less than if I tried learning the piano or tried writing a book or really anything else that is harder than what I’m doing now. Whenever I try doing any of these things, I just give up not far into trying it and go back doing what I know I will succeed at and what will give me satisfaction.
GMTK has a wonderful video on difficulty settings and accessibility modes specifically. Strongly recommend watching that if what you heard here seems compelling.
13:20 As someone who skates and plays the Stake games, I play just for the pretty much impossible stuff you can do. There are many things in the game you just can't do in real life. Also you'd need 50x-100x more time to be a good skater in real life compared to being good in the game
13:20
1st. some people might be physically unable to skates.
2nd. Real outdoor activities comes with real injuries resulting the 1st.
The reason I played Skate was because actually skateboarding requires a completely different skill set and dedication for me to become good at it, I also am not a fan of hurting myself. Falling of my skateboard, getting cuts and bruises from hitting the ground or worst case I end up with a broken bone, I don't have those issues when I'm just sitting on my couch playing an Xbox 360 game.
As someone who skated and who also played this games. I can assure you that the amount of time it actually takes to get good at skating is very long lol. The same time it would take you to master and finish the game is probably less time spent than learning to ollie lol. Speaking from experience and from a bunch of friends who also skated
Regarding SKATE, there's still plenty of power fantasy that is 'given' to you to feel cool but IRL is almost 100% 'earn it'
Not to mention IRL you are restricted to the places you can reasonably travel to, restricted by risk of injury, and also tutorials are 100% not given but sought out
I feel like much of the game industry assumes their players are familiar with controllers and the language of video game (like how people always assume A button is jump if they've played games before). I think they expect most players to have played on consoles as kids, but there are also people who didn't get to play games as kids and are trying them out as adults. I hope game studios find ways to make their games more intuitive to new players.
I know why I don’t do learning the skateboard when I can get that in a game. I have a fragile skull, personally so I’d learn it digital personally but even one who’d just say “I don’t wanna scratch my knees” is enough to wanna just learn how to do it in the medium your want. There may also be peoples who can’t do so because of some physical disability.
13:20 To be honest, the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games and the X-Games on ESPN made me wanna get into skateboarding. As a kid, I was all about the tricks rather than the adventure. I lived where sidewalks weren't easy to ride on, so I practiced ollies and kickflips in the back yard... for months... only while standing still because doing it moving never worked... before giving up. With the Skate franchise, there's the fantasy of not actually doing the sport, but still having something of a "mechanical construction" of making the tricks happen.
Also, if you wanna know who invented a lot of the most impressive and popular tricks in skate boarding, look up Rodney Mullen. He does things I think most still cannot do, and he's 57 right now. He has a form of autism, but proved that ain't mean a JOTUNN DAMN THING when it came to what he did.
Reasons why sports video games are better than irl sports:
Less risk of injury
Less energy cost (and sweatiness)
Can be played indoors where no one can see you
And, of course, you don't need friends to play multiplayer
question about skateboarding...
simple answer is: no
When Tekken 3 came out I was in awe of Hwoarang, and his fighting style to the point I started training taekwondo... after 3 years of training I just got to the point where I could do most things he does in game...
Love ur channel Hannah!
Gaming is a skill (actually a set of skills). And like any skill it improves through practice, and requires you to push yourself beyond your current level to get better.
Imagine if basketball had a "beginner" mode, where the court was 2/3rd as long, the hoop was half as high and twice as wide. Would that be any fun? Would anyone get any better by playing that mode?
Now imagine that pro players get paid the same whether they play regular or "beginner". Which one would you pick?
The point is that there has to be a differential both in mechanics and reward to incentivize the higher skill play. If the only requirement to experience everything a game has to offer is the $60 price tag, that defeats the entire purpose of an interactive experience. That's not a game, it's a movie.
I would say the reason why the gamers would rather do skating via video game vs real life, less broken bones and hospital visits. :)
If you are looking for a next game, I don't know if you have picked up the Witcher 3 yet, but that is solid and my personal favorite game is a Metroidvania, Hollow Knight.
Remeber, the games today are generally packaged for the average gamer, average meaning they've learned how to play for the past decade, changing settings should not be seens as an easy out, but as trainning wheels that as soon as you get better, will be removed and the best part is that once you've mastered the basics, it will carry over to other games
That audio was David Goggins. He grew up poor and lonely most his life from a rough background. He got tired of being fat and decided he was going to start doing something about it. Long story short he became a navy SEAL.
Counterpoint to the Struggle makes you stronger clip:
That only applies to real life. Video games are an escape, we NEED easy games so that we can finally WIN for once, more so for those of us who live hard lives daily.
We're not supposed to turn on a video game and keep getting reminded that we suck, or have to struggle in our entertainment, because we already do enough of that in real life.
What's a "power fantasy"? Its so we can have power, when we are in fact powerless in real life. Isn't that the purpose of fiction? To offer an escape from the realism of real life?
If I had to earn power in my video games, then why would I play it when I had to do the same in real life anyways?
I would even go as far to say that it's patronizing when gamers without real life struggles complain that games are too easy.
If they want struggle and challenge, they're welcome to come live my life.
Yeah Im the opposite: with every new game, I play my first time on lowest difficulty for about an hour or two, and then switch to the highest and start all over. I do it because I wanna be challenged in game, but I do not like getting frustrated cause I do not know the controls and mechanics.
On Skate: I think real life skating requires far more investment than the video game version, no matter how realistic the game version tries to be.
As for why I personally would invest in the game rather than the activity: I am clumsy AF. I bump into doorways on occasion. Not closed doors. OPEN doorways. Not narrow ones, either. I'm so clumsy I am capable of losing my balance whilst standing still. If I tried to Skate, I would die. This was true even when I was a kid.
Skating mastering skating in video games is a painless process. Frustrating at times, but theres no fear of possible physical injury.
13:20 The thing is that the average person can have multiple hobbies. You can’t tell an Olympian that they should’ve spent their time somewhere else. Gaming allows the flexibility of accomplishing many hobbies in a short span, until you’re ready to commit to one. (small analogy, just the one I could think of at the moment).
Great question that made me think about it though. Based on what you’ve expressed so far, you are very “Open”, in terms of your last video about personalities in gaming.
4:28 That’s basically my childhood, and I definitely payed for it later.
In the case of the skate game... Def faster on console, mostly cause you do not have to heal in real time, scrapped knees, twisted ankles, a broken foot or wrist are non issues. Also learning a few button presses doesnt even come close to the complexities of things like balance, foot positioning, trial and error, random rocks on the sidewalk etc. Theres also very minimal fear of failure in video games, you can try a life and death trick 40 or 50 times to get it, nvm that youd have filled an entire hospital wing and part of a graveyard learning the same way irl.
I get the idea of "earn the fantasy" but my problem with it is that a lot of the time people are in the game and reaching for that power fantasy because they want a break from having to earn life. They've had a shitty day at work, or a fight with their partner, or bad news about a family member or whatever and they just want that escapism. So yeah, hitting the balance is important, but so is making sure a player isn't necessarily locked into a given difficulty once they've selected it. Nothing sucks more than having a game you like but having to completely start over to turn your difficulty down if you're just not feeling the challenge that day.
As to Skate, I never played it but I played Tony Hawk all through my teens, mostly for 2 reasons: 1) my cousin skated, and he faceplated off a halfpipe and spent 2 months in the hospital with brain damage, so my parents forbid me from even thinking about actually skateboarding. 2) grew up in Northern Ontario, so even if I'd been allowed to skate I only could have done it for maybe 4 months out of the year, which hardly seems worth it.
learning to skate requires pushing through pain when falling, and having a lot of stamina
I think you would like Borderlands, especially the second one, after you finish Doom. And you don't really need to play any of the games to understand the other ones, but playing them in order would probably be best.
Everyone, every gamer is resistant to changing the difficulty options, it is a known problem in game design. People rather give up and stop playing a hard game, than turning down the difficulty in the settings.
I circunvent this problem by always googling how difficult a game is before playing it, so I start the game in a perfect difficulty setting for me. That way is harder to want to change the options midway through.
13:21
I’m sure you’re being sarcastic when you mention, if people have considered actually practicing skateboarding.
Because you could criticize everyone who watches court based TV dramas, that they should have spent their time wisely and actually got a law degree with the time they spent watching the show.
Developing gaming skills is just like developing how to tell jokes or how to play chess. They can be valuable as a breadwinner skill, or just to enrich your life.
I don't think that is an accurate comparison because watching TV is passive. Like I don't think watching about basketball game and playing NBA 2K are the same because when you play NBA 2k you actually affect the outcome of the game. I was not being sarcastic because as a basketball player I have no desire to play basketball video games. It is however, very interesting how defensive people got at that question.
You’re right, it wasn’t the best example and I’m sorry if I sounded confrontational.
I think the reason why I and others got defensive about this question, was because it really sounded similar to how others in our lives have criticized us for “wasting time instead of developing a real skill”.
It is such a common criticism, and I hope you understand that it has become second nature for game fans to act defensive.
Games as a simulation, narrative tool or as a stress reliever are absolutely amazing, and we might be a little tired of receiving the short end of the stick. Furthermore, we might have felt a sense of betrayal, when a person who seems to be trying to enjoy gaming, used the same phrasing we fear to hear.
I hope this clears some bad water, and I think your bluntness / honesty can be very fresh for us. I hope you continue to have a good experience with games.
@@a-toma-sphere6616 I think it's been pretty clear from the beginning that I don't really understand video games and that's part of what I'm doing on this channel. And I don't understand the appeal of sports games. Maybe I will one day, but I don't right now.
As someone who skates for 14+ years I can say I am decent at it but far from being great as you can be in skate games. To put it in perspective I never broke anything or had any serious injury and I am glad it's like that, but there are 14 years younger kids now who are skating better than me and acquired their skill in much less time. Even for people like them acquiring skill in skateboarding takes time in years not hours or months and almost every skater has to accept the fact that there will be tricks they won't be able to do ever in their life. Games, same as fingerboarding are very good to try new tricks and lines of tricks or get feeling what it might feel to do those dream tricks that are just very hard for average or even above average skateboarders. In terms of game design skill cealing in skateboarding is also getting higher every year. More stairs are jumped, longer rails slid or grinded, more technical tricks are done. But as a hobby it is very fulfilling because you are always battling with yourself, with your fear and there are plenty of tricks you can learn and doesn't have to worry you learn them all because there is always something you can learn or do on different obstacle :)
I wouldn't call it "getting better the 'hard' way". Rather, the "intended" way. I agree, games should be played without changing the difficulty at the beginning because it can be a good indicator of how the gamer is supposed to feel throughout the game. Maybe at the beginning you're supposed to suck, so you feel that much more rewarded by the end. But also change things like the brightness, audio, or button placement if it feels like you're fighting the environment.
Another great video topic.
A lot of skate fans are already skaters or skate enthusiasts… so they do spend a lot of time doing both lol
I think the answer to the Skate question is the risk and harm of failure in real life vs a game. Also lazyness because when I was younger I played guitar hero and rock band a ton but do not know how to play an actual guitar and could have learned. Personally for me my excuse was I can't read music sheets (played piano for years just can't) so that was my justification to the time and energy into a game guitar.
A few people have said the risk part... And like, yes 😅 idk why I didn't think of that.
@@HannaHsOverInvested True but that is why I also gave the guitar hero example because it poses the same question but with no risk.
I would HIGHLY advise checking out SovietWomble's essay series on game development starting with DayZ early access essays, it gives a great look into what means "beta", "early acces" and "stable release".
Kind of crazy this video didn't mention Dark Souls at all.
I wonder what you (Hannah) would think of that series even just watching explanation videos around the kind of game it is and the fandom and why it got popular.
Marvel Spider-Man Miles Morales is fun and available free to play with your PlayStation plus or Xbox membership. It’s worth it.
You are a good padawan, hannah.
Im also improving in albion online with my first 2 kills today.
And thats huge for me mainly because i epically suk at pvp ( player vs player )
On the playstation store (and every system's store for that matter) there's a section for demos if you want to try some different games. (a demo is a segment of a game you can play for free to see if the game is interesting to you or not) I was thinking a slow paced jrpg (japanese roleplaying game) might do the trick for you, moreso if the combat is turn based like with dragon quest xi or persona 5, there is a demo of the former that last for about 10 hours and i recommend it for you but for playing something off stream.
That was a great video, just one thing though, not all games are for everyone, for example "souls like" titles such as "Dark Souls" have a very high skill floor and its fans love it for it (I don't play the genre), many people who never played it would like difficulty options in Dark Souls, but as this video explained, that doesn't actually solve the problem, it would just water down the reason why Dark Souls is so liked :)
My friends and I have this sort of conversation all the time. And the conclusion we ultimately come to is that while the truth is usually in the middle, the industry has taken this turn away from cultivating an audience that enjoys playing games, ie gamers, and attempting to market all products as "for everyone". To put it in terms of the video, how low can you make a skill floor before its simply patronizing. Can you place the floor so low that there is no motivation to learn anything about the game at all. How much interest should your customer have to make their experience valuable or are you simply trying to collect money from every passerby.
The industry likes to couch the issue in terms like "accessibility" but the direction I see happening is a hominization of games to the lowest common denominator. Games being neutered so they can be mass marketed to people who arent actually interested in gaming as a medium or hobby, but simply want to ride the wave of whats popular as publishers make bank. What used to be a personal exploration into finding what entertained you from a list of "artists" has turned into fast food while still trying to claim a degree of gravitas. Like McDonalds is the best selling restaurant in the world, but no one is going to claim its a great restaurant, and I think thats the sort of issue gaming is facing now. Every dev and publisher wants a title that sells a billion copies, but the only way to get a base large enough for that to even be possible is to compromise the experience down to something every one relates to. But if you make a product "for everyone" you end up with a product "for no one."
This idea of "who gets to be great at games" is a conflation of whats popular versus whats good. And the industry itself has produced an audience that doesnt actually care about such discussion as long as they get to sit with the cool kids at lunch and devs who are more concerned with industry awards and bonuses rather then actually entertaining experiences. This results in the gamers that do actually care making posts like this one, and advocating for smaller closer communities while the industry calls it entitlement and points to the "normies" that will abandon the product as so as the hype wears off as a success.
Some people like the power fantasy, and some like the challenge. It all comes down to fun. If you're not having fun, what's the point?
In the time it took me to master Skate 4 I could've gone outside and learned how to be a decent skater. Why didn't I do it? I guess it's because I'm lazy and I like having my front teeth lol
Game Maker's Toolkit is a goldmine of super cool tidbits and food for thought about videogames. He made a ton of super interesting videos
The front teeth thing is really real
I can't speak to skateboarding, but if someone is already enthusiastic about a sport I expect they might also have interest in games about it. Assuming they also like video games. Maybe even live out simulated thrills of moves professionals do with grace. It could even be mildly inspirational.
There are also niche markets for various types of simulators. While I don't quite understand it myself but there are games out there that let you operate trains, planes, or long distance trucks with a fair bit of realism for computer simulations. I expect that particular audience may not be able to afford the sort of vehicles they pretend to operate in their spare time, but might relish the opportunity to try it in real life. I guess it just boils down to what people enjoy, as broad of an answer as that might be.
You know, if you are really craving a hard to master game with simple controls, you could look into the online classic QWOP; there are only 4 buttons to learn..
Similar to this is difficulty is weird by Razbuten
I spent hundreds if not thousands of hours playing Skate 2 and 3 in my teens. Never even touched a skateboard irl tho
I personally think the "greats" are the games that are easy for all to play but only some will master. Like you said in video, happy medium. If you're gonna be too easy though you better be damn fun or tell an awesome story in my opinion
As someone whose goal is to play as many games as possible, I'm a big proponent of easiest mode with accessibility settings
hey @hannah. you ever thought of having your books get turned into games. Ive read the first one and I feel like it would be a great setting to explore
I AGREE!!! I have thought about it some. I think some of the story would have to be adjusted but I feel like it could be a solid game! Thank you so much for reading.
I love the title is now new gamer
Its with games as it is with all entertainment media, some games just arent meant for everyone.
9:55 As a mythology/magic book author, I assume you'd be interested in what Bayonetta is (unfortunately, the 2nd and 3rd games are for Nintendo, because nobody wanted to buy the rghts to a dope ass game about 10 years ago). In the game, you play as an Umbra Witch, who has to ability to use a vareity of weapons, including guns on her hand and feet. At the same time, she uses magic that's channeled through her hair... that she wears as clothes. This means that, while you don't get to "see the goodies," when she does certain spells that summons monsters and Lady Butterfly's limbs, she uses some of her hair (clothes) to do attacks. More powerful moves = more nudity (that's not really shown, but implied; they're lucky that it's on Nintendo, because if the PC community got a hand on it and used mods... BRUH!).
TL;DR - She wears hair, which she uses to cast spell. More powerful spells, more "nudity" (that doesn't show anything, so still SFW technically).
I would argue that Bayonetta does NOT have a low skill ceiling.
Sure it has a game mode that basically plays the game for you, an "story mode" if you will but going up even a single difficulty tier above that one can be grueling. It also has items that can be spammed for those that don't care about scores but having to constantly go back to the menu or quick select because enemies juggle you around like a pinball is hardly empowering.
I struggled with Bayonettas easy mode even after beating several dmc games on hard mode and even partially "Dante must die" difficulties but the gameplay was so enjoyable that I stuck around and after months of enduring an intense learning curve I eventually made it to the end of Bayonetta on hard mode but I have made peace with the fact that I simply am not good enough to beat it on more challenging difficulties...
I would say Skyrim would be a good game to try. Easy enough at the start and a lot of story to tell and when you get better a ton of mods.
As a seasoned gamer i would've suggested a easier game so you could actually get feel for the controls but i love to see the effort even tho you're on a challenging first game (i died a good few times and im above average skill I'd say) so good work so far😊
Side not id recommend playing dying light its a zombie game but i think it'd be a good game to try and learn on bc its progressive in difficulty throughout the game so it doesn't get too overwhelming
this video made me realise that you should play a dark souls game at some point, think you will love it
The tell tale heart of skill floor.
Playing Skate, they get good at the game.
Actually skateboarding, they'll twist their ankle and break their shins before even doing their first proper kickflip.
I still think the best power fantasy ever was Prototype (both games)
Lets be honest, and this is (for some reason) going to become a controversial opinion (considering the games that are popular now):
"Difficulty selection is ALWAYS a fair choice."
How it's done can vary from game to game, whether it's the difficulty being able to be changed during the game or permanent until you restart/finish the game. Some people simply wanna have fun. Not everything has to be about "git gud," but if I enjoy the game that I'm playing to care if I "git gud." I never played a game that's fun because it's hard, but I have played games that are fun even if they are hard. If I think I can take on the challenge, I'll go up to hard mode.
Something that'll never make sense to me is posts and videos of players saying "This game is hard!" Yeah, you told us you selected the hardest difficulty. OF COURSE IT IS!!! I like Elden Ring, though it was frustrating enough that I beat it and kept it moving. No NG+ (restarting the game with all your upgrades from the beginning, though the difficulty is higher), no plans to play the DLC this June (maybe...). It's one of the very, very few soulslike games I did/almost beat.
Note: People will say a game is "a soulslike" because it's hard, when it's really a subgenre of action-RPG inspired by Dark Souls that revolves around tactical combat and "the most annoying death mechanic in gaming" (when you die, you lose your experience points/currency, have to go back to where you died to retrieve them, or if you die before you pick them up, they are gone permanently and you must regrind).
Books sound cool!
Thank you!
Lots of games have difficulty levels, accessibility options, and all those things that let people play it at any skill level. And then there's Dark Souls style games. Where every enemy, no matter how basic they are, can kill you if you give them half a chance.
I prefer to try the game I'm going through on easy mode and gradually increase the difficulty as I get used to the game. Dark Souls games are just not for me. I get frustrated and move on to something else because games are my relaxation time. I don't really enjoy playing really hard games when I can just relax and play a story based game instead.
Cool new outro music.
In skate you can do absurd tricks that would break your spine without any consequences. And it's still way easier and quicker to learn than real skating.
Yes. I actually am not sure why that wasn't the thought that occurred to me in the moment. I think it's because I was making a direct comparison in my head to basketball.
Playing Skate has no consequences if you fail. Skateboarding results in actual injuries so the mental aspect makes skating in real life vastly more difficult. Also it is physically harder to manipulate a skateboard with your feet than to manipulate a controller with your fingers.
Up to this day, im still remainded by
League of Legends design philosophy of its champion
"Easy to play, Hard to master"
i don't say this a someone who is angry or anything but i think the thought behind the game is more important than the game itself, if we use spider-man por example, we are already much more powerful than the goons, and that's what we are supposed to be, why would a guy who can lift buildings be struggling with jhonny who, that pick up a bat and thought he could beat a man who made even hulk sit down, on the other hand, there are the ones where we start as "nobody" and grow up to be THE main character, like jedi fallen order, where we start really weak, one or 2 blasts kill us, but then as we unlock more skills, get more health bars and get stronger in the force we go from that guy who died to stormtroopers to the guy who drag them in front of their on shot, throw them over mountains and literally toy with them, even fighting purge soldiers with ease and toe to toe with inquisitors, i think new players should be honest with them and recognize that some games aren't for them, when i was younger i just wasn't able to be good at fast passed shooters like call of duty, now i am almost a god in them, i don't need to put much effort to win a game even if my team drags me down, and with the vast range of games a played through my life i'm positive that any new one i get o probably won't take more than 15 minutes to at least be able to go through the main story or be helpful on a online match, we gotta understant that we aren't great in everything. some we gotta learn how to do it and train, and some we are just unable to do them, for example in real life i'm a great fighter, but horrible soccer player, i can beat the whole adversary team but i can't score a goal on them no matter how much i try so instead of being a striker i prefer to be the goal keeper, cuz i can catch the ball easily with my hands, when those "hardcore" gamers come to me and go like "oh but you can't do this or that" like when i played dark souls, people would come to be and say shit like "oh but you doesn't know this combo" or "that set you are using is gargabe" bro shut the fuck up, i beat the game just like you did, might not have been fancy but all the bosses i took down with a maximum of 5 tries just hiting them and dodging and just because you did a piruette you're better ?
Who's to say those who play skate aren't already good skateboarders why would it be either or? Side note you say you want the hard challenges, and hades is a game that is hard but can be overcome with skill or time so I wouldn't write it off just because it seemed like he was saying it could be overcome with time.
WOOO LETS GO RAPTORS
If you're enjoying these videos, Bricky has a few good videos on game design, game progression, and art vs. graphics. As well as general reviews for specific games. But yea, he's got some more great videos similar to this one.
I do love bricky
Because skateboarding in real life is scary and could lead to grevious bodily harm. Why risk that when I could practice kickflips on my couch in my cozy onesie pajamas instead?
I don't think the skills required for playing a skating game necessarily translate well to actual skating. That being said I think games (and all sorts of media) can fuction as a gateways to different hobbies, profession and topics of interest. I don't think the military-entertainment complex would give finacial support for all those military movies and games if it was not at all succesful advertisement. Same can be said for sport games.