Since I started working in an internet helpdesk, my view on the common costumer changed drasticly. What I first expected from someone who uses the net is now far far (and let me add another far) from what it is now. Now I know that when you develop games and test it on people you know and their friends give you absolutly no indication on what 80% (if not more) of the end users will encounter.


Whats all that have to do with Interpersonal skills?

After I came home, working on my latest game, I found myself writing a detailed explenation for every error possible, especially for the most common ones. I had 10 calls in the ISP helpdesk on badd username and password, all could have been solved if Micro$oft would have spent more time on writing how important it is to use uppercase/lowercase, give an example right next to it (since absolutly no one bothers to read that small text especially if it has that weird 691 number near it (the error code).

Then my dad calls me about something i would consider obvius and stupid. During my work I got used to give an explanation, that adjust itself to the person i'm talking to, so i guided my dad on how to save another copy of his file so he would have two different ones (basiclly, save as in a different name).

I now expect people not to understand things that are obvious to me. But its even harder to know what are those things, and when/how to explain them so the other person wont feel youre patronising/dont have time/think he's an idiot. It isn't as easy as it sounded to me at first, only when I encountered a large audience of people who have problems with things i consider obvious and simple such as typing your username and password I really understood how and why its so important you develop your Interpersonal skills and lower your expectations when you write your game.

You have to express yourself so that people who know wont feel you think they are stupid and harrass them with volatile explenation screens while approaching those who know nothing but want to pretend they know by avoiding those explenation screens.

Anyway, thats my new view on things.

It sounds like your job is giving you very valuable insight into typical users.
Although, maybe there are many other users who are getting on fine and so do not call you.

I couldn't do helpdesk - I would get stroppy in 10 minutes or less... :mad:

You know, its funny you bring this up today glizu.
Let me explain....

Last night a friend of mine who I dont see very often came round for a visit. This guy works on computers all day, but generally doesnt play most games. He does enjoy games like minesweeper and just about any other game that uses standard mouse clicking . In my circle of friends, this type of sub-gamer is not common at all!
However, this guy is very comfortable with the internet and uses his credit card online very often.

The perfect person for some personal experiments. ;)

Anyway, I turned on my monster TV and xbox to show him some of the latest and greatest. I figured a good place to start was Project Gotham.
My thinking was that car games would be the easiest to grasp for a novice. Especially one who drives a car. I mean, accellerate & break on the triggers and the stick to steer is as simple and intuative as it gets, right?
Man, I couldnt have been more wrong!
I may as well have handed him a banana and asked him to control the car, thats how out of control and alien the experience was for him.
Heres the relevant bit....
If i wasnt sitting next to him, helping him get to grips with it, he would have stopped playing within 30 seconds, but because I was, he got better at it, and started having fun around 10 minutes later. Another 10 minutes and he was giggling and really enjoying himself.

This got me thinking, is there really such a thing as types of gamer? Or is it a case of training? My friend proved you can take a person who dislikes something, and with the right "Interpersonal skills" that person can be turned round. It made me realise that anybody could enjoy pretty much any game if they were helped along personally.

Of course, Ive no idea how to do this with games, or how to apply it to our current titles!! I certainly cant be there for every customer, lending a helping hand. Somethig to think about tho.

It sounds like your job is giving you very valuable insight into typical users.
Although, maybe there are many other users who are getting on fine and so do not call you.

I couldn't do helpdesk - I would get stroppy in 10 minutes or less... :mad:

This was one of the reasons i choose this job. There's a difference between knowing that there are people who have difficulties and meeting/talking with them. You'll be amazed how much have difficulties people encounter. And these aren't stupid people, some are Dr./Ph.Ds/Lawyers or even clerks who use the computer each day. They just have difficulty with new stuff or rather not know.

Also, I'm acquiring two skills i wish i had: Patience (Lots of it) and How to modify my language so it will fit immidiatly to the customers needs.


Anyway, I turned on my monster TV and xbox to show him some of the latest and greatest. I figured a good place to start was Project Gotham.
My thinking was that car games would be the easiest to grasp for a novice. Especially one who drives a car. I mean, accellerate & break on the triggers and the stick to steer is as simple and intuative as it gets, right?
Man, I couldnt have been more wrong!
I may as well have handed him a banana and asked him to control the car, thats how out of control and alien the experience was for him.
Heres the relevant bit....
If i wasnt sitting next to him, helping him get to grips with it, he would have stopped playing within 30 seconds, but because I was, he got better at it, and started having fun around 10 minutes later. Another 10 minutes and he was giggling and really enjoying himself.


I had this experience with many games, including mine. If you put in a demo level, apperantly its not enough. You see many games which intentionally make the player go through the tutorial (and even try to make it part of the plot, see Hitman & Farcry). Still, thats not enough.

A year ago, Steve P. talked about tutorials and how important it is to put in the first levels some explanatory screens for every action so that the player would understand. I thought he was probably exaggerating or aiming his puzzles for either kids or adults (which i once thought to have minimal perception and will get the idea after 30secs). After hearing tons of calls from Intelligent people, some who use their computer for work/daily, that have problem with thier username&password/website&email spelling and other things most of you consider even amusing, I realised even Steve P. doesent have enough tutorials and help screens...

Sure, i gigled when playing "Gold Sprinter", seeing a window telling me i can move my character with my arrows and jump ect. Isn't that obvious? apperantly not for most people. After answering so many calls with difficulties I never even Imagined was possible, I now appreciate that screen. And if "Gold Sprinter" has is, and mine don't - that percent of costumers that only need that simple screen to get the hang of it will buy it and leave mine alone because I didn't bothered to put those minutes to work just as BongPig showed his friend how to play.

So Steve, not only I understand it now, I regret I didn't follow that advice a year ago. I'll add that to my next game and the new version of the last.

It all seems so obvious now.
If we take the example of mutant storm. I could have had some very simple levels that broke the controls down a bit more. I use to think level 1 was a good intro as no aliens actually attacked, but it needs even more breaking down.
So for example, levels where the player doesnt fire at anything. Hell, we could even disable the firing. ( which has to be a first for a shooter!? ) The level could focus purely on moving the craft. I could make it an obsticle course or something like that. Initially, simply move the craft from left to right... well done!
Now move the craft around the screen.... well done!
Now move the craft through several gates .... well done!
Now dodge some quite passive aliens.... well done. Moving tutorial over.
Then we could disable movement, and focus on firing only. Shoot this static thing. Shoot this moving thing. Shoot several moving things.
Only then would we introduce the player to moving and firing at the same time, and then onto aliens that fire back. eg my current level 1!!
It all sounds long winded and silly to me, but after watching my friend with PG2, ive realised how a nice slow learning curve is to many peoples preference. If it isnt, they can always skip the training i suppose.

I really dont know if this would make a difference, but after this conversation im a little more confident it might.
Our current title already has a nice calm smooth learning curve. I may revisit our other games once we are done.

I agree with the tutorials bit, but don't force them on the player. Way too many games I've played force you to play this 5 minute + borefest of simple controls that the experienced gamer could figure out by checking the manual and/or experimenting on their own for 30 seconds. I've put aside some games that force you through a multiple level tutorial just to get started (I made an exception for America's Army) just because I didn't want to go through it and merely downloaded it out of mild curiosity.

This has caused me to take great pains in recent months, designing and redesigning the early levels...

The idea is to break it down as much as possible so that someone who hasn't a clue gets all the info they need in a nice gradual way... and yet, to have it still be fun all the way through, for boneheads and experienced gamers alike. I didn't want to do tutorial levels, I wanted everything to come out naturally over the course of playing the game.

Not easy, and it's been a long process of refinement, but I feel like I'm finally starting to get there. Watching non-gamers try to play is invaluable - inevitably, everyone finds something different that trips them up... and so I refine some more.

I haven't disabled any advanced moves in the early stages - in fact, if you go back and play the early stages with full knowledge, you can find secrets.

And I'm really, really looking forward to making the later stages, where all this knowledge can safely be presumed.

I haven't disabled any advanced moves in the early stages - in fact, if you go back and play the early stages with full knowledge, you can find secrets.

hehe... thats a nice idea...