4. Underestimating The Player's Abilities
I have spoken previously about your "
average gamer type" and a neat addition to that is the statistic that has been argued - that the steady average rise of IQ by 0.36 can be attributed to the way games encourage lateral thinking and intelligent thought. Modestly speaking, I'm an intelligent person, and most of the gamers I know would probably be formidable opponents in a battle of wits. So why games constantly throw hint bars, dialogue pop us and contextual boxes to force us to go the right way is beyond me. Sometimes, its little things like reminding me of the key to press, which I specifically bound and programed that way only five minutes previously. Whilst heavily overlooked by most, the early "Harry Potter" tie in games in the early 2000's were excellent examples of how it should work - constant trial and error, not spoon feeding you directions and hints. Games like Skyrim would be far more enjoyable if rather than leaving a great big arrow on your HUD, it told you the directions and let you find your own way. When I want to get from A to B in reality, I'll follow signposts and use initiative to navigate. Whilst Skyrim does have winding pathways, the presence of the secondary navigation undermines this. The gaming industry will focus on the masses of the consumer for the simple reason that they are businesses, however leading the player by the hand around he haunted mansion or city streets isn't an ideal way to present an "interactive experience." and NPCs who offer you hints and tips you already know from loading screens, or lines of text that appear over interactive items is no fun. Give me credit, let me try the action button with eery item in the environment, so when I find myself throwing potted plants around the office it feels natural and exciting, instead if the game telling me, "here: have a pot plant to throw." The other end of the spectrum, making games harder is something seemingly done with no thought whatsoever. Complex plots with twists and turns are common, and the consumers seem to understand them fairly well, but when selecting from the opening menu which difficulty to play on, it mainly comes down to infrequent pickups of ammo, harder & more enemies and less health for the player. A better system would include less map options, fewer cover systems etc, but by continuously spawning enemies, the game is practically harder, but essentially more boring.