[justherefortart]

Reading about Ultima IV is the difference between generations.

Ultima I and II were a hot mess. Ultima III was remarkable. Ultima IV and V were mind blowing when I was a kid. If a 19 year old "CoD Player" can't figure out to RTFM, its their loss.

RPGs aren't easy for a reason, they're supposed to require effort to master and possibly win. And like life, you don't always win.

Kids today want everything handed to them it seems. I lost interest in games decades ago because I thought we'd get better versions of Ultima IV as time went on. Instead we got "interactive" movies for the most part.

Little Johnny wants to be a rock star, but learning guitar is hard. Try this 5 button fake guitar, now you've got talent! So of course mastering the up, down, left, and right arrows would be hard to figure out. </typical old man rant>

https://imgur.com/a/8Psom

[lghh]

Oh buddy, there is so much laughably wrong with how to create usable products in this.

> If a 19 year old "CoD Player" can't figure out to RTFM, its their loss.

Mechanics in games, much like things in user interfaces should be discoverable without reading a manual. The actual act of creating a potion or weapon out of materials or managing your inventory or doing simple combat should not have to be looked up. The process for creating or doing something well can be experimental or based on skill, but the physical act of doing the thing should be easy to understand without reading. This extends beyond games to user interfaces, tools, or many other things. It's clear what a knife does when you look at it, getting good at preparing food takes practice.

> Kids today want everything handed to them it seems. I lost interest in games decades ago because I thought we'd get better versions of Ultima IV as time went on. Instead we got "interactive" movies for the most part.

The CRPG scene is going through a renaissance. Games like DotA and many fighting games make their objectives clear but take time and strategy and experimentation to master.

> Little Johnny wants to be a rock star, but learning guitar is hard. Try this 5 button fake guitar, now you've got talent! So of course mastering the up, down, left, and right arrows would be hard to figure out.

Playing guitar is a life long endeavor. Comparing it to learning the rules of a single game that you may play for 50 - 100 hours is insane. Nobody thinks someone playing guitar hero has talent, but they do know they are having fun.

"Back-in-my-day-ism" is a cancer in both the consequential and the inconsequential, please really think about what you're saying when you spout it.

[kbutler]

> Mechanics in games, much like things in user interfaces should be discoverable without reading a manual.

I tend to believe this, too - and am amazed at how Minecraft knowledge spreads. I don't believe there is any documentation, it all seems to be peer-to-peer over the web.

I'd love to figure out how to generate the interest that drives the amount of time and effort kids spend reading and watching about playing the game, outside of actually playing the game.

[baud147258]

> Mechanics in games [...] should be discoverable without reading a manual

Well, there are a few times I'd like to have explanation on how the game work, especially on things that are not easily discoverable/understandable without a lot of experiments, like you know, mechanics that are common in CRPGs like sustained effects, criticals, effect of stats... That's the kind of things I'd want to have a manual for.

[electricslpnsld]

Where in the pdf does the author trash Ultima IV? In the first paragraph "Regardless, the achievements of Ultima IV are astonishing" and in the conclusion "Ultima IV is still one-of-a-kind, even after all these years."

[thisisandyok]

The author doesn't trash Ultima IV, there's a section (pg 24-25) where a group of students attempt to play the game and get stuck. None of them thought to read the materials that came with the game

[justherefortart]

Where did I say the author was trashing Ultima IV?

[brianpgordon]

There's a point, though, where the user interface gets in the way of enjoying the game. It's fine if the core mechanics are complex but they should be exposed to the player in an intuitive, accessible way.

[justherefortart]

I figured out most these old games between the ages of 8-12. If you can't figure out how to use arrow keys or read the quick start guide, I'm not sure you're in for a future of even flipping patties, much less doing anything other than mashing buttons on your console controller. I know Ultima using the entire keyboard is seemingly too much for a modern "gamer".

[allthesethings]

I mean, there are still plenty of folks playing games with obscure puzzle solutions and little design for accessibility. It's just that they've moved to different venues for them, like ARGs.