It’s not your fault you suck at video games

If you are a console gamer, then there is a chance you remember a time when holding a controller felt like an alien experience. You likely felt a sense of doubt that maybe games are not for you because you just were not good at them. But through time you prevailed and now you can pick up any new game with ease. If you are new to console gaming, then the hurdles mentioned above likely hit too close to home. I am sure most will agree that getting used to playing video games takes time.

There are certain mechanics exclusive to video games that we do not encounter in any other entertainment medium. Though, telling new gamers to ‘get used to it’ defies almost everything UX stands for. It should not be our goal to create experiences that can only be truly enjoyed after x number of hours. “Games should be immediately playable without frustration” is what we should strive for. This does not mean I am arguing for games to be easier; I am instead raising the proverbial bar for design solutions in console video games. No one has ever said “I enjoy the difficulty of Dark Souls (2011) because I don’t know how to control the camera”, for example. Frustrating experiences are rife for new console gamers, particularly in the foreign mechanics exclusive to console games as mentioned above. This article will then specifically investigate the existing design solutions surrounding the controller as an unnecessary barrier to entry.

Press X to start enjoying video games

Figure 1: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020)

The console game controller poses an interesting design problem. Fundamentally, an understanding of the controller (where all the buttons, joysticks, etc are) is required to play a video game. The problem being that this understanding requires time to develop. Meaning in this context, new gamers must frequently look down to find the correct button on their controller. It is as if you had to look at the steering wheel every time you wanted to turn your car. Finding the correct button in any given video game may in fact be an issue of rote learning, but does it have to be? The degree of such a simple yet immersion-breaking fault likely varies from game to game. For casual games such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020), button input tutorials (tutorials where the game communicates which button an action corresponds to) are usually not required as the user dictates the game’s pace, they can afford to look down at their controller to find ‘A’ because there are not any consequences. Furthermore, in such games, button inputs are usually presented with the action. For example, in Figure 1 button B prompts the cancel action. Action games in contrast rely on the user to memorise what action each button triggers as often the player will rely on multiple buttons throughout the game. Take Spiderman (2018). Button input tutorials are given at the beginning of new encounters and disappear once the user makes the prompted input (Figure 2). More pressure is placed onto the user as these tutorials are often in real-time sequences i.e., failing to find a button in an adequate time may lead to unforeseen consequences. Moreover, when a button tutorial in Spiderman (2018) disappears, the player will not be seeing it again. An obvious question to ask is: is once enough? For new players who frequently must look at their controller the answer is no. It should be noted that games have sought to address this problem by incorporating a button layout guide. However, having to frequently revisit it by pausing the game and accessing it in the settings can culminate in a frustrating experience and should not be considered as an adequate solution. The ‘controller problem’ for action games, at least, can be then summarised in a simplified argument as follows:

Premise 1: People new to console gaming do not have a formed mental map of the controller.

Premise 2: Action games rely on the player to memorise what each button does.

Conclusion: New gamers will struggle to play action games.

Figure 2 Spiderman (2018)

Spiderman (2018) is just one game, driving the trend of mediocre UX design akin to the console gaming industry since its inception. this can in part be attributed to the shift from PC gaming to console gaming. The keyboard is obviously quite different compared to the controller, yet the design solutions are largely the same. For example, a PC game tutorial may communicate to the user that the J key is used to locate quests. It is the most appropriate way of delivering information given the 104 alphanumeric keys. A controller on the other hand usually only has 14 or so. Thus, incorporating the same delivery of information is just not appropriate.

Console games in the past have indeed experimented with changing the method of communicating buttons to players. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) finds an elegant solution by presenting buttons not by their respective label individually (X, Y, A, B, etc), but by their position (Figure 3). Given this, the player does not have to direct their gaze from the screen to their controller every so often. This is because players are not required to memorise anything, they do not have to attribute a button to any label. Instead, the highlighted button on the screen is just a representation of the controller they are holding — it effectively eliminates the problem presented by premise 1. Therefore, the design solution seems to be in coalescing comprehensive button tutorials with better button communication.

Figure 3: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

A solution to the controller problem

Before we consider an appropriate solution, I would like to quickly call back to the problem of button tutorials. In most games, button tutorials are a one-and-done deal. The player presses the prompted button on the screen which corresponds with some action and then the tutorial ends. It is a static solution for a dynamic problem. What I mean by this is that a game cannot expect its players to be essentially the same — not all gamers have played the same number of games. Therefore, the following solution will keep this in mind to find a way to appeal to each player’s individual experience. I began with the idea that the solution would need to be implemented in the settings section of a video game. This was simply because it would need to meet the expectations of two demographics: new players and experienced players, and hence would need to be accessed by the player easily. This preceded an early concept where players would be able to switch from a button presentation geared towards new gamers to one geared towards experienced gamers. Later I would call the former “Directional” and the latter “Classic”. The directional button presentation style, as seen in Figure 4, incorporates a similar design as the one discussed in Zelda (2017). The main difference being that it is optional and can be switched back to the “Classic” style (Figure 5) such as the one seen in Spiderman (2018) and most games in the past (Note: the images presented below are mockups produced in Figma in the style of Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order (2019)).