I am completely for games being more accessible. I think the barrier to entry should be lowered so that more people are able to play and appreciate games. The trouble comes in striking a balance; making it so that games are easy enough for newcomer s and beginners, but still challenging and engaging enough for long-time gamers. EA thinks its games are still too difficult to get to grips with.
“Our games are actually still too hard to learn,” EA exec Richard Hilleman said during an on-stage interview at D.I.C.E. “The average player probably spends two hours to learn how to play the most basic game.”
“And asking for two hours of somebody’s time-most of our customers, between their normal family lives…to find two contiguous hours to concentrate on learning how to play a video game is a big ask,” he added.
While all of us here know the way around a mouse and keyboard or controller, many people – people who could potentially be gamers – struggle to get to grips, making this hobby of ours a little prohibitive. What’s second nature to us is alien to others.
Do you agree? Do you think games should be easier for people to get in to – or would you prefer things remain as they are? I’m be okay with games being easier to pick up and play – just as long as that doesn’t come at a detriment to depth of gameplay.
More people playing games is a good thing – because it means more games get made.
Last Updated: February 6, 2015
Sir Faulty
February 6, 2015 at 14:02
That is all we need – easier games. Games practically play themselves already and do so much handholding how much more do we actually need?
Shas 'O Norm
February 6, 2015 at 14:04
That header…lolz
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 6, 2015 at 14:05
…
Tosh "Did he just say that?"
February 6, 2015 at 14:09
So much effort. Geez. Need to make that press itself.
FreddyBear
February 6, 2015 at 17:26
No no no…. XBox, win! No pressing required.
Tosh "Did he just say that?"
February 6, 2015 at 14:06
EA is all about the bank account. Making games easier is just so that they can keep putting out rubbish and charging for it.
I don’t support EA on this, and quite frankly I prefer to actually think while playing games. I choose this as my entertainment because it requires a brain. Otherwise I’d just spend that money on a veritable crap ton of movies and series.
Admiral Chief
February 6, 2015 at 14:06
Just bring back training levels like the Hazard Course in Black Mesa
Ragnar The Vengeful
February 6, 2015 at 14:18
Why can I only upvote once!!!
Matewis Jubilai
February 6, 2015 at 14:20
And Vietcong’s bootcamp!
Lord Chaos
February 6, 2015 at 14:21
Or… If you’re planning on annual releases include that year’s CoD as the tutorial?
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 6, 2015 at 14:09
I can see his point in respect of people who’ve never played games before & would like to try them. I’ve been playing games for years & I still get put off by games that have 1,000 control options or read up on the game to play it. If you can’t learn to play the game by playing the game then they’ve failed as far as I’m concerned, and simple controls doesn’t equal a simple game.
Ryanza
February 6, 2015 at 14:10
So EA chased away lots of gamers with it’s DRM, incomplete games, micro-transactions, and just being a shitty company for gamers.
Now EA wants to dumb down games to try and get new gamers. So fuck off you old gamers and welcome the new kid gamers / american gamer.
So fuck EA. Don’t Support EA. Try creating complete games that has been tested and optimized and stop cutting out parts of the game for DLC. Maybe then the fucking gamers won’t need 2 fucking hours to figure what the fuck is going on with a EA fucking title.
Don’t Support DRM.
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 6, 2015 at 14:10
You have my EAxe.
Tosh "Did he just say that?"
February 6, 2015 at 14:11
*its
Otherwise, +9001. Agree fully. Fuck EA.
Ryanza
February 6, 2015 at 14:13
Whats a Ryanza comment without spelling and grammar errors.
*What’s. I know.
Tosh "Did he just say that?"
February 6, 2015 at 14:15
It was only one error, and a minor one. I can’t turn the Nazi off though, sorry.
Still, your post is spot on, so thumbs up. 🙂
Lord Chaos
February 6, 2015 at 14:17
“cant” 😛
Admiral Chief
February 6, 2015 at 14:13
2 hours is spent trying to get the damn thing to run on Origin
Tosh "Did he just say that?"
February 6, 2015 at 14:14
Really? When last did you use Origin. My (very few) EA games have installed and run without any issue on Origin.
Ryanza
February 6, 2015 at 14:15
No defending EA under my posts.
Admiral Chief
February 6, 2015 at 14:16
Attaboy
Tosh "Did he just say that?"
February 6, 2015 at 14:16
I’m not. I’m saying that his statement is false. EA still sucks, and I should be able to play those games in Steam and not Origin. But it doesn’t mean he’s right.
Dutch Matrix
February 6, 2015 at 14:37
Is nie! EA is the best thing to happen to gaming since sliced bread! Because… because…
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/023/4/a/me3_girls_by_eltorodeldiablo-d5sgrv0.jpg
Admiral Chief
February 6, 2015 at 14:51
DOSE ASSES
Admiral Chief
February 6, 2015 at 14:16
Oh shush you
So Hard (Umar)
February 6, 2015 at 14:11
Make your games intuitive, there is NO need for overbearing tutorials, and yes I’m gonna drop the Dark Souls bomb, but you learn about the game and its mechanics naturally and organically with the only tutorial being a few words until you’re dropped into hell to fend for yourself.
Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim
February 6, 2015 at 14:16
This is my general response to this. Please watch this.
So Hard (Umar)
February 6, 2015 at 14:21
YES X 100000000000000
This is one of the reason why I get hot for MM and even Dark Souls..It’s hard yes but intuitive and you learn the game through its design. You don’t see that very often…
Lord Chaos
February 6, 2015 at 14:22
Don’t let Geoff see those zeroes.
Tosh "Did he just say that?"
February 6, 2015 at 14:23
He doesn’t. Don’t worry.
Admiral Chief
February 6, 2015 at 14:27
XD
Johann
February 6, 2015 at 14:34
I just hope they keep the general Mega Man feel with Mighty no. 9
Tosh "Did he just say that?"
February 6, 2015 at 14:34
It’s looking really good so far.
So Hard (Umar)
February 6, 2015 at 14:43
It is looking very good, quite excited
So Hard (Umar)
February 6, 2015 at 14:23
“Why MegaMan X is so good it makes my dick hard” LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Matewis Jubilai
February 6, 2015 at 14:19
There are ‘basic’ EA games that take 2 hours to learn?
Also, its not like you’re studying the manual for 2 hours beforehand. You are playing, and enjoying yourself while you figure it out. It is almost as if they want to sell games to non-gamers.
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
February 6, 2015 at 14:27
That’s why there are platformers and the like. You start basic and work your way up the game ladder to more complex games.
Making complex games easier is a very, very bad idea and will result in even more of a rift in the industry.
I know this sounds tough, but if you want to get in to gaming start basic. Start with your basic platoformer and racing games. Then up your skill with more complex platformers like Fez and Trine.
Then, once you have the hang of that, move in to the FPS genre or strategy genre and learn there. It takes time. We all had to start at a basic level.
Easier games is not the answer. There already is a whole slew of basic, easy games out there, especially with mobile and stuff. Just be patient.
Heck, my wife started with things like candy crush and is now playing some RPG style Dragon game on her tablet and she’s getting pretty good at it. Hopefully soon she will move on to something a little more complex if that’s her thing. But games like Dragon Age? Yeah, she never would have started there anyway, regarldess of how easy it could be.
Lord Chaos
February 6, 2015 at 14:28
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
February 6, 2015 at 14:33
Sorry yes.
Admiral Chief
February 6, 2015 at 14:34
tl;dr
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
February 6, 2015 at 14:57
There it is!
Admiral Chief
February 6, 2015 at 14:59
Always, as promised
CAE9872
February 6, 2015 at 14:57
Take that back!!! How dare you say racing games are “basic”…you just a, a, a…something not nice!
Seriously though, racing games can be tough to learn – I have let many family members start there as well think heck its left and right mostly. EVEN in an oval track they mix up left and right!
I do agree with sentiments though – gaming takes time to get good at; and so it should just like any hobby (besides movies which is really easy!).
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
February 6, 2015 at 15:06
Not all racing games lol. I said basic ones. So not Forza or anything. Maybe something like Need For Speed which has a more straightforward approach
Matewis Jubilai
February 6, 2015 at 14:31
This makes me wonder what game had the best tutorial : I’m thinking Commandos 2
Ghost In The Rift
February 6, 2015 at 14:31
Honestly, when i started gaming, on PC, learning the game was 1 of the best parts, i always looked forward to learning a game(except the X series…0_o), i thought i was playing a game for 2 hours and then 5 hours passed, that was the best part of gaming for me.
Dutch Matrix
February 6, 2015 at 14:33
Meh. “Dumbing down” a game worked miracles for Skyrim. And the beauty of that is, based on Skyrim’s awesomeness, quite a good few people I know went out and got Oblivion too. So is it all bad? Nope.
I’ve been gaming for 30 odd years now, and I welcome certain games being made easier.
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
February 6, 2015 at 14:34
*grabs torch and pitchfork*
Dutch Matrix
February 6, 2015 at 14:47
You can torch and pitchfork all you like. Truth be the truth.
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
February 6, 2015 at 14:56
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Admiral Chief
February 6, 2015 at 14:59
Hahaha, 35 “o’s”
35 div 5 = …can you guess it?
Tosh "Did he just say that?"
February 6, 2015 at 14:59
HAHAHA. No way!
Tosh "Did he just say that?"
February 6, 2015 at 15:04
Yeah. 34 o’s. I checked 3 times.
But still, total 35 characters, so the relation to Llew remains.
Admiral Chief
February 6, 2015 at 15:27
I knew there were only 34, just wanted him to go count haha
Tosh "Did he just say that?"
February 6, 2015 at 15:35
Damn it! XD
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 6, 2015 at 14:51
Start small, maybe a match stick and a cake fork. 😉
Tosh "Did he just say that?"
February 6, 2015 at 14:54
Well, he is most comfortable handling things that size in his hands. *RUNS
Valshen
February 6, 2015 at 14:35
What difficult EA games are there? Unless you mean Dragon’s Age crafting system, which is more ‘contrived, backwards piece of shit’ than ‘difficult’.
So Hard (Umar)
February 6, 2015 at 14:43
Lets use 6 pieces of leather on this steel chainmail to make it stronger!
Aries
February 6, 2015 at 15:11
They must train, whats this of making games easy
B3ware_za
February 6, 2015 at 15:53
Thank you EA. You basically just ruined the next big Battlefield title for me (BF5, BF2143, BF1944/3). Since Bad Company 2 you have scaled down your BF titles. I would rather play a game that is hard to master, yet more rewarding as you play. It took roughly 50-100 hrs per BF title to learn the basics(BF1942, BF2, BF2142). After that anyone should know how 50% of the game works.
I played ~4000 hrs of the older titles (BF1942 -> BF2142) and would have kept at it if the local servers didn’t run dry. Yet the new ones I played for ~1200 hrs (BC2 -> BF4), simply because there is no reward factor. Everything is dumbed-down. Life regen, tablet limiting commander controls, 3D spotting (biggest sin, just remove minimap will ya), excessive amount of weapons, badges and ribbons so easy to come by, ranks easy to achieve. In the older titles you had to reach certain criteria to reach a certain rank, same with medals(which is now dumbed-down), almost all vehicles having excessive number of accessories (TV missile on boat, really).
So I switched to CS:Go and Dota to fill my rewarding needs(which would have been a sin, back in the old days). Easy to learn, hard to master.
Would love to play the new once regularly, but there is no more reward factor. So please EA let DICE return to its roots. That is all I wish. My passion for Battlefield is yet to fade. I will keep on believing…… ;(
BFforLife
Kensei Seraph
February 6, 2015 at 16:08
I took 30 minutes to learn the basics of Dark Souls.
If EA has released a game that is as hard to grasp as that within the last 5 years I’ll be so shocked that I’ll go get drunk for the second time and I hate being drunk!
(I won’t actually get drunk)
SlagywaG
February 6, 2015 at 16:33
See what he is basically saying is that they are going to make “Hard/Expert” mode a Micro-transaction/DLC… “We designed this game to be simple and easy, the extra effort of making it complex must come at a price”
Andrew vd Walt
February 6, 2015 at 16:56
F*ck them. If you aren’t willing to learn you’re not a real gamer.
Gr8_Balls_o_KFM_Fire
February 7, 2015 at 00:12
Here we go. People are too stupid and lazy to learn something so they’ll spoil it for the rest of us.
Guest
February 8, 2015 at 01:51
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