Control

Welcome to another Non-gamers' Corner. Last week I took a look at modern game controllers (excluding the weird, slightly erotic looking 'Wiimote' which was coupled with the Nintendo Wii, one of the current video game consoles) so if you're not familiar at all with anything game related, especially controllers, search for either 'non-gamers' corner' or take a look at my September 30th post.

Anyway, the whole reason I wrote that article was to write this one. Now that we know what a controller is, lets talk about why it can be so frustrating to first learn how to play a game or games in general, especially in front of somebody(ies) who have had years of experience.

On a side note, I was going to address non-gamers as female gamers, because most of the experiences I've had with people that find video games stupid or weird or just too alien to understand have been women... whether it's girlfriends or mothers or whatever. However, a non-gamer can be anyone but that doesn't change my main example that I'm going to use for the issue of learning how to control a character in a video game.

Boyfriends/male friends trying to teach their girlfriends/female friends how to play games. There, now I've got your attention. I've seen so many cases of this (and have been guilty of it myself) in which the 'teacher' tries to patiently explain how the game works while the 'student' jerks and waggles the controller in hopes that it will help them learn faster, and possibly appease the one in the teacher role. Ultimately the teacher gets incredibly frustrated usually giving up and leaving the whole experience a sour one for both people. I've seen too many people turned off of video games because of this and many pissed off girl friends that end up resenting the boyfriend and his hobby.

It all comes down to control, in a literal and figurative sense. Playing a video game is all based on muscle memory. The problem is that gamers don't realize just how innate the action of manipulating a gamepad has become. Think back, all you game enthusiasts, and remember how difficult it was controlling Mario for the first time, or speeding along with Sonic or jumping over a crocodile in Pitfall.

I can remember vague memories of twitching in direction of my character jumps in hope that this would make the leap more successful. I'm not sure how long it took me to get out of this this stage and into a more comfortable feel to the controller but I know it wasn't overnight and really no non-gamer should be expected to just 'get it' right away.

'Getting it' takes time and, most importantly, one on one interaction with the game. Having someone trying to show you the ropes and always telling you what do means you're more distanced from the experience. If you do not own a video game console just ask to either borrow your friends or have a bit of quality time with whatever game that someone is getting you to learn.

It's also important for you non-gamers to understand that most games have similar control scheme within their genres (for e.g. most games like Super Mario Bros have the same button for jump and the same button for run, etc.) so this makes it even easier for regular gamers to pick up and play. Basically, once you get the hang of a type of game, you've basically got your fingers trained for next one you try.

Instruction manuals always have a layout of the control scheme and most games have a tutorial mode which contain really dumbed down segments that take you through the absolute basics of a game. Some people find this tedious and patronizing and some tutorials have been known to take a very long time to finish. Some have been known to be absolutely horrendous and give you very little idea on how to play the game. If you feel even more confused while going through a tutorial or reading an instruction manual, it's better to walk away from it or just jump into the game and see how you do.

So, looking back, learning the controls of a game comes down to patience, a little bit of help from friends, a little bit of time alone with the game and the understanding that you're not going to get everything right away and that it takes time to get to be really good at certain games. And, all the teachers out there, just try and remember how long you've been playing and the learning curve you had to go through when getting there. And even if you think you're great, there's always someone out there who handles a controller better than you.