What motivates the authors of video game walkthroughs and FAQs?
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Re: What motivates the authors of video game walkthroughs and FAQs?
#2Jacob Geller had interesting commentary along these same lines last week [0]. In some ways, a walkthrough is an extremely detailed first-person critique: Exploring the game with the walkthrough as a guide, the author highlights each element of the game which they want you to experience.
Re: What motivates the authors of video game walkthroughs and FAQs?
#3I used to LOVE reading GameFAQs walkthroughs for RPGs as a kid. The fact it was just a big text document made it super easy to hide in my "computer typing" classes too.
I'm kind of sad that the whole scene has largely slowed down, at least for modern games... Now you can just find video guides on any subsection of a game you're playing; or follow an IGN guide. I have huge respect for authors of the oldschool guides though.
Re: What motivates the authors of video game walkthroughs and FAQs?
#4The ASCII art that these folks did to set up their chapter headings was beautiful. I remember seeing them making huge block lettering, scenery, and even characters drawn in ASCII art just to give an intro to like a GameBoy game walkthrough. The love and effort poured into these showed
Re: What motivates the authors of video game walkthroughs and FAQs?
#5Nothing beats a high quality FAQ with ctrl+f searching shortcuts. Loads instantly, can be downloaded offline, etc. Now every game has its own wikia instead and you have to wade through garbage to find the info you are looking for.
Re: What motivates the authors of video game walkthroughs and FAQs?
#6I used to LOVE reading GameFAQs walkthroughs for RPGs as a kid. The fact it was just a big text document made it super easy to hide in my "computer typing" classes too. I'm kind of sad that the whole scene has largely slowed down, at least for modern games... Now you can just find video guides on any subsection of a game you're playing; or follow an IGN guide. I have huge respect for authors of the oldschool guides t…
I think mybe part of why it doesn't work so much for modern games is that modern games are constantly being patched and updated. You could write a big detailed guide and then the next day, the devs push an update which changes everything.
This makes modern games less "real", in a pseudo-physics sense: experiments that you perform in them do not replicate over time, due to bugfix patches etc. Sort of like if, after physicists announced the results of the double-slit experiment, God force-installed a "fix quantum mechanics glitches" patch to make it no longer work.
Re: What motivates the authors of video game walkthroughs and FAQs?
#7[...guide authors approach games with the mindset of a medical examiner. They do not play games so much as dissect them, which erodes enjoyment of the hobby they like best. Rarely can authors “just enjoy the game;” instead they must “stop every 20 seconds to write something.” ...]
Is this really the case?
I would rather believe that the writers are gamers too. It's quite common for gamers to play a [fun] game through more than once. So there's plenty of chance to enjoy the game without "dissection", then document the success on the next take.
The way the article put it makes it look like it's a kind of OCD behavior. Which sounds unfair.
Re: What motivates the authors of video game walkthroughs and FAQs?
#8I used to LOVE reading GameFAQs walkthroughs for RPGs as a kid. The fact it was just a big text document made it super easy to hide in my "computer typing" classes too. I'm kind of sad that the whole scene has largely slowed down, at least for modern games... Now you can just find video guides on any subsection of a game you're playing; or follow an IGN guide. I have huge respect for authors of the oldschool guides t…
I think mybe part of why it doesn't work so much for modern games is that modern games are constantly being patched and updated. You could write a big detailed guide and then the next day, the devs push an update which changes everything. This makes modern games less "real", in a pseudo-physics sense: experiments that you perform in them do not replicate over time, due to bugfix patches etc. Sort of like if, after ph…
Definitely. Still though, many modern games' players would be well served by the FAQs of old instead of ad-laden, poorly researched wikis. And even for those games frequently updated, eventually they do tend to crystallize into a final version after 3-5 years. It's only games like Dota 2 which are constantly getting balance* patches which are a constant sync battle of development and documentation.
* more like humans are incapable of balancing a game of Dota 2's complexity. The cynic in me thinks they don't want to balance it, that that's part of their monetization strategy. Long term I think a balanced game is more fun for everyone, though.
Re: What motivates the authors of video game walkthroughs and FAQs?
#9[...guide authors approach games with the mindset of a medical examiner. They do not play games so much as dissect them, which erodes enjoyment of the hobby they like best. Rarely can authors “just enjoy the game;” instead they must “stop every 20 seconds to write something.” ...] Is this really the case? I would rather believe that the writers are gamers too. It's quite common for gamers to play a [fun] game through…
Or they enjoy dissecting games as they play through, and the author is over here shouting no, you’re enjoying it wrong!
Re: What motivates the authors of video game walkthroughs and FAQs?
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think mybe part of why it doesn't work so much for modern games is that modern games are constantly being patched and updated. You could write a big detailed guide and then the next day, the devs push an update which changes everything. This makes modern games less "real", in a pseudo-physics sense: experiments that you perform in them do not replicate over time, due to bugfix patches etc. Sort of like if, after ph…
Definitely. Still though, many modern games' players would be well served by the FAQs of old instead of ad-laden, poorly researched wikis. And even for those games frequently updated, eventually they do tend to crystallize into a final version after 3-5 years. It's only games like Dota 2 which are constantly getting balance* patches which are a constant sync battle of development and documentation. * more like humans…
One way to balance a game like Dota 2 would be a continuous rebalancing. Parametrize each hero's stats by a "power-parameter". This doesn't have to crank all the stats up equally. One hero could benefit in one way by more power, while another hero benefits in a different way. Then automatically adjust the power-parameter based on win-rates in different skill segments and how often a hero is chosen. The targets should not necessarily be equal, you may want say beginner friendly heroes that lose steam at the upper level. In the end, the goal should be a fun meta.
Like if you were to balance rock-paper-scissors, and you want a meta where rock is played the majority of the time, you might want to give rock an adjustable chance of beating paper.