Poll: Do you read game manuals?

[Kironcho]

So, Escapists: do you read those strange bits of paper that come inside your game case? Or do you just ignore them?
I usually skim through game manuals while I wait for games to install and/or update on my PC. Gives me something to do while I wait for it to be ready. Most of the time I know what I'm doing but sometimes I had to refer to the manual to figure out something. And also, some game manuals include bits of trivia or lore, and I enjoy reading that most of the time.

 

[hazabaza1]

On occasion. Mainly if it's taking a while to install and I can't think of anything better to do.

 

[l0ckd0wn]

Not really. I picked "if unclear of controls" because that's really all I look at the manual for unless there is actual art or a story within, then I'll sit down and read it.

On occasion. Mainly if it's taking a while to install and I can't think of anything better to do.

There is always something better to do than reading the manual!

 

[burningdragoon]

Back when there were character bios, story and setting info, etc, yeah. Information actually worth reading rarely shows up in them anymore.

 

[Scrustle]

Almost never. Usually tutorials do a better job at teaching you everything you need to know, and manuals don't tend to have interesting stuff in them any more like character bios etc.

I've found myself having to refer to the El Shaddai manual quite a bit though. The three weapons in the game have a rock-paper-scissors relationship to each other, and there's no indication in the game of what's good against what. I always find myself forgetting what the relationships are so I keep having to use the manual to remind myself.

 

[Weaver]

Sometimes they're required; IE, in the gundemonium games they explain all the mechanics you basically need to know to play, and that's the only place they're explained.

 

[Esotera]

I read all of the Civ III manual before installing & playing it, and I still have the original copy to this day. Most of the time I'll ignore them though, unless I'm particularly stuck for controls. Games have come on a lot in usability.

 

[eimatshya]

Back in the day I used to always read through much of the manuals. They used to have a lot of "flavor" to them (like the manuals for Fallout 1 and 2; those were awesome!). These days they are pretty minimal, and I often don't bother unless there is something particular I want to look up.

I remember back when Everquest came out. The first character I made was a wood elf, and I started in their tree city (a bunch of platforms up in the trees kind of like the Ewok village in Return of the Jedi... or like a bajillion other elf cities). Anyway, the layout was extremely confusing to my 13 year old mind, and I needed to use the map that was in the manual to figure out how to get out of it (short of leaping to my death). Good times.

 

[Hazy992]

Game manuals? You mean those two pages of health and safety warnings? /sarcasm

I used to read manuals when they were actually good, like when they gave you the backstory and stuff, but nowadays most of them are hardly worth bothering with. I'll sometimes look through them if they're kind enough to give you the controls.

 

[Bostur]

I don't read the strange bits of paper inside the case. I only read the PDF files if I'm in doubt of something. But I swallowed the 200 page bound volumes that used to come with games.

The last time I got a manual was for Civilization V, sheets with keyboard shortcuts don't count.

Don't get me started on cloth maps and short stories.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpN_WXUxWx0&t=5m15s

 

[evilneko]

Back in the day? Yes. When they were great.

Today? What manuals?

Hmm. Most recent manual was probably Fallout 3, and was somewhat disappointed with it. Better than the usual crap though. Manuals were better 20 years ago. >.>

 

[organikz]

Back when I was younger, I had a little brother - so I would flip through the instruction manual in front of him while reading key points from its pages and demand that we do that before playing, partially to piss him off and impede the process of playing but also so that we both had a decent grasp on the game.

As we grew older we both just thought... "Fuck it, we'll learn as we play," despite the fact that our reading comprehension skills had improved. Somewhat. Go figure.

Ah, the days of playing multiplayer with your siblings in your youth. Great times.

 

[krazykidd]

What game manuals? Games stoped coming out with manuals. You lnow that book with usefull information , character biographies , game back stories. Those no longer exist . But when they did , i read the shit out of them . Now all we get with games is toilet paper ...

Capcha: happy trails .... EWWW

 

[MPerce]

I think the question should be "did you USED TO read game manuals?" To which I'd say, "all the time, manuals were awesome."

But nowadays, most games, with very rare exceptions, don't include anything more than a control layout. That's not a manual in my books.

 

[Paul]

I do, sometimes. It's rare though, and the game does need to have an actual manual for me to read. The little inserts of paper that come with most franchises (I'm thinking the Call of Duty manuals, which are virtually the same each year), don't get my attention. Rockstar is one company I can think of where I always make an effort to read the manual, since they invest time into it. The design for the manuals is normally very good with Rockstar, and the Elder Scrolls titles also come with some pretty fantastic documentation. I wish more games did.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Mostly when the game's installing, provided I bought it in stores, with the original case and everything, which I don't do much of.