Teaching people the basics.

[Daystar Clarion]

So, last night I booted up Borderlands on my Xbox for the first time in a while. This time was different however, instead of playing the game alone, which was enjoyable at the time but offered no real challenge, I convinced my fiance to play splitscreen co-op with. She has little to no experience playing FPS games, and you know what? It was a fucking blast!

I didn't quite realise how complex using 2 sticks to move and aim was until I had to teach someone how to do it. She chose Brick (She loves bulky melee characters, she always plays an Orc babarian in D&D) and I chose Lilith. So, my method of training her was to stand in front of her viewpoint and basically help her get used to aiming at a stationary/moving target. Teaching her that a shotgun will do barely anything at a distance, so, until an enemy closes in, to use a pistol. It was hilarious, especially when skags started to swarm her, she would just run around shouting "Noooo" while spamming a melee attack.

We managed to defeat Nine toes. It was easy, but the hilarious bit came when we left the arena and she fell off the bridge to her death. Most epic face palm moment ever.


So, fellow escapists, have you ever had to teach a new player the basics? Was it funner than you thought? Did you get frustrated?

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

I've had to teach the little sister of a friend of mine the bits of Dragon Age like how to fight and decide which dialogs she should choose. It was a tough experience to go through but i made it out alive and i made a new gamer which was rewarding.

 

[dududf]

I was trying to teach my friend the basics of supreme commander.

Needless to say my coaching didn't do so well, and I think he realized that when I built my base around his base, and I had 13 Galactic collossus patrolling the out side of his base, and when I sent in massive engineer rushes to capture his buildings for the giggles.

I decided to end it quickly by launching all of my nukes.

"STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-
STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-STR-
STR-STR-STR-STRATEGIC LAUNCH DETECTED!

 

[blipblop]

when I was a kid i thougt my younger sister to play SMB or some game that was hip in the early 90:s.
kinda funny how every kid flings the controler around to jump higher

 

[sneakypenguin]

My rules for teaching new ppl an fps

1. outline the controls briefly (shoot jump, and melee)
2. fully explain dual stick controls (ppl struggle with this.) I always explain it as left stick is your lower torso right is upper, and that works well.
3. Shut the heck up. It sucks to play with someone telling you every 15 secs okay go here turn here , do this, only offer advice if they ask or are truly stuck.
4. If playing co-op don't be a rambo. Yeah we know you can single handedly take on the horde in L4D but thats no fun for the other person. Also on the flip side don't be an idiot, and "act" weak. In a game like l4d I would let myself get hit by a boomer then run around and be "protected" by the new player(playing below my skill yet not noticeably so). You need to make them feel somewhat useful, and killing everything in the level or bragging " i could do this on hard in 5 min" does not accomplish that.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I remember when I first started using dual sticks to control FPS perspective, it was very tricky.

I try to explain to people to think of the left stick as your feet, and the right stick as your head, but that still isn't totally accurate.

I made my GF have a go on COD4 multi once. That was pretty cruel.

2. fully explain dual stick controls (ppl struggle with this.) I always explain it as left stick is your lower torso right is upper, and that works well.

That's a very good idea. I'm going to try it that way next time.

 

[Davrel]

I've had to detail; the specifics of warrior talent trees, rotations and requisite stats to several people in WoW...in detail.

It takes time, but its satisfying.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

I remember the first time I played Starcraft (ALSO SC2...COME OUT ALREADY). My buddy and I played online, and was on the phone with me (Which was quite an achievement as we had just moved past the dialup age of modems). He basically was teaching me about the tech tree and all the buildings etc, as I slowly was figuring things out. Then he said he was gonna attack me in 5 minutes, and killed me with an SCV army.

Yeah...it was funny now that I think about it.
Everytime we played he slowly moved up and massacred me with increasingly more powerful one unit armies.
By the time he reached Archons I had figured it out though.

I think it's important to teach a new player with patience, but not to hold back either. To go easy on them accomplishes nothing for their learning.
Also if they have NEVER played a game before I suggest starting with something really basic...like Dr.Mario or something, just to get used to the feel of a controller.

 

[RnAoDm]

Never had to with co-op but on MMO games have helped a few people with controls and tips to help them. Can be fun sometimes but explaining something by typing it can be difficult, there are times i wish i had the person nearby so i could actually see what the "thing" they are talking about is.

 

[asdasdasdasda]

I used to try and teach noobs last hitting and stuff in DoTA (War 3 custom map) as well as in WoW but that was too much of a headache now I just say "gtfo" like everyone else. Although I did play some co-op with my dad awhile ago and that was pretty fun.

 

[Dexiro]

You do get frustrated when they don't really understand how games work. Walking into doors.

I get that too, most frustrating thing ever >.<

My little brother will walk into a straight corridor, turn 90 degrees and walk into a wall asking where to go. Seriously.

Then when i call him a retard and punch him in the face he goes in a mood and says that games are crap (with the exception of Skate 2 and NFS).

 

[Mikkaddo]

Wow, that takes me back to teaching a friend of mine about playing Diablo II. Her only real experience with anything like it was (sadly) Fable and a TINY bit of Mass Effect. So you can imagine how hard that was . . . especially when she kept asking me what the difference was between playing a Necromancer and playing a Necromancer based "Summoner" (my personal preference) and couldn't see the point in specialzing in ONE tree when you had two others to pick from as well.

Though she did think it was cool that I had an army of golems and pretty colored skeletons with glowing hands following me around. And hey, it convinced her to buy it . . . so there's that right?

 

[ethaninja]

I remember teaching my best mate how to play Freelancer. That was pretty funny. I guess it wasn't so much as basics though. But WASD and mouse.. cmon.

 

[Lullabye]

Oh, I remember way back when, trying to teach my bro how to play Oblivion.
He wanted to use heavy armor, knight equipment etc.....but at the same time, he wanted to jump on top of houses in a single bound after seeing me do it with my Kajit assassin build. I had to explain to him why that wasn' going to happen.
"Can't I just jump off this bridge? You do it all the time."(talking about the bridge at the Skingrad jail, you know the one.)
"Yes, I do, but that's because my dexterity is maxed out, and I paralyze myself so I don't take fall damage."
"What's dexterity?"
*facepalm*

 

[The Heik]

So, last night I booted up Borderlands on my Xbox for the first time in a while. This time was different however, instead of playing the game alone, which was enjoyable at the time but offered no real challenge, I convinced my fiance to play splitscreen co-op with. She has little to no experience playing FPS games, and you know what? It was a fucking blast!

I didn't quite realise how complex using 2 sticks to move and aim was until I had to teach someone how to do it. She chose Brick (She loves bulky melee characters, she always plays an Orc babarian in D&D) and I chose Lilith. So, my method of training her was to stand in front of her viewpoint and basically help her get used to aiming at a stationary/moving target. Teaching her that a shotgun will do barely anything at a distance, so, until an enemy closes in, to use a pistol. It was hilarious, especially when skags started to swarm her, she would just run around shouting "Noooo" while spamming a melee attack.

We managed to defeat Nine toes. It was easy, but the hilarious bit came when we left the arena and she fell off the bridge to her death. Most epic face palm moment ever.


So, fellow escapists, have you ever had to teach a new player the basics? Was it funner than you thought? Did you get frustrated?

I generally find it easier to just let them loose in the tutorial. Then I can traipse away to the fridge for a snack

 

[Daystar Clarion]

So, last night I booted up Borderlands on my Xbox for the first time in a while. This time was different however, instead of playing the game alone, which was enjoyable at the time but offered no real challenge, I convinced my fiance to play splitscreen co-op with. She has little to no experience playing FPS games, and you know what? It was a fucking blast!

I didn't quite realise how complex using 2 sticks to move and aim was until I had to teach someone how to do it. She chose Brick (She loves bulky melee characters, she always plays an Orc babarian in D&D) and I chose Lilith. So, my method of training her was to stand in front of her viewpoint and basically help her get used to aiming at a stationary/moving target. Teaching her that a shotgun will do barely anything at a distance, so, until an enemy closes in, to use a pistol. It was hilarious, especially when skags started to swarm her, she would just run around shouting "Noooo" while spamming a melee attack.

We managed to defeat Nine toes. It was easy, but the hilarious bit came when we left the arena and she fell off the bridge to her death. Most epic face palm moment ever.


So, fellow escapists, have you ever had to teach a new player the basics? Was it funner than you thought? Did you get frustrated?

I generally find it easier to just let them loose in the tutorial. Then I can traipse away to the fridge for a snack

Yeah but where's the fun in that? Also, Borderlands does not have a tutorial.

 

[AntiAntagonist]

Depends on the student for me.

Mostly basic skills are something I don't have to teach.