Teaching people the basics.

[atalanta]

It was hilarious, especially when skags started to swarm her, she would just run around shouting "Noooo" while spamming a melee attack.

That's about how well I do with a controller. Trying to play an FPS with dual sticks is hard.

I taught my dad to play FPS's on PC. I had an easier go of it than most people probably did; my dad's a computer geek from way back and he and I play strategy board games together, so getting him to follow a series of arbitrary rules wasn't particularly difficult and he didn't flail about all, "but why can't I talk/break a window/go through this door/go home and have a quiet cup of tea?"

 

[Eliam_Dar]

I have tried this with my dad, he could not drive a lap in grid, yet he keeps trying from time to time. And I keep trying to explain him how to drive that thing

 

[MurderousToaster]

I do somewhat dislike it when people can't grasp things all that easy. I have no problem from my parents (my dad is an enormous Medal of Honor fan, he's been playing it since the PS1, though I'm not sure if he'll check out the modern MoH game coming out soon) and my mother just avoids it. Most of the people I hang around with are well-versed with both a controller and a keyboard, so it doesn't really matter.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

It was hilarious, especially when skags started to swarm her, she would just run around shouting "Noooo" while spamming a melee attack.

That's about how well I do with a controller. Trying to play an FPS with dual sticks is hard.

I taught my dad to play FPS's on PC. I had an easier go of it than most people probably did; my dad's a computer geek from way back and he and I play strategy board games together, so getting him to follow a series of arbitrary rules wasn't particularly difficult and he didn't flail about all, "but why can't I talk/break a window/go through this door/go home and have a quiet cup of tea?"

That's what I find really interesting. None gamers don't quite recognise the limitations of games. We know that there is an invisible barrier that stops us from going where the devs don't want us to go. None gamers believe that actions in the real world can easily be replicated in a game world.

 

[hazabaza1]

I tried to get my dad to play Borderlands. The last time he played a console shooter was in the ages of JetForce Gemini, or Goldeneye.
He started strafing around the map, shooting walls, before saying "This is fecking shite" and telling me to play something else.

'Twas fun.

 

[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

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

The fun is in that is it's usually at other people houses, and my friends have some good eats!

But I suppose if you want to to actually say how I teach, then fine. I tend to use the AC1 & 2 method of attaching each button to a certain body part to make connections between what the buttons do easier for newer people .ie using the left stick as lower body, right stick as upper body, etc. It varies from game to game and person to person, but it generally does well.

 

[CL4P-TP]

My girlfriend has trouble with WASD + Mouse. I gave up. I'm usually patient, but when it's too much to teach someone to rotate a camera and move a character at the same time, you just give up.

 

[Jedoro]

I generally insult their difficulty grasping the basics, and they're the one to get frustrated, so I enjoy the outcome. Then I calm 'em down, letting them know I'm joking, and we continue.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Sure, I've taught plenty of people the basics. My philosophy is that more people would play if only they had someone helping them through the beginning - their own live tutorial, if you will. And the more people playing, the better.

It's also a real eye opener as to just how big the gap is between gamers and non-gamers. Things we utterly take for granted, like moving in 3d space, moving with dual sticks, hit points, exploding barrels, HUDs...these are all completely alien to the new player. If you just expect someone to be able to play once you point out what button does what, you're both going to wind up frustrated.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Sure, I've taught plenty of people the basics. My philosophy is that more people would play if only they had someone helping them through the beginning - their own live tutorial, if you will. And the more people playing, the better.

It's also a real eye opener as to just how big the gap is between gamers and non-gamers. Things we utterly take for granted, like moving in 3d space, moving with dual sticks, hit points, exploding barrels, HUDs...these are all completely alien to the new player. If you just expect someone to be able to play once you point out what button does what, you're both going to wind up frustrated.

Ah yes, we had the dreaded barrel incident on Borderlands. To be fair to my fiance, it wasn't really her fault. She knows that red barrels explode. What she didn't know is that Borderlands offers exploding barrelly death in a variety of colours and flavours.

 

[Outright Villainy]

I helped my girlfriend through mario galaxy, and it was entirely that girlfriend status that stopped me from making sarcastic remarks every 6 seconds. I limited myself to 15. she got to about 50 stars though, so great success!

Oh, when my other friend played it though, I gave her a go, and she just kept running off the first ledge you ever see in the game, again and again until she had no more lives. Couldn't grasp the concept on an analogue stick at all...

 

[Ironic Pirate]

It took him a few months, but my dad can now kick ass at battlefield: bad company. I remember his first kills, three hapless teammates walking down the road. He was so happy I didn't tell him they were on his side. I did manage to kill all of them again, so he would understand when they fought back. Claimed a grenade took a funny bounce.

 

[Wolfram23]

Sounds like my girlfriend. First game we played together was a borrowed copy of RE5 because I wanted to do co-op. That was a facepalm and a half. We never played that one again, but she's getting a bit better. We even tried some MW2 co-op and beat a couple levels on recruit!

On in Heavy Rain (you know, easiest game ever) on several occasions for quick time events she just threw the controller at me because she got so razzled by it. Of course, by giving up and trying to switch we totally lost the QTE, which at one point resulted in Jayden dying. I loled, she felt bad.

I like that she's at least a bit interested in playing, but I really have to make an effort to shut my mouth or else (apparently) I'm just giving her commands on what to do.
"No no go left. Not that way, that's a wall. No not that way! Why did you turn around? That's where we came from. Yes, go towards the bad guys. That's a wall again. Ok, I'll shut up."

 

[TK421]

I tried to teach my mother to play Halo once. It didn't work.

 

[atalanta]

That's what I find really interesting. None gamers don't quite recognise the limitations of games. We know that there is an invisible barrier that stops us from going where the devs don't want us to go. None gamers believe that actions in the real world can easily be replicated in a game world.

It's really true. My mom flat-out cannot wrap her brain around the idea that it's a game, not a real-life simulator -- she does fine with artificial constraints in board games and she's managed to do okay the few times I've coaxed her into playing things like Braid that aren't supposed to look realistic, but put anything in 3D in front of her and she starts asking me why it isn't exactly like it is in the real world. It's funny -- she was fine with the idea of portals, but she got really upset when I showed her how to reflect rockets as a Pyro in TF2, because "physics doesn't work that way".

Here's a video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCjVV843nFw] of a guy's non-gamer girlfriend playing TF2. Some of the questions she asks are nearly word-for-word things my mom's asked me while I'm playing.

 

[Plurralbles]

"fiance"


Good man.

Good job!

Freakin' awesome sauce spraying all over the place.

I am really bad at teaching people how to game.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

That's what I find really interesting. None gamers don't quite recognise the limitations of games. We know that there is an invisible barrier that stops us from going where the devs don't want us to go. None gamers believe that actions in the real world can easily be replicated in a game world.

It's really true. My mom flat-out cannot wrap her brain around the idea that it's a game, not a real-life simulator -- she does fine with artificial constraints in board games and she's managed to do okay the few times I've coaxed her into playing things like Braid that aren't supposed to look realistic, but put anything in 3D in front of her and she starts asking me why it isn't exactly like it is in the real world. It's funny -- she was fine with the idea of portals, but she got really upset when I showed her how to reflect rockets as a Pyro in TF2, because "physics doesn't work that way".

Here's a video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCjVV843nFw] of a guy's non-gamer girlfriend playing TF2. Some of the questions she asks are nearly word-for-word things my mom's asked me while I'm playing.

Maybe that's why there is so much hate for gamers? People don't realise that games have as many constraints as other media outlets, so when we kill in a game, it's as if we killed someone in real life. I think education needs to be provided so that non gamers realise that the vast majority of gamers know that it's a game and differentiate between that and reality.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"fiance"


Good man.

Good job!

Freakin' awesome sauce spraying all over the place.

I am really bad at teaching people how to game.

What can I say? I'm a sexy geek. 'Bout the only thing that differentiates me from the stereotype.

 

[Snotnarok]

I've done the basics teaching, it's fun but frustrating. I basically say the Left stick is your legs and your right stick is your head. Then I get the obvious "My head is not a stick, but close enough on my legs" after a sound slap for the joke that would kill most people we move on and I lose my patients and go crazy and blow ahead of them. I wish I was more patient but I'm just not especially with shooters.

I got my grandma to play the wii (Thought I'd say MY Wii eh? pervert) specifically Wii bowling.