What Casual Games Are Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games

Go to https://BuyRaycon.com/razbuten for 15% off your order! Brought to you by Raycon. In this episode of Gaming For A Non-Gamer, I finally had my wife try o...

In the latest episode of YouTuber Razbuten’s series in which he watches his non-gamer wife play various games, the focus is on so-called “casual” life sim games.

Many of the lessons and takeaways echo those that have come before (intuitive theming, low pressure, good tutorials, recoverable failure states, and optional co-op features all help new players learn, cheats/modes that let players focus on what they enjoy are good, etc.) but a couple new ones stood out to me. First, that sandbox games can be downright unapproachable if you don’t already have basic familiarity with what you can do and what kind of goals make sense, so early-game directed progression can be vital for new players. Second, that being part of a shared culture moment can be a powerful draw even if it’s not the kind of culture you normally take part in.

The Game That Inspired Minecraft, But Never Made a Penny

Before Minecraft, there was another game: Infiniminer. The first 500 people to use this link will get a 2 month free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: ...

Did you know that Minecraft started as a self-described clone of a game called Infiniminer made by Zach Barth of Zachtronics? I sure didn’t.

This video presents an interesting angle on the history of Minecraft and also a case study in the value that can be unlocked by allowing player freedom away from the game designer’s authorial intent - and how strange it is to have a game you created get changed into the most successful game of all time.

What Online Multiplayer Is Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games

Go to https://BuyRaycon.com/razbuten for 15% off your order! Brought to you by Raycon. In this episode of Gaming For A Non-Gamer, I tossed my wife into the w...

Continuing his series in which he watches his non-gamer wife play various games, YouTuber Razbuten now takes a look at how several popular online competitive multiplayer games are experienced by an inexperienced gamer.

Key takeaways include that good tutorials are if anything even more important in these kinds of games, as understanding how to play affects not just one player’s experience but all of them, and a fear of making the game worse for other players can easily drive away exactly the sort of people you’d prefer to interact with online. Yet many games lack tutorials entirely, fail to point new players to them, or just convey the game’s basic mechanics without teaching the player how to actually use their toolkit and be a good teammate.

Additionally, it’s often very difficult to find matches against other players of similar skill levels, which can result in being frustratingly steamrolled while just trying to learn the game. One of the best solutions to both problems is to let players team up against bots - though even this often fails to convey the necessary skills to then play effectively against other humans.

The World Is Saved: Gamer Music Video

The World is Saved is a new epic song and anthem for video game fans. This was a collaborative effort from IGN's Podcast Beyond community. IGN's Ryan Clement...

I don’t know that gamers need an anthem, but if they do, this catchy and uplifting 2011 gem by Danny Wiessner is still my nominee.

What Minecraft Is Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games

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Continuing his series in which he watches his non-gamer wife play various games, YouTuber Razbuten now takes a look at how Minecraft is experienced by an inexperienced gamer.

Key takeaways include how Minecraft does a poor job steering the new player to interesting content (especially if you get unlucky with your initial spawn area) but that this encourages social experience and learning to play from someone else, along with the fact that failure modes and punishment make it hard for many players to focus on the content they find the most appealing - but that the inclusion of alternate play modes can solve this neatly.

What Breath Of The Wild Is Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games

This video is sponsored by Skillshare. Sign up via my link to get two FREE months of Skillshare Premium: https://skl.sh/razbuten This past year, my wife made...

As a followup to his previous video about watching his non-gamer wife try several popular games, YouTuber Razbuten has made a video about watching his non-gamer wife try The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The results may not be especially surprising for those who’ve watched the first video, but this different experiment gives Razbuten’s wife more time to get used to a single game and thus showcases how BotW's design does and does not help her become more skilled and confident. Particularly valuable are its abundance of recoverable failure states and its problems that can be solved many different ways.

Halo 2 Changed The Way I Look At Games

Halo 2 is special game to me for many different reasons. It provided hours and hours of immeasurable fun and it pushed me to be more creative by allowing me ...

YouTuber Razbuten discusses how experimentation with custom modes in Halo 2 taught him to see games differently - not just as products to be passively consumed but toyboxes to be actively explored, resulting in limit-testing to find ways to play that can be even more fun than anything the designers came up with.

I wish I’d had this available to reference when I wrote my article about going beyond intended experiences - I absolutely would have quoted and linked to it.

What Games Are Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games

About a year ago, my wife asked if she could play a game. Instead of simply saying yes, I decided to run an informal experiment where I had her play a sampli...

YouTuber Razbuten watched his non-gamer wife try several popular games and the results were fascinating. There are useful implications for game designers (regarding tutorials, player feedback, and how and when to present information to the player) as well as for anybody trying to help a non-gamer get into games.

It’s easy for those of us who’ve been playing games for a long time to take our game literacy for granted. But many common UX conventions are explained poorly if at all in modern titles, putting up an immediate wall for new players and making it hard to get into games without help.

The Decade-Long Quest For Shadow of the Colossus' Last Secret

a mystery which will never happen again, a miracle which has never happened before- and shining this our now must come to then

A thought-provoking look at faith, knowledge, and fandom through the lens of video game classic Shadow of the Colossus.

Inviting Player Creativity Through Game Mechanics

In this 2017 GDC talk, Matheson Marcault's Holly Gramazio provides an overview of a dozen different techniques that games can use to encourage player creativ...

Holly Gramazio takes a detailed look at player creativity and expression - why it’s valuable, what gets in the way, and how to get around the barriers and encourage it.