"These controls are making me suck!"

Reposting this entry. Originally posted March 24th 2005.

I think the main appeal of videogames is they give you the impression that you can easily do things you can't necessarily do. Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Freaks were the two games that helped me reach that conclusion, but the same is true for pretty much EVERY non-puzzle game. Through videogames, one can become an expert sniper, a professional basketball player, a stealthy secret agent, or even a martial arts expert. The interactive nature of videogames makes it relatively easy to get the false impression that you can actually DO all the crazy things you get to do virtually. I myself am rather confident that, on a motorcycle, I could survive at least 10 minutes driving into incoming traffic. Fortunately for everyone, even if I HAD a bike, I'm not stupid enough to test that theory. Another fortunate reality is that MOST people have common sense, making incidents where people try to imitate videogames (or any other media for that matter) a rarity.

There seems to be another much more frequent issue related to the simulated skills people can instantly gain through videogames: the assumption that, if you can play ONE game well, you can instantly play any other game of the same type just as well with no learning curve. I find this phenomenon to be an expression of arrogance. You run into this kind of thing frequently on gaming message boards. Players will complain about poor controls bogging a game down, and their main justification is that they've played other similar games and that the controls are different. A good friend of mine illustrates this phenomenon PERFECTLY. I won't go into detail because he might read this.

After I finished RE4, I started browsing through the message boards on GameFAQs and reading some reviews. Reviews on GameFAQs are basically glorified rants, so I'm always going to look for the black sheep. With a popular game like RE4 I didn't feel like reading the opinions of fanboys going "OMG OMG OMG! BEST GAME EVARR!!" I'd rather read the reviews with poor scores so I can see if I agree with the reviewers' reasons or not. Auron255's review illustrates my point almost perfectly. Here's a quote:

I've experienced many many deaths in this game (72 to be exact), and only about 10 of them are actual legitimate deaths, where my demise was brought about by my own lack of skill and not the game's (for lack of a better word) suckitude.

It's as if the inability to adapt to how another game is played DOESN'T show lack of skill. It's not MY fault I died, it's the GAME'S fault. Something tells me that this guy has played dozens of games that gave him the impression he's a shooting GOD. I don't want to single him out either because I KNOW he's not alone. People like this seem to forget that any self-respecting company will have employees that work full time just to make sure their games are playable. When a game ships, you know that all the beta testers managed to finish it, and when it gets reviewed, you can easily assume that the reviewer finished it. What do all these people have that you don't? Nothing. Get over yourselves and ADAPT! That's what humans do best.

It's one thing to dislike the controls in a game. It's another to blame the controls for your failure. Metroid Prime is another example. Some people had alot of trouble accepting that a first person shooter would have a "free look button" instead of the popular dual analog scheme. In my humble opinion, considering the Gamecube controller, and the fact that you have 4 visors, and 4 weapons, the controls couldn't have been any better. Yes you need to get used to it, but once you learn how to use the lock-on button, there's no real NEED for the dual analog scheme. I tip my hat to the people at Nintendo for making that work in this day and age.

I'm not saying that all commercial games have adequate controls. There ARE some poorly designed games out there with TERRIBLE controls. The thing is, when such an instance happens, the majority opinion will be that the controls suck. I also want to point out that majority opinion is a valid reference for games. I'm sure there are people out there who find that human feces emanates a rather pleasant smell, but majority opinion says they're wrong. The bottom line is that if you're having lots of trouble with a game, and you seem to be the only person who dislikes the controls, deal with it. Adapt. Don't be a gaming robot who thinks he can copy/paste his skills into any game he wants. It's not the controls. It's you.

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