The Platonic Relationship between Game and Gamer

Above was a video created by EgoRaptor that illustrates explicit versus implicit tutorials, rather humorously. 

Explicit tutorials are those that explicitly show the player what to do via tooltips or dialogs that open up and tell you exactly what buttons to press. Implicit tutorials are those that create scenarios in which the player learns via experiment what each button does and when to use such actions.

Recently, video games have taken to a lot of “hand-holding” in their introductions. In other words, detailed tutorials have been implemented, which is not entirely a bad thing, but the tutorials do dissolve a lot of the mystery of discovery in these games. 

Why does the mystery matter? There is a sense of accomplishment when a person first solves a problem, even if it is small; however, lately, it seems that society is heading towards a path of instant gratification, especially in games.

In the busy buzz of today’s society, no one has time to learn the basics, they want to skip to the end and reap their “rewards” (quotation’d because of the question to whether or not there is accomplishment in no challenge).  Below is an example of the World of Warcraft implementing “quest-markers”, or markings on a map that tell you where exactly you must go.  Originally, the game did not have these, but as society grew to prefer instant gratification, the developers of the game adapted to such taste and implemented these markers that essentially made the game much faster to get through.

The effect of these markers removes the incentive for players to explore and/or read about their quests.

If applied to real life; however, perhaps instant gratification is a good thing. Tutorials should be explicit and clear in the real world because there is no “fun” in figuring out what you should be doing at your new job or class. And perhaps people just want to learn the basics so they can get to the “meat” of the game.

So, is instant gratification in games a good thing?