Do we interact in the same way in videogames?

Have you ever think about how you interact in a videogame? When I was young, the few things that I remember when I played a videogame was that I have some difficulties to play when I interact in the game, for example, I was very clumsy with the controller, or even I have some difficulties at the time when I tried to know where I have to go in a 3D area.

Also, I even remember that I saw all the content of the videogame in a different way that I could observed now. Why? I don′t have a real answer because I′m not a psycologist but I would like to show you my point of view about this.

The way that we see the world when we were young

Well, it′s not like I′m not still young but the truth is that I couldn′t see the world as I was 5 years old. I was looking for information about this and all this situation could be influed it by the madurative capacity of the human brain and neurological network in our brain.

But if we only focus at this point I think that we could avoid some other interesting aspects about why we are seeing the world in differents eras or periods of our lives. Because, I think that on one hand it could be interesting to focus also in how the scenario is built to show the point of view of the company or the player's development team, along with the reasoning and psychomotor capacity of the user who is playing.

In my point of view, a videogame is made up of several psychological aspects that help the player to capture all their attention within it. From my point of view, the most important are the visual and sound, after all they are the most basic elements that exist in any human being.

The set of these actions that are developed through psychomotor skills give way to ideomotor skills (the brain's ability to develop certain actions through information that it already has stored).

Therefore perhaps this is what allows each individual to experience the same action that takes place within a game differently at certain stages of their life.

Videogames stages are designed to everyone?

As I have talked about in the previous section, in my opinion the gameplay is affected by psychomotor development, so adapting this to the level design can be a bit difficult.

I think this is the most difficult point we can have in creating a video game. Through level design, I think we can find several problems that we have to take into account, on the one hand we have the problem of level design adapting simple gameplay so that the youngest and inexperienced audience can adapt and enjoy the game without problems, However, doing this can trigger another problem, if the level design is made too simple to be able to adapt these controls, a certain part of the audience may complain (either the expert or those inexperienced adults who adapt by nature faster to these controls).

But the problem does not end there, if we make a complex level design with simple gameplay so as not to bore the audience, we will be excluding that more inexperienced audience or that very young audience that is just starting out in videogames.

One of the clearest examples that I can remember and that I felt first-hand and that I still remember from my childhood are the first Harry Potter games for PS2. In fact, I don't remember which of the first two was one of my first games, however I remember being frustrated by the design of the first level, which was a kind of farm, which for my 5 or 6-year-old boy seemed unintuitive and with some quite complex controls for my age. The game was categorized as PEGI+3/TP or E (EVERYONE), so it was easily assumed that it would be easy to adapt, and from there I would like to ask a question on the air, which if I tell you the truth, I have no idea if this is taken into account : When rating the age for the audience of a videogame, does the gameplay take into account whether it is complex or not, apart from, of course, the content?

I think this fact would be quite important to help the public guide the player to better adapt to the game and enjoy it. Obviously it is very difficult to be able to guide a very general level design so that everyone can enjoy it, in fact very few sagas achieve it like Super Mario Bros or Sonic the Hedgehog, although they also sometimes have these types of problems.

Platform games in general are a good example of how level designs can become quite general for everyone to enjoy, the fact that many times in both 2D and 3D level designs, they opt for various routes depending on the level design. of the player's level and that in turn any type of player can play by opting for these specific imaginary routes so to speak, they greatly facilitate the connection in terms of enjoying the game.

I think that in addition to this there is a difficulty that adults lose over the years in our youth. Are we able to remember how a child or adolescent interacts with the game environment?

In my opinion (and I'm probably wrong), I think that adults may tend to have a greater facility when it comes to performing a more complex level for those people in this age range, after all we are aware of how We interact within the game and what draws our attention the most, as well as what type of gameplay we tend to prefer within it, we can perhaps remember what draws our attention the most, but at the end of the day it is just that, memories, so being able to recreate that more childish gameplay in an adult way becomes more difficult or tedious for UX design.

I think that people tend to think that the younger the player is, the easier it is to represent that level within the game, however, on the contrary, I think that it is the other way around to have to recreate an environment that facilitates a more childish mind. A fairly rewarding gaming experience is usually quite tedious, because unfortunately as adults we have already lost that vision of the environment or the world at that age, and also, this becomes more difficult if you want to make a game so that all types of audiences can enjoy it.

For me this may be a little easier if we take into account the different genres of games, since genres, as I have already mentioned before, such as platforms, sports, or even puzzles, can be a gateway to the younger player this hobby. On the other hand, the character and the environment move through some basic commands that the developer can then make more complex depending on the game itself.

For example, the interface of Professor Layton's games can be complex, but it moves through some basic exploration parameters that help the player visually at all times to be able to recognize the type of direction in which the game is telling you to follow the story.

In sports and automotive games, the player has to follow a circuit, and the control of the cars, although it can be complex depending on the developer of said game, the truth is that yes or yes, it imposes more basic controls on the game. regarding the handling of the car, so the inexperienced and young player does not have to have prior knowledge or more professional handling of the control so that the car circulates around the circuit, the more experienced player will be in charge of using these more developed commands if you want.

On the platforms genere, as I have already mentioned, apart from the controls, and the same thing that happens with the controls of sports games, is applied here, in turn, the games have several routes so that the player can always know where to continue with the level without major difficulty. If the player wants to opt for a more difficult route, the level environment itself will guide him to go with that option, however, if the most inexperienced player does not know where to go, the level design will be in charge of directing him. a route that is easier to finish said level and continue with the game's story.

The space of the stage itself also affects this interaction. When the player is younger or is just starting to get into this scenario, they tend to be more clumsy with the controls, therefore more closed scenarios can be a double-edged sword.

In the case of RPG games, if the stage is too small, the younger player may feel more overwhelmed as he may collide with all the objects or with the invisible walls of the stage. In turn, related to this, the objects and their decoration that are shown within the scenario could be an "help" to the stress that the younger player can undergo in that more closed scenario.

From my point of view, the NPCs could be related as interactive objects within the scenario. I think that people tend not to take these interactions with the character into account as much, but for me I think it is a key point to indicate how the user interacts within the scenario apart from the objects and collisions of the scenario.

Let's be realistic, many times as players we tend to ignore the interaction with these types of characters, especially when we are children, however, depending on the stage we are in we can interact with said NPCs. For example, a child who is learning to read will try to interact a little more with these NPCs than a child, for example, who already knows how to read and just wants to see the continuation of the story without going through so much dialogue. On the other hand, an older person may want to delve deeper into the story through these NPCs, or an adult who does not have much time to play may also not mind interacting with them.

The problem/issue I see here is not with the NPC itself but with the type of conversation that is established within these NPCS. They often tend to be quite banal conversations that do not contribute anything to the game or even short conversations that go nowhere, so depending on the audience that game is intended for, it would be interesting if these conversations could be developed a little more.

From my point of view, I think that it is possible that many times developers, for fear of boring the player, decide to put quite classic conversations that do not affect other aspects as much as the playability of the game or the story for fear of receiving bad ratings, but to improve this aspect could perhaps even improve the experience of the game itself.

Is there something more?

Other elements that I already talked about in previous articles, such as the background of the stage and the colors, help the player to have a totally different individual experience. However, I also think that the camera perspective is one of the most important points to take into account within the scenario for the player.

I think I had already talked about this in an article, but the camera perspective helps players see the scenario in a totally different way, that is why having what we call the in-game camera (at least in Spanish is We call this) or the vision of the character's movement point is of utmost importance for the player to interact in "x" or "y" way within the game.

If the camera is not well configured within the game, the player will feel a different sensation than what the game itself or even the developers themselves want to convey. In turn, this could misunderstand some parts of the scenario that have been developed because of this problem.

For those 2D games I think there is not so much of a problem, but for 3D platform, adventure or even RPG games the camera positioning point it′s crucial so that the player can understand the perspective of the game.

The configuration of the character's movements is another important point, if we move the character too quickly and without a measured stopping point, it can trigger problems with the configuration of the stage itself. In fact, this could influence how the player perceives the entire game environment and seeing that the character's movement settings are quite annoying could cause the player to lose interest in the game itself.

If, for example, we add to this that the youngest player tends to collide with objects and invisible collision walls due to their lack of psychomotor learning, and that they may also have more difficulties when it comes to understanding the general scenario, it can be quite tedious for this audience to play.

As you can see, all these elements, although they may individually seem unimportant, help to create coherence within the game and the player's experience.

Neuronal Music Nostalgia and the vibration of the controller

Music and the different sound elements have a greater impact when we are little, this is an aspect that they have always been teaching us since school, why? Basically our brain is still acquiring information that we did not know before while we are developing, that is why I think that the music and sounds of some elements in video games, apart from setting the scene, help the person to move through from the stage.

The fact that you hear a noise and it automatically directs that sensation towards that part of the stage is simply psychological in my opinion. Sometimes it is not necessary to direct the viewer with instructions as I mentioned in the previous article, sometimes things are more intuitive.

What is true is that music helps the younger and older player to act as a catalyst for certain actions within the game, and interact in different ways. For example, in the case of a child, if we put him to play in a horror scenario and he heard, in addition to gloomy music, sound elements of this style such as the sound of the broken branch when walking, etc., he would act in a way more fearful than, for example, if an adult were handling the video game character in that same scenario.

The sound in turn allows you to catalyze and enhance the player's imagination to anticipate the next movements that may occur on stage. This is even better for a younger audience, as it helps to enhance that element of imagination and enjoy the game in a higher degree.

If we add "tactile" elements such as vibration on the controller with certain actions and mixing them with sounds, we further enhance the player's experience within the game. For example, if we configure the vibration for when those players who collide with elements of the stage vibrate, the youngest player, for example, will be able to realize that that is not the way.

If we also develop different styles of vibration according to the scene that is taking place on stage, this is amplified in the audience's sensation.

What do you think about this aspect? I hope that an expert on this topic can expand this information.

I think that it′s for that reason that music genere games are so popular in teenagers audience...

My final thoughts

I did not want to extend this article too much in my opinion, I would like to know more about your opinion on this issue. I believe that the way each individual interacts is totally different but that there may be general patterns that can be identified to reach a common point when developing the player experience.

At the same time, I believe that it is a top priority to be able to acquire more information from that younger audience regarding how they interact with the game. After all, the younger a person is, the more difficult it is for them to express what they like or don't like. of the game, as well as the way he interacts within it. At the same time, by having the most developed capacity for imagination, new ideas could be acquired that can be implemented in subsequent videogames.

Companies like Sony, SEGA or even Nintendo, in my opinion, have known very well how to adapt this dynamic to be able to satisfy any type of audience. However, older people believe that we must also have a responsibility when it comes to filtering and commenting on the defects of the experience within a video game. There are times that, although the adult audience is also interested in playing the same game as the younger audience (as in the case of games like Sonic the Hedgehog, Pokémon, or even Super Mario Bros), they do not realize that said game is for said young audience, and they tend to bring out defects that from an adult perspective we would not like but that perhaps that young audience is okay with.

An example of this are some Sonic games such as Sonic Unleashed in which they asked for a more adult theme and longer scenarios, the conclusion was that both parties were dissatisfied after playing this game, especially due to the duration of these scenarios, since they were quite long and complicated for the younger audience. And here the question is, was it the audience's own fault for not showing reasonable feedback, or was it the company's fault for not filtering the feedback from the previous installments of this saga? Here, if I'm telling you the truth, I think that from my point of view, it was the fault of both, the more adult audience requested a radical change for the next product in this installment aimed at a more adult audience, and the company, obviously and as is normal I wanted to make a game for everyone that would satisfy both audiences. As good news, over time it has become one of the favorite installments of fans of the blue hedgehog.

The truth is that I have nothing more to express as far as I remember. The player's experience is usually quite individual but can be put into common for a general audience, the fact that each person likes a specific detail of the game is something unique and difficult to segment when it comes to to make a game or a continuation of a video game saga, I still find it very interesting that this happens, and I hope that someone with more knowledge of psychology or an amateur psychologist interested in this topic can expand on this information or elaborate on it. What do you think, does the player's individual experience define what a good game is?

*What is written and shown here is only my individual opinion, which has nothing to do with any opinion or knowledge that exists in the company I work for.

Thank you very much for reading the article, it has been a while since I wrote but the truth is that I loved giving my opinion on this topic. I hope that one day someone with more knowledge about this type of more psychological issues can resolve some doubts raised in the article. Please feel free to show your opinion.

Finally I want to apologize if you have seen any mistakes in writing, I have had problems with the editing and I have had to redo some parts.

Thanks to everyone for your support. See you!