Or that every ducking time an application developer pushes an update, they feel the need to pop up something in front of me the next time I open the application. The worst time to do that is when I first open the application because that's when I've made the intentional choice to use it to get something done and the last thing I want is for that flow to be interrupted.
The irritation is tripled if it's an un-skippable "let us walk you through the nineteen changes in a slowly constructed slideshow!"
This is second only to applications that don't properly retain state--especially after an update--so every time I open them I get a brief glimpse of what once was (and what I probably wanted to go back to) before I get a 50/50 split of being dumped to the application home screen or "oops, something has gone wrong! lol, software, yannow! Please to be logging in once more, thx."
"We've improved the way you interact with our app!"
>click next.
Cursor slowly moves to the upper-right corner of the screen. "We've added a 'search by topic' functionality to our help menu! No more need to scroll alphabetically!"
>click next
Cursor slowly moves to the lower left corner of the screen. A red circles appears, pulsing. "The toolbar now displays the two-letter country code that your operating system is set to. Useful for travelers!"
>click next
Cursor slowly moves to the upper middle of the screen. A popup appears. "If you have forgotten to fill out your phone number and email address in the Account Options, a helpful reminder will appear each time you start the program. This will help you reap a number of useful benefits that sharing your information allows!"
"Hello, my inquiry is whether or not AppleCare+ covers spontaneously throwing my laptop out the window thus it falls down three stories into a storm drain. No, this is purely hypothetical. Yes, I'll wait while you research."
If it requires a tutorial for all users, that’s called a manual and it doesn’t have to appear on launch or force you to read it. Unskippable step by step tooltip guides are the absolute worst.
Many features are better off hard to find and left that way than shoved-in-your-face discoverable, or introduced by a tutorial. Those who want to get the most out of their tools will find them and will appreciate you treating them like fellow intelligent beings. The rest will never know what they missed and won’t worry about it either.
> If it requires a tutorial for all users, that’s called a manual and it doesn’t have to appear on launch or force you to read it. Unskippable step by step tooltip guides are the absolute worst.
Lots of game developers have conducted extensive research and found that player retention is considerably higher when you "annoy" them with these things rather than just throw them to the wolves and tell them to RTFM.
There's basically two reasons to make games: to make money, or to make art. You can try to do both at once, of course; and focusing on one doesn't necessarily detract from the other.
Consider FromSoftware, for instance; often pilloried by the gaming press for their lack of difficulty scaling or tutorials, but adored by their fans and able to turn a tidy profit with each release. Similar, but less well-known, would be Spiderweb Software; which has steamrolled along for decades without breaking their artistic style.
Not everyone wants to be the next Candy Crush or Clash of Clans; many just want to create an experience that they would enjoy.
I don't think the presence of tutorials automatically count against artistic merit, unless they are done badly.
From Software games are more hands-off because their goal is to make the player discover the mechanics and systems on their own. Not every game wants to do that, and as such I don't think games like Halo: Combat Evolved or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time are automatically worse for this. In the latter case, I think the unskippable tutorial section pulls double duty in setting up Link's backstory; You're with him as he first learns how to fight, use his shield, etc. before going off on a grand adventure.
From Soft games are also not immune to the unskippable tutorial mission. Both Elden Ring and Sekiro start you off in a relatively safe linear level with pop ups teaching you their basic mechanics.
I want to circle around back to the comment that started this though, because that user said they immediately uninstall and refund any game with an unskippable tutorial. Maybe they meant this as hyperbole and I'm just sitting here wooshed, but it seems like an extreme stance to take.
Indeed, tutorials do come in a great many varieties, and when it's done well the user may not even be aware that what they're experiencing is a tutorial. That has a strong tradition in game development; where a new ability or a new tool is provided to the user and the level is designed thereafter to allow the user to explore that new thing. That's closer to your Zelda or Halo.
Even FromSoftware games take this approach. Elden Ring has a whole opening stage that's clearly designed to expose users to core gameplay mechanics.
But then there's those unskippable dialogues, or the tedious "now press this input to perform this action" prompt found within a purpose-built tutorial area. Those, specifically those, are what I find cause for immediate product return.
There was some Need For Speed games on the PSP that were particularly awful for this. You'd be _racing_ and it would pause the gameplay to show you a dialog about how to drift or draft or somesuch; completely breaking the flow of the experience. That's what I would demand a refund for.
That said, art is subjective, and the experience is ultimately defined by the beholder. Maybe some people actually enjoy being brow beaten with unskippable prompts and hand-held through tediously constrained environments, with their experience jarringly interrupted at unexpected times by dialogs that break the suspension of disbelief.
If I applied this rigorous requirement to all games I purchase then I would have ended up missing out on some of the best games I've ever played. Like Ocarina of Time or Halo.
The irritation is tripled if it's an un-skippable "let us walk you through the nineteen changes in a slowly constructed slideshow!"
This is second only to applications that don't properly retain state--especially after an update--so every time I open them I get a brief glimpse of what once was (and what I probably wanted to go back to) before I get a 50/50 split of being dumped to the application home screen or "oops, something has gone wrong! lol, software, yannow! Please to be logging in once more, thx."