Gaming has become a very difficult hobby for people to get into. There are many reasons for this, and I've selected a few. Which of these do you believe is making it most difficult for people to break into gaming?

I believe it's complex control schemes. When I started playing games as a little kid, there was a D-Pad and a total of four buttons if you counted Start and Select. There are now 13 buttons, two analog sticks, and one D-Pad on 360 and PS3 controllers. To make matters worse, games employ multiple uses to each button and context-sensitive actions. I think that Nintendo's (mostly) simple and intuitive controls have given them a large boost in attracting new customers.

I think Nintendo would argue the point...

I'll go with the high price point. Sure, there are more expensive hobbies in the world, but that doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day, you're going to be spending upwards of around $300, and that's usually before you even purchase games to play.

all these listed are all pretty good reasons
But I went with money.
Thats what I feel personally

I voted on controls but it's not that controls are "complex". More so, it is that the controls are too abstract. Telling somone "you are that guy" and giving them two analog stick and 8 buttons just doesn't make sense to most people.

I like the abstraction of the controls but I do understand how abstract they are compared to on screen actions.

I think it's the skill thing, especially with online games (obviously). In games like Command and Conquer 3 or Halo 3, you show up a few months late to the party and suddenly you've got people overrunning your base with spammy air units (in the former game) or no-scoping you from ridiculous distances (in the latter). I got C&C 3 a year after it came out, and ive only had one win* online out of the twenty or more matches I've played.

*The win was when the opposing team all disconnected.

Personally, I don't think that the context sensitive thing prohibits many gamers or potentials. I watched my wife start playing at age 23 and she's given up on hardcore games, but games with context sensitive controls seem to be easier to figure out, because if the player doesn't know what to do, they press that button, and it usually works. In the best case scenario, there's a button icon that pops up when you're near.

The average civilian cannot work a controller, which is why the wii is so popular.

I don't think that's true, it seems to me that anyone who can work a computer can work a controller, and that does seem to be the majority of people these days.

Probably complexity of controllers. Also, I think that the reason that many people are turned off by hardcore games is that you can't really "relax" with them as you can with casual games.

Overall, I would have to go with a general answer of high complexity required to play and fully enjoy hardcore games. It's too bad really. If people just sat down and spent a little time just figuring it out, they could easily get the hang of it. Unfortunately, most people just don't seem to be that patient.

I think money is a major issue with gaming. Me living comfortable as I do, I can blow almost all my money on games, but I know a lot of people who simply don't have that kind of money to spend every time a new games come out, and they have to save it for the really major releases and end up playing those games a long time after a lot of other people have moved on.

For the problems such as skill, game mechanics, or controls, I don't think those are really problems for gamers. Those are simply the things that make gamers gamers. If those are problems for you, chances are that the problem isn't with them, it's you. No offense, just saying that it's not a problem for gamers, just a problem for non-gamers.

BleachedBlind:
Gaming has become a very difficult hobby for people to get into. There are many reasons for this, and I've selected a few. Which of these do you believe is making it most difficult for people to break into gaming?

I believe it's complex control schemes. When I started playing games as a little kid, there was a D-Pad and a total of four buttons if you counted Start and Select. There are now 13 buttons, two analog sticks, and one D-Pad on 360 and PS3 controllers. To make matters worse, games employ multiple uses to each button and context-sensitive actions. I think that Nintendo's (mostly) simple and intuitive controls have given them a large boost in attracting new customers.

Complex controls? *looks at his keyboard, looks at his 360 controller--laughs*. Because alot of people getting into gaming aren't gamers. They're people getting into it because of rising mainstream market appeal and believe me, games are suffering. Frankly I could give a rat's arse about attracting more "simple" people to gaming; its just more wallets to lower the bar for. Does that sound harsh? Eh, I suppose it is but that doesn't mean its not true.

I've always been amazed how hard of a time my friends have in trying to pick up the controls for a console game because it all seems entirely elementary to me. *shrug*

Skill is always going to be the biggest issue. Even I have trouble really being genuinely competitive because, despite playing games for two decades now, I never made the mental leap from "casual" to "pro". Thankfully I'm still good enough to have fun and even do well, more often than not.

I don't think it's any of those options, people who aren't gamers from an early age usually have the mind set that games are for kids and that with adulthood and maturity playing games is no longer acceptable.

The good thing is with the creation of games like Brain Training and 42 All Time Classics it's starting to change people's view that games can be for adults.

I don't think it even has specifically to do with games. I've said before in other threads that the original fan base for games (and especially PC games) was comprised mostly of nerds and other similar high IQ/low social aptitude individuals; the "smart" people, if you will. Games are appealing to these sorts of people because there tends to be alot going on in them, it makes your brain work. Its interactive mental engagement that you don't really get from, say, watching TV. Nerds like it when their brain works, that's why nerds loved/love video games. Though sure, there's always been plenty of people who just play games because they're fun ways to waste time as well.

I voted controls. I started gaming relatively later in my life than most of you guys have; the Gamecube was my first console... For the first few months, I sometimes had to look down at the controller because I had forgotten the button placements. Of course, this habit has disappeared nowadays.

silentsentinel:
I voted controls. I started gaming relatively later in my life than most of you guys have; the Gamecube was my first console... For the first few months, I sometimes had to look down at the controller because I had forgotten the button placements. Of course, this habit has disappeared nowadays.

I will say, the GC controller is a little more retarded than most so I can't fault you too much for that. :D

woah those votes are sure spread out!

I voted "subject matter", number one reason for people to do something or not do that something is whether they LIKE it, I think ^^;

SIMS is soooo enormously popular, did it surpass mario (the former #1) already in total number of franchise sales?

It was the exact same price
It had the exact same stigma, it was a game
It took as much, if not more, time to play

The difference? It was not about orcs or space marines, but about something all those people actually liked

I would have to say option H: None of the Above.

Gaming is something you either have an interest in, or don't. We aren't here arguing about people getting into gaming in general, only into PC gaming... So that in mind, I'd figure the biggest barrier on getting into PC gaming is owning a PC. And it's no different than not owning X Y or Z console.

I own a PS2. My barrier for getting into PS3 gaming is not having a PS3. The reason behind not having a PS3 is the same as the reason for not having anything else in the world, money. Even people with lots of money know that it's not limitless. So if you get into gaming, usually you have to choose one platform. Back in the NES days, the consoles were cheaper. Easier to buy a $100 NES than a $3000 486pc. The NES gets old, still cheaper to get an N64 than a $1500 Pentium II. But today, a PC can run as low as $300, whereas the XBox or PS3 have hit well over the half-grand mark. So PCs have been brought down to an affordable level, now the only barrier is that you buy one console/computer, it is often better to buy six games for the console you have, than spend the same money on a new system.

Gaming is something you either have an interest in, or don't.

wii, ds, sims...

I think the main reason is simply that the older generations look down on games in the same way movies and rock and roll were once looked down on. Every person today under the age of 30 is at least aware of games. Give it another couple of decades, and they'll be given the same sort of acceptance as any other entertainment form.

Though I'd also like to point out how expensive it can be. Most people look on games as being a similar, if more interactive experience to films, yet the price difference is huge. I can pick up a decent film, brand new, for a tenner. Games can cost anything up to £50 ($100), and half of them these days are barely any longer than your average film. It's hard to draw in new fans when there's such an expense factor to overcome.

The barrier to entry, to actually playing, is mostly money and (my choice) social stigma. The others are important, but those are not as much barriers to actual entry into gaming as reasons to get frustrated with it after a while of multiplayer (a good single player game remedies this).

One of them isn't even close to being a barrier to entry, and that's high level skill. I know tons of people who could care less if they were any good (to the detriment of the team, of course).

I'm a gamer, I have been for years and years, but i'm still a Neophyte to FPS games on consoles. I managed to play through Halo, and then it wasn't until Mass Effect (yeah, I know, it's a third person shooter/RPG, but the control scheme is the same) that I really got interested in them again. So now I'm trudging along, playing through Bioshock, and now trying to play through Halflife 2..

FPS controls can be daunting to the uninitiated, especially on a console, it's not nearly as intuitive as a mouse, but truthfully, now that I'm getting adequate (I'll probably never catch up in proficiency to my friends who were playing Goldeneye and Halo while I was playing OoT and KOTOR) it's actually quite fun, but it definately takes some getting used to.

I can't imagine a real new gamer would be able to grasp the controls any quicker then I was able to.

j-e-f-f-e-r-s:

Though I'd also like to point out how expensive it can be. Most people look on games as being a similar, if more interactive experience to films, yet the price difference is huge. I can pick up a decent film, brand new, for a tenner. Games can cost anything up to £50 ($100), and half of them these days are barely any longer than your average film. It's hard to draw in new fans when there's such an expense factor to overcome.

Well, you omit the expense of traveling to a parallel universe where decent films actually exist. Though surely, I kid. The same can be said for games, anyhow. Not all games cost 60 bucks though.

BleachedBlind:
Gaming has become a very difficult hobby for people to get into.

Really? You buy a console, you put the game in and you start playing. Doesn't sound that hard to me.

The gaming industry has tripled in value in the last ten years. Even taking inflation into account, that's a gargantuan level of growth. It suggests, to me at least, that gaming isn't all that hard to get into.

DeadlyFred:

j-e-f-f-e-r-s:

Though I'd also like to point out how expensive it can be. Most people look on games as being a similar, if more interactive experience to films, yet the price difference is huge. I can pick up a decent film, brand new, for a tenner. Games can cost anything up to £50 ($100), and half of them these days are barely any longer than your average film. It's hard to draw in new fans when there's such an expense factor to overcome.

Well, you omit the expense of traveling to a parallel universe where decent films actually exist. Though surely, I kid. The same can be said for games, anyhow. Not all games cost 60 bucks though.

It comes down to trying to find the most value for your games, as is true in anything. Some games have loads of replay value and extras, other games you play through them once, put them on the shelf and never play them again. Trying to find the former and avoid the latter is key in being a successful gamer.

Why do ya'll see money as a hard entry? :p

I know I got my first console & games by scouting the second-hand ads of local newspapers for second-hands. Cheap enough (we're talking about the N64 here, compared to that, games have actually become CHEAPER). Nowadays with the internet it's even easier

No, I don't think gaming is too hard to get into. I think this thread would be more appropriate if it was about Warhammer or a similar hobby. There's not much social stigma in my school and joining people from your year on Xbox Live is a good way to make friends.
As for the Wii, I don't think it counts as real gaming. Call me an elitist nerd, but people who start on the Wii aren't real gamers, at least not in the Escapist sense.

Games hard to get in to? I find that everyone of a young age finsds it incredibly easy to get into games and like one game or another. My gaming hating sisters love Tekken for example.

The only people who find it hard to get into games are those who had a childhood pre-home console.

I'd say for most people, it is social things. But the thing that makes me less 'hardcore' (i.e, a Wii owner) than other 'proper' gamers is money. 360 and PS3 are just too much for me financially. Plus i know what I'm gonna get with Nintendo, unending sadistic dissapointment which I will take on the chin and pray for the next Mario to be even more god-like than the next.

Here's another reason for why I think it's 'subject matter': EVERY SINGLE commercial about games on tv is about shooters (this is pre-wii, and if I go with other posters here, wii doesn't count anyways). This in turn shapes the idea people have about games as a whole.

How many people would go to the movies if they had the idea there would only be die-hard action movies?

I'm fine with everything else but the buttons... that's why i hate using controllers and thus playing consoles in general... cause it's a pain in the arse to use all the required buttons and not have a mouse and a 'board.
Goooo keyboards. And mice.

Wow, I'm surprised how varied the responses are. I was expecting a bit more of a general consensus. For those here who don't think it is difficult to get into gaming, I think you're partially right. Speaking simply, it's as easy as buying a console and a game. But what about getting the hang of the game itself? Using the system's internet accounts? As Escapist dwellers, there are a lot of things that we can do in our sleep that newcomers to the gaming field may not have an easy time grasping. Aside from system requirements and fine tuning the graphical settings for your PC, you have to patch your games yourself (unless it's Steam or the like). Or what about basic control schemes and interface setups? Most of us could grab a first person shooter, real-time strategy game, or role playing game and know what at least half of the controls and statistics mean.

Some of us had the opportunity to learn all of this slowly. Since I've been playing games from the time I was 2 on the NES, games have slowly evolved. This evolution makes games (arguably) better and more involving. Since this happened slowly for my age group, we were able to grasp new concepts one by one as the field grew. For gamers coming into the market today, they've missed the slow speed-up and just have to hit the ground running. My point is that all the increases in barriers, like money, controls, etc., were given to us in increments. New gamers have to take it all in at once, and that puts them at a disadvantage.