Respectful Tutorial Implementation

For many, the frustration of sitting through a tutorial is insufferable and I am no exception. I will be the first to admit, however, that they are sometimes needed for those with a low level of game literacy. Consequently, for those with higher levels of game literacy, tutorials detract from the overall experience of the game and can cause disinterest in continuing before unaided gameplay even begins.

I am an advocate for player discretion, or the right for players to tailor their experience within the context of a game. Simply put, if a tutorial is present, it is the responsibility of the UX designer to integrate some highly visible (or otherwise apparent) method of skipping it before it even begins. The exact implementation of the method will likely be done on a case-by-case basis.

For those that are completely against tutorials, make sure that your target audience will be 100% on board with that decision. If it is unclear what the prospective audience will think, try to carefully tune the difficulty of your game with subtle hints through environmental queues, scripted events, or even subtle tutorial messages that don’t interrupt gameplay.

There are many great games that do this all the time and, though these elements are often unappreciated by the very players they help, it does not detract from the user experience. Make sure to keep an eye out for these types of information delivery methods (if you haven’t already). You never know what may inspire new passive learning techniques!