DA:I, controls and immersion
The newest BioWare game just came out. I sat ready at 23:59. The clock struck
midnight and Origin pointed out that Dragon Age: Inquisition was playable. I
jumped right in. Excited.
40 minutes later I’m pissed. And I’m not alone.
The controls on PC are terrible. An insult to dedicated PC players. The
ones the original DA and Mass Effect was made for. BioWares peeps.
The game was undoubtedly designed for and on console. But come on, you
said you were going back to what made DA:O great. We thought that also meant controls
optimized for PC. Or at least not the worst control scheme in the series. Oh well.
Why is it such a prob. And why are people so mad?
Controls are important for our enjoyment of a game.
If you go to the official DA:I forum a lot of people are disappointed
and angry. Some even got refunds.
The user Xralius says:
“I highly doubt as PC users Bioware
will ever respect us, but at least that might make them notice us.”
And
“Bioware LIED to its fans when it
said it was making this game for the PC first and foremost. That is OBVIOUSLY
not the case.”
Yankblan says:
“I sympathize with the PC controls
problems, but the game mechanics and devs choices won't be fixed”
So the controls for PC is definitely a problem.
If you look at the forum 7 of threads on the front page is about PC problems1.
Mostly controls. About ¼ of all the threads. One thread is titled: “Entire game designed for consoles, an insult
to PC gamers everywhere.” Is maybe a bit too much. Saying “Bioware has no integrity.”
But the top thread, the one with most views and replies is “The controls
for this game on the PC need attention”.
Now when I explain what the biggest PC control problem is it might seem
like a small thing. But it is not.
You can’t move by holding the left and right mouse buttons or click on
things to move to them. Like you do in other RPGs and the previous DA games. And
you cannot link controls to mouse buttons, the mouse controls cannot be
changed.
But can’t you just learn the new control or use a controller? Well yes
and no.
Learning the controls, the new controls, takes time and focus away from the
rest of the game. Especially if you thought you knew the controls and didn’t
think you needed to spend time on them, again.
Like buying a new bike, being ready and excited to give it a spin. And
then finding you forgot how to ride.
You only have a certain amount of brain capacity to engage with a game,
or anything else for that matter. Gordon Calleja’s model of Immersion is built
on that fact.
It has six different frames: Kinesthetic, Spatial, Shared, Narrative, Affective
and Ludic. What they all entail is not important right here. The point is that
to be immersed you have to engage with all 6, fully. So if you have to think too
much about one, say the kinesthetic, you don’t have brain capacity to engage
with something else.
The important one here is the kinesthetic involvement, which is learning
and using controls.
Usually good controls should disappear in the mind of the player. You
don’t think about games as pressing triangle, circle and square in a specific
order. There is exceptions to this, games where the controller and therefore controls
are in focus. Games like Guitar Hero or Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Here a
big part of the game is kinesthetic involvement so it makes sense to spend a
lot of brain capacity on the controls. It doesn’t take away from the rest of
the game because that IS the game.
There seems to be two schools of thought regarding the controller. One
that the controller should disappear in the mind of the player. The second that
the controller should be in the forefront of the game experience. Both indicates
how important good controls are.
“The controller is what connects us
to the game and enables us to play, but it is the part of play that we are
least likely to reflect on” (Kirkpatrick, page 111)
That is as long as it works. So when it doesn’t work it messes with our
ability to play.
“While a player’s attention might
initially be focused on the controls whilst learning to play a particular videogame,
after a certain competency is reached this attention shifts away” (Bayliss,
page 100)
Until that happens you can’t fully engage with the other parts of the
game.
So in DA:I I’m using a lot of energy on walking and running. I’m not appreciating
the beautiful vistas of Feralden and Orlais. The narrative is for the most the
most part experienced while standing still. One of the big draws for DA:I is
the tactical combat and the game definitely not easy if you want to do well. But
when you have to think about moving, it is hard to be tactical. You also end up
making silly mistakes. Being bad at the game feels like you are being punished
more than you made a mistake. And that’s frustrating.
For other PC players it is bad enough. But for me and others that in no
way can use a controller it is disastrous. Learning the controls and achieving
embodiment is more than a challenge, it is an insurmountable barrier. It becomes
almost impossible to reach the competency needed for the controls to disappear
and free up brain power to engage with the rest of the game.
If you can’t engage with the game it’s hard to
enjoy.
So for now,
fuck Dragon Age.
Notes:
Of course
BioWare is saying they get it and is going to fix some of the concerns in a
upcoming patch
1: As of 20th
of november
Ludography:
BioWare.
Dragon Age Inquisition. 2014
505 Games. Brothers:
A Tale of Two Sons. 2013
Harmonix.
Guitar Hero. 2005
Bibliography:
Calleja,
Gordon. In-Game: From Immersion to Incorporation, The MIT Press 2011
Bayliss,
Peter - Toward a Sense of Embodied Gameplay
Kirkpatrick,
G Games & Culture. 2009;4(2):127-143. Controller, Hand, Screen - Aesthetic
Form in the Computer Game
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