Instructions vs Tutorials

[Narj]

What with downloads being much more popular these days, it seems that the days of the instruction manual are pretty much numbered.

Has anyone else noticed that even with retail games, the most you get in many cases is a "quick start" pamphlet?

I remember the days when I'd buy a game, read the manual on the commute to/from work to get an idea of what's going on, then fire the game up when I got home and get going without having to do tutorial missions and the like.

Admittedly, some games seem to suit a tutorial mode more than others, but could the fact that so many people are impatient these days and unwilling to read through a manual be contributing to the "dumbing down" of games, especially RPGS?

 

[Narj]

I'm not sure about the "many people are impatient these days" I think it's always been that way somewhat. I remember as a kid I'd only read the manual of a new game while I was waiting for mum to finish the shopping or when installing.

You're right, but I think it's more prevalent these days (now we're in an age of instant everything); look back at the days of BG2 when the manual was more like a doorstep.

Also, I *HATE* games that don't allow you to skip the tutorial level(s) for each new game!

Manuals do have their uses, even for pretty simple games - I mean, these days I sometimes have to keep checking the controls options page if I've not played a game for a while, which gets annoying. A paper manual or reference card is handy in this case. Hrm, has there ever been a Steam "Display/Print manual" option? Thinking about it, an overlay for displaying a game manual would be nice.

It were all fields around here in my day...etc

 

[Narj]

one thing that annoys the hell out of me is......pdf manuals!!!

If it hasn't got one at all, fine, if you just want to use a tutorial, fine, but don't bloody bother with a pdf manual because I can't bloody read it when I am in the game anyway!

This is why I thought a book-flip style manual overlay for Steam would be nice

But yeah, as above, I liked all the colour stuff you got with some games... big fold out maps, back-story, sometimes you even got comics... I remember the "Newspaper" that came with Rockstar Ate My Hamster years ago - hilarious!