How We Interact with Our Games

There are a couple of factors of fundamental gameplay elements that can really make or break a game, like NPC pathing, the camera, or the controls. Of these key components, one of the first things a player will notice is the graphical interface. And, seeing as it’s the primary way the player receives information regarding their character’s status, the quality of an interface can elevate a game from mediocrity to greatness or it can easily break an otherwise positive experience.

When looking at a game’s interface, we need to take note of what genre we’re looking at. For a first-person shooter, the player’s health, armor/shield status and ammo count should be accessible at all times. Role-playing games require less information to be available instantly, but more information needs to be navigable in the form of menus. As a result, some of the most complex interfaces known to gamers exist in the realm of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, This is because the character advancement and skill/spell abilities of a traditional RPG need to be balanced with text chat and a player driven economy.

A favorite MMO pastime: window-juggling.

By contrast, the simplest interfaces are usually found in single-player games that have simple controls. Also, games of a cinematic nature like Bioshock try to limit the amount of on-screen information elements because they tend to remind the player they’re playing a video game.

This minimalist approach can create a greater sense of immersion, but it can also leave the player oblivious to their character’s status. Peter Jackson’s King Kong, for instance, didn’t have any graphical information on screen at all, and the game suffered for it dramatically. Rather than having a health meter, the edges of the screen blurred red; and instead of having an ammo gauge, you actually had to press a button to have the main character tell you how much ammo you had left. You can imagine how all of this gets old really, really fast.

At least it looks pretty.

By comparison, Bioshock made use of this minimalist idea and crafted one of the best cinematic games of all time. The only information that was always on screen was the player’s health, Eve (aka mana) and the weapon that the player has equipped. Other information would appear as appropriate, ammo would show up as the player reloaded or as it was running low. The few items that were interactive would appear when they were in a usable context. The player never had to switch to an inventory screen and the game flowed smoothly with very few interruptions.

Games that require the player be more aware of fine details tend to stray away from this minimalist approach and would rather the player have every relevant piece of information at their fingertips. As I said, MMOs are the worst offenders of this, but simply because it works. The best example is World of Warcraft. The player has a massive number of blank boxes around the screen that seamlessly interact with spells, skills and inventory items. This versatility allows players to customize their on-screen display to a surprising degree out of the box, and user-created interface mods are also available all over our beloved interwebs. This interface is so successful that other MMO developers have tried to emulate large sections of it, or just rip it off wholesale *coughLord of the Rings Online-cough*.

WTF?

The worst example of this cluttered interface has got to be EVE Online. Now, I understand why EVE has to be so cluttered; because the player has to keep track of their ship’s status, navigation, drones, and any items they are buying or selling; not to mention all the communication controls that come with being a part of a corporation. Personally, I like EVE, it’s definitely a thinking person’s game and you have to stay on your toes, but in the brief time I played, I was unable to find any way to hotkey commands or move throughout a space effectively without constantly messing with drop down boxes. The interface is consistent at least, but getting acclimated to it is a Herculean test of patience.

The job of a video game interface is very similar to that of a film editor, in that it is successful if the player doesn’t think about it; therefore, quality graphical interfaces often get overlooked in favor of the game’s controls or the shiny pictures. If I could make a seemingly stupid request, the next time you fire up your favorite game, take a second and appreciate the visual interface. A lot of hard work and creativity went into streamlining it along with gameplay and its designers deserve some props.