An article about not assuming what players will definatley do

[Jon N/A]

Dave Grossman has written an interesting 4page article about an experience he had showing his adventure game (Sam and Max season 1) to his Mother-in-Law who according to him is a very-very curious woman that actually asked Dave to show her some of his games.

For those who have not played Sam and Max, Don't worry, you don't need any experience of playing Sam and Max, he explains everything.

[Thomas]

I really liked the article!

I'll give it away now: the cheese is stacked in the closet. What we expect the player to do at this point is to click on things around the office and hear some funny dialog, until they think to click on the closet door, which opens to reveal the cheese.

Subject M kept watching the screen for probably a minute. Then she asked, "How long are they going to look for the cheese?"

[QXD-me]

An invaluble resource for anyone who wants their games to be accessible to non-'gamers'. I would like to highlight some bits which I think were especially important, but the problem is that they all were. A couple (such as the bit titled 'The Unknown Is a Dangerous Place') are similar to things I had noticed myself both in a game context, but also just a general using computer software context.

Thanks a lot for sharing this

[Jon N/A]

Thanks a lot for sharing this

You're very welcome

I really liked the article!

I'll give it away now: the cheese is stacked in the closet. What we expect the player to do at this point is to click on things around the office and hear some funny dialog, until they think to click on the closet door, which opens to reveal the cheese.

Subject M kept watching the screen for probably a minute. Then she asked, "How long are they going to look for the cheese?"

Yeah that part was really funny although at the same time it's pretty much sad and a really big eye-opener.
One thing, are you sure you read the whole 4 pages Thomas? I'm just assuming you didn't since that paragraph you quoted was on the first page... just making sure you guys enjoy the whole article

[Thomas]

Yeah I read the whole thing a few days ago actually (Have gamasutra on rss feed)

[Utforska]

Great article. It reminds me a bit of how children or young teenagers who start to watch "grown up" movies often have a hard time understanding everything. They often miss things that are clearly hinted to, and when they realize this they tend to ask questions about all kinds of things, including things that have yet to be revealed.

When grown ups watch movies, we might assume that they are a "neutral" form a storytelling, but you clearly have to learn how they work before you can enjoy them fully. The same is probably true for all types of media...

[Albin Bernhardsson]

Great article. It reminds me a bit of how children or young teenagers who start to watch "grown up" movies often have a hard time understanding everything. They often miss things that are clearly hinted to, and when they realize this they tend to ask questions about all kinds of things, including things that have yet to be revealed.

My mother does that as well.

[QXD-me]

Great article. It reminds me a bit of how children or young teenagers who start to watch "grown up" movies often have a hard time understanding everything. They often miss things that are clearly hinted to, and when they realize this they tend to ask questions about all kinds of things, including things that have yet to be revealed.

My mother does that as well.

Exactly the same for me.

Also, I never really did the asking about things in movies, I just sort of accepted the things I'd seen and didn't really bother with anything else. Of course that's probably a pretty limited way to do it. I'm sure it shows me to not be very inquisitive, or to at least have a different kind of inquisitiveness to most.