Learning to Play the Right Way

Playing games "the best way" had a strong grasp on my young mind. The clearest example is the strategy guide. A tome that will instill players with the correct choice to make at every obstacle they encounter along their journey. Sure, the game tells you to use the Pokemon you like the best, but now I know that trainer has a Houndoom and I already needed a water type move to get here. The attachment to guides continued into my teenage years. Micromanaging your activities in Persona could be interesting, but what if you miss out on the final rank of the Tower Arcana social link you've only been half-reading?

This seems to have gotten worse as social media entered its current state. At one point or another, many of us have reached a point where we'd really appreciate a bit of help in a game, and the internet seemed like the easiest place to find it. Sometimes we get a video showcasing the solution for exactly the puzzle we can't quite wrap our heads around. Other times, we find threads of comments saying no one should even try to use our favorite characters because they do 10% less damage than two other characters we like a lot less.

And forget about alternative endings. The internet decides which one is the definitive ending everyone should strive for (even if that wasn't the developers' intention) and anyone who gets a different one clearly needs to be shown a guide to get it so they can experience the "real game" and not whatever failure the player found themselves at.

Certain games are hit by this way harder than others. One example I'm pretty familiar with is the Fire Emblem series. All online discussion for these games assumes you're playing on the hardest difficulty possible and that you're probably aiming for a low turn count. You like the Cleric with lower base stats that joins a few chapters later? You're basically playing the entire game wrong. And some games, like Undertale, risk having judgy commenters emerging from the woodworks at the slightest hint of sub-optimal play. Even though the game intends for you to make mistakes when you're new to it.

It's not always that extreme of course. But the fear that it will be can stop a lot of people from interacting in these spaces entirely. I know it's made me hesitate in the past. And that's a real shame. Like any hobby, being able to talk about your experiences with games should be fun and another thing to look forward to.

Despite them requiring you to "play incorrectly," self-imposed challenges don't subvert these problems. They're basically the same situation in a new outfit. The guides are less plentiful, but unless you're being real creative, you'll still be able to find strategies online. In fact, these challenges tend to make this while issue messier.

There was a time where I thought the Nuzlocke challenge was the "proper" way to play Pokemon games. My reasoning was that they encouraged you to use Pokemon you probably skipped over in the past and to put more thought into each individual battle. This was silly. I was basically tricking myself into playing in a way that I wasn't even particularly good at. There's so much to a Pokemon game and I had reduced it to little more than battles to a greater degree than my silly brain was already doing on its own.

And when we factor in the social internet - hoo boy. Should items be allowed during battle? Which areas actually count for new encounters? Level grinding? The discussions are tiring enough, I can't imagine being someone who shares their nuzlocke with an audience. Especially when you inevitably lose a team member - I don't want to imagine comment sections on a good day.

The solution to all of this should be simple — stop giving a fuck. Unfortunately, many of us give out our fucks out of pure instinct. FOMO is a huge factor in of itself, but even checking a guide after being stumped by a puzzle can send someone straight into the optimization zone. Which means, we have to a resort to another tactic — hard work and determination.

As I am writing this, I am playing through Twilight Princess for the first time. It is reminding me that I can be quite bad at video games. And that's okay. There have been a couple points where I go to a guide to see my next steps out of habit. Doing this has made it very obvious that I missing quite a few pieces of heart for where I am at. And that's okay. I'm playing the game for fun. If I want to do 100% completion, I can later. For now, I want to just enjoy the game. On top of becoming more okay with blatantly missing collectables, I am starting to build up a stronger tolerance for not looking at guides. The final puzzle before obtaining the Master Sword saw me open the guide, glancing at the beginning of the solution, convincing myself that I'll push a little bit further, and ultimately solving it for myself.

Changing a low-stakes, often encouraged, and old habit isn't an overnight experience. But at the end of the day, I'm playing games for my own fun, not to meet the expectations of others. And even if I was trying to entertain someone else through games, there's plenty of "correct" playthroughs out there. There will only ever be one source for my own experiences with them.

Further Reading:

Skill Issue - Kerry Brunskill