Knowing too little

Lately, I've been playing a lot of Terraria. I got it on a Steam sale several months ago, and only in the past couple of weeks have I gotten into it. It was pleasantly surprising, albeit definitely tough (I have died many, many, many, many times).

It's reasonably fair about it, though. The key mechanic is the Guide NPC, who gives you clues about things you can do next, items you can make, and what you need to focus on next. Granted, I have looked things up, but this is more a case of force of habit due to other games. As you can probably guess, a lot of other games don't do this, forcing players into a cycle of trial-and-error or just to look it up online.

I feel that you have to stop playing the game to go look up how to play the game, the game has failed to make its own mechanics intuitive. While I'm an experienced gamer with over two and a half decades of playing games to help me, I don't want to judge things from that perspective. It's all about the new player, picking up their first game and trying to learn how it works.

It's not a mindset a lot of people share. A lot of players demand mechanics and functions that aren't friendly to newcomers, preferring things under some kind of grandfather clause. While I don't suppose I can blame them for wanting things they are familiar with, it doesn't help bring new people to our little hobby. And I want as many people as possible to come join us, since I can remember back when people didn't quite understand what the hobby meant to those of us that enjoyed it and children.

I may be a little older, a little wiser, but I'm no less of a gamer. And I will gladly advocate for anything that brings more gamers into the fold. (Funny aside: I'm trying to figure out how my spell check accepts "gamer" but not the plural.) If you feel differently and are attached to how those games are, fine, but just remember that it makes it that much harder for the next generation to get into whatever genre you're fond of.

So now, I'm off to finish my set of titanium armor, and then get the potions I need for the Destroyer. And from there, on to other hardmode bosses. Should be fun, as long as don't die too many more times.