The Changing Face of Reading

[falcarrion]

Kerensky, that's bs and you know it. Qwerty is a physical technology, thus serving as a boundary to change purely as an issue of fixed implementation. Nobody has to give up their poorly designed PDFs to get better ones, you would have to physically change keyboards.

False analogy

Thats not true any more. you now have choices with pop up keyboard software.
for instance I can use the pop up keyboard that is preloaded on the Ipad or use a different type of keyboard like the Radial app. Two totaly different key lay outs.

 

[Viking Bastard]

Could you take a page from the Elder Scrolls folks and just build it into the gameplay?

I've never played Elder Scrolls, but don't all games weave it into the gameplay?

 

[GregChristopher]

Elder Scrools goes out of their way to put a lot of fluff into the game via interactivity. They have actual history books on people's bookshelves that you can read

 

[GregChristopher]

No, there hasn't been a meaningful physical barrier to abandoning QWERTY since, oh, the IBM Selectric typewriter and it's imitators replaced swing arm hammers with balls, daisy wheels, dot matrixes, etc. Doubly so since computers replaced typewriters.

If you want to use another keyboard layout, it's a software and labeling change.

The barrier to changing is the same as in PDF production. People who do it day in and day out know method X and see nothing wrong with method X, and changing to method Y would require an investment in time and effort they don't consider worth it.

But thank you for playing.

Again, false analogy.

The reluctance of a user to switch technologies is different than a producer of them.

Falcarrion is partially right, device changes are making new opportunities, however they are a false choice for the majority because of the inherent efficiency of having Qwerty on both devices vs learning to use two interface layouts. This is a big problem for software like Linux or Apple (desktops) People have to use Windows for so many other things, they just keep using it even when they have a choice. Inertia is strong. Support for legacy tech is strong.

But not in terms of how PDFs are designed. I don't have to learn anything to use a better designed PDF. I don't need a new keyboard or new OS knowledge/training. The only barrier is explaining the less obvious elements like where I had an intro page in Aqualii Temple which gives basic navigation tips (like click on the logo in the upper corner to reset the map)

 

[Viking Bastard]

Elder Scrools goes out of their way to put a lot of fluff into the game via interactivity. They have actual history books on people's bookshelves that you can read

That's neat. A char generator (for instance) can go a long way with just a little flavor embedded into game elements, I would think, as long as it doesn't start blurring the UI.

 

[Krensky]

Again, false analogy.

The reluctance of a user to switch technologies is different than a producer of them.
...

But not in terms of how PDFs are designed. I don't have to learn anything to use a better designed PDF. I don't need a new keyboard or new OS knowledge/training. The only barrier is explaining the less obvious elements like where I had an intro page in Aqualii Temple which gives basic navigation tips (like click on the logo in the upper corner to reset the map)

The user of the technology (and QWERTY is a standard, not a technology) here is not the reader. It's the layout editor.

 

[BraveSirKevin]

They don't feel like taking the time to read a 200 page book.

This is EXACTLY what happened when I started my 4e campaign after several years hiatus from DnD (and RPGs in general).

The group approached it the same way we would approach a board game. We skimmed the book to get a quick idea of what we should be doing, and we winged. Then afterwards we specifically looked up the parts that we had difficulty with and took note of them. Through this iterative process we eventually picked up the bulk of the rules, and started turning our attention towards strategies, which we picked up in much the same way.

Thinking about it, this is pretty much the way people learn any skill in the real world. If for example, you decided you wanted to learn how to model a house in a 3D program, what you would generally do is to gather a bunch of easy to follow tutorials, a few of which are likely to be videos, and emulate the work flow until you've got a hang of the basics... Then you'd google your way through any rough patches you hit while working on your own project, rather than reading the manual from beginning to end.

A good approach to role-playing game rules could be something exactly like that. You spoon feed the first session. You get a little more advanced with the second session, and close off the basic education in the third. Then you provide a solid, easily navigable reference for your audience to turn to thereafter.

 

[GregChristopher]

That is pretty much exactly what I am going for in my Pieces of Eight game that is under development, Kevin.

Check out this post I made today about my plans for doing the layout of one of the PDFs: Dark Horse Game Design: Layout Design for Pieces of Eight

 

[Dannager]

The group approached it the same way we would approach a board game. We skimmed the book to get a quick idea of what we should be doing, and we winged. Then afterwards we specifically looked up the parts that we had difficulty with and took note of them. Through this iterative process we eventually picked up the bulk of the rules, and started turning our attention towards strategies, which we picked up in much the same way.

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet here is the recent advent of officially-supported digital tools - areas of system mastery that were required in years gone by (how to create a character, how to level up, how to create a monster, etc.) are now easily taken care of by a software suite.

For example, if I'm introducing someone new to D&D, I can now plop them down in front of a computer and have the character builder guide them step-by-step through the process. Within ten minutes they'll have a character of their own, and in the process I'll hopefully have explained a thing or two about how the game works. The rest they can learn while playing.

If there was a time when a new player had to read hundreds of rulebook pages in order to start playing, that time is firmly in the past. When you really think about it, opening a book at page one and reading through to the back cover is a relatively inefficient way of absorbing information. Ten years ago people were decrying the coming information overload. What they failed to account for was that, as we developed new ways to deliver information, we also developed new ways to help us process it.

 

[Miar]

deleted.. ack wrong thread