step away from the HUD!

March 10 2015

‘T.M.I.’: Preserving the suspension of disbelief through ambiguity Exclusive

THIS! I couldn’t agree more with the ideas discussed in this article, especially regarding the benefits of reducing information given to the player to encourage them to forget that they’re “playing a simulation”. Striking a balance between too much and too little information. Letting them think for themselves, and only stepping in when it’s absolutely necessary.

One of my all time biggest criticisms of modern game design is the tendency devs have to overwhelm players with statistical information. Your health is 92, armor 80, energy 13, experience 112/200, level 23, your destination is 214 meters away, here’s a complete list of every player and NPC near you and chat log of everything they said for the past 3 hours, here’s a 5 page document explaining the narrative of this game, emotion you should be feeling right now is: happy, if you want to feel more happy you should travel 13 meters this way.

It’s mentally draining for my eyes to continuously monitor a set of numbers in the corner at the same time as action on the screen. I am very hesitant to even give a game a fair shot if my eyes are more drawn to things floating on the screen than the game world itself. Developers, please, step away from the HUD and find another way to inform your players!