I have a strange problem... When I was in college and shortly thereafter I used to be thrilled with large gaming manuals. The heavier the box, the happier I was. I was disciplined, coordinated, and simply tore through them in a single evening - using that time to ramp up my expectations of the game. I seriously think that increased my enjoyment of some of the classic games of yesteryear.
However, since I've now crested at the crusty old age of 35... despite having way more free time... I can barely make it through a 10-page manual! I'm not sure if I've become computer ADD or what, but it's really wierd how I just struggle to "stay on task" with something I actually used to enjoy.
Reading the manuals was great (and is stil important) because of all the "hidden" nuances of a game you can find, that I know you may never realize had the manual been skipped.
Maybe my "instant question gratification" IQGtm from Internet forum use has changed my subconsious reading...
So, any ideas on how can I lock down and read with decent comprehension, and maybe even get back some of the love?
Maybe you don't read them so much because they are really shitty now?
Really, I haven't found a game where I've needed to read the manual in like forever. Never read the Silent Hunter III manual, never read the Hearts of Iron II manual either. It seems to me that one doens't need to read the manual to find nuances because if one reads the forums, they'll probably get the nuances quicker from other people on the forum.
Hehe, well you're so right CSL. I think EA started the trend for completely crappy uselss manuals, and it's not only gettign worse, but I need 2 microscopes to read the dang tiny print! I swear the manual-makers are secretly employed by "Eyeglass Manufacturers of America". Those evil EMA's. 8)
I haven't read manuals in years. The only thing they are good for is incidental reference, and for this, they are best in electronic form so they can be easily searched if necessary.
jpinard wrote:Hehe, well you're so right CSL. I think EA started the trend for completely crappy uselss manuals, and it's not only gettign worse, but I need 2 microscopes to read the dang tiny print! I swear the manual-makers are secretly employed by "Eyeglass Manufacturers of America". Those evil EMA's. 8)
No kidding. I seldom read game manuals because I feel stupid wearing glasses AND using the magnifying glass that came with the OED. (and to think that in my grad school days I was able to read the condensed version of the DNB without a magnifying glass!)
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire
Technology has reduced the need to read manuals. So many games now either come with built-in tutorials or are so dumbed-down that you don't need to read the manual. In the olden days game installation took so long that you had nothing better to do than read the manual; now there's no time.
Your best bet now is keeping the manuals handy for bathroom breaks.
Manuals used to be important when games were more original. Now that most are clones and sequels, I can usually jump right in and intuit the controls and feedback, like Qbe said. If it's necessary at all, the manual is mostly a lookup tool. Which is probably a good thing since packaging requirements reduced their size so much.
I used to read manuals when I had a 1 hour train commute to work. For the past 10 years I've worked from home and my gaming time has been pretty limited (although it's opened up since being single again). Still, I now only read manuals on the can, and no longer read them cover-to-cover before diving into a game.
Strangely enough, I still use the "lift test", and judge the depth of a game by the size of the manual. Supreme Ruler 2010 allegedly has a 150-page manual (when was the last time a strategy game came with one of THOSE?), and that alone is enough to generate some interest.
I spent 90% of the money I made on women, booze, and drugs. The other 10% I just pissed away.
ChrisGwinn wrote:I love it when the first sentence of the first reply sums up how I feel about things. Good job.
Hehe.
You konw, one thing I remember I miss was manauls that tried to tell a story and introduce you to the game. There were games who's manuals were an actual extention of the game itself, and a sci-fi game's manual would be written to someone in the 23rd century, not to us now.
Take them in the bathroom and read them on the can. They're perfect.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "“I like taking the guns early...to go to court would have taken a long time. So you could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.” -President Donald Trump. "...To guard, protect, and maintain his liberty, the freedman should have the ballot; that the liberties of the American people were dependent upon the Ballot-box, the Jury-box, and the Cartridge-box, that without these no class of people could live and flourish in this country." - Frederick Douglass MYT
Guild Wars, Warcraft series are all notable entires into this hallowed pantatheon of literature. But the gold standard will always be the SMAC and Age of Wonders manuals.
Guild Wars, Warcraft series are all notable entires into this hallowed pantatheon of literature. But the gold standard will always be the SMAC and Age of Wonders manuals.
Agreed that SMAC is the best manual of all time, but the infocom manuals taken as a whole were better than say, the collected works of John Grisham.
My onl tissue with the bathroom tomes is my wife is grossed out to see my Discover magazine, PC Gamer, CGM and assorted books in the bathroom. She's OCD, so it goes wihtout saying she probably is imaging the worst...
I completely agree that if a box passes the lift test I am more inclined to buying the game, yet I rarely read the whole manual anymore. This is because they are not fun anymore with few exceptions. The best games usually don't need a thick manual - bar flight sims and wargames - because the best games are usually easy to pick up, understand, and play. At the same time, the best manuals did not teach you to play, but instead made great reading (this goes with my believing that the best games don't require 100s of pages of directions). Infocom and Origin made the best manuals with this in mind. The back story in the Ultima books: Ultima III had a manual and two magic books which had no game instruction! They were good reading. Best addition to a manual in the days of yore? Trinkets. Hitchhikers Guide from Infocom: lint, empty bag with a microscopic spaceship fleet. Who still has their Ultima ankh or black rock?
One of my most cringe-worthy memories invovles the cloth maps that came witht he Ultima games. Not the maps themselves, but the fact that I used to sit down with the map, a marker, the manual, and translate the location names on the map from that runic Ultima language into English.
God, what a geek.
I spent 90% of the money I made on women, booze, and drugs. The other 10% I just pissed away.
tgb wrote:One of my most cringe-worthy memories invovles the cloth maps that came witht he Ultima games. Not the maps themselves, but the fact that I used to sit down with the map, a marker, the manual, and translate the location names on the map from that runic Ultima language into English.
God, what a geek.
Yep me too. But the cool thing about the Ultima games was a sense of mystery and discovery. I miss the old Ultimas. Ultima 6 was my favorite.
ChrisGwinn wrote:I love it when the first sentence of the first reply sums up how I feel about things. Good job.
Hehe.
You konw, one thing I remember I miss was manauls that tried to tell a story and introduce you to the game. There were games who's manuals were an actual extention of the game itself, and a sci-fi game's manual would be written to someone in the 23rd century, not to us now.
Sometimes that's fun. Frequently it's painful. The bad fantasy fiction in the Guild Wars manual made me cringe.
Someone mentioned the combat mission manuals. They're great! Worth reading even if you're not going to play the game. I also really enjoyed the fallout manuals - they had measurement conversion tables and recipes.
