Bullet Point Learning Design - Learn to Play: Designing Tutorials for Video Games - page 127

These should all be easy to understand. We have gone over just
about all of them in the topic at some point or another. I am going to
go over some things here in summary, using the bullets above as talk-
ing points to link your learning back to other things you have read in
the topic.
No Exclusionary Mechanics
Why this rule? Well, you have learned throughout the topic that one
of the most important keys to good learning is feedback . Feedback is
used in promoting flow experiences, and is important to either culti-
vate or remove behaviors if they are wanted or unwanted, respectively.
Exclusionary mechanics are elements of a game that make it inten-
tionally unapproachable. I'm not suggesting that games like this aren't
profitable, awesome, or valuable. What I'm suggesting is that if your
goal is to reach the broadest market possible and have people from all
walks of life enjoy playing your game, certain mechanics will make
this more difficult. Exclusionary mechanics include extreme initial
learning curves, needless complexity, incredibly math-heavy mechan-
ics, and wildly abstract mechanics like changing control schemes or
inconsistent feedback. Again, if your intention is to create a game that
appeals to a very small segment of the population, go for it! However,
if your goal were widespread adoption and enjoyment, I would per-
sonally avoid these cognitive-load heavy juggernauts.
No “Club” Behaviors
We talked about this a lot in Chapter 2. A club or clique behavior
is one that intentionally pits groups of users against other groups of
users. In some multiplayer scenarios, this is desirable. Think World of
Warcraft , for example—two warring factions locked in brutal combat
for the same land makes sense and frames the narrative for that game.
On the other hand, if you are to create things like character levels in
multiplayer, they should be achievable by different metrics. Let me
explain—if you are about to play a game of, say, League of Legends , but
can't get anyone to join your queue because you're not the maximum