What Online Multiplayer Is Like For Someone Who Doesn’t Play Games

Over the past year or so I’ve been having my wife, more professionally known as the Lady I Live With, try out a handful of video games in an effort to learn more about what they are like for people who don’t spend a lot of time playing them. Through these

Informal experiments I’ve gained a better understanding of some of the barriers that exist for inexperienced players; there’s a lot about the basics of video games that I and many others take for granted, and watching her try to figure these things out has led

To me viewing games through a new lens—one of someone unfamiliar with typical game conventions and mechanics. So, to continue her videogame education and in turn mine, I decided to run another experiment. This time, I wanted to look into how she would handle being thrown into what is maybe the

Most unforgiving space in video games: online multiplayer Online Troll: “Get out of here Laci. You’re Fat.” Lady: “That was…that was so mean!” Given that most of the titles she has played so far for these experiments have been single player experiences, I figured

It was about time to really throw her into the fire. So I had her play a sampling of 5 titles: Overwatch, CS:GO, Rocket League, Fortnite, and because I’m a bad person, League of Legends. I chose these titles because they’re prominent examples of some of the most popular

Genres of multiplayer games, and also because they have playerbases of varying levels of intensity. Pretty much, I hoped it would give her some insight into the wide world of online multiplayer, and also shine a light on the best ways to help inexperienced players figure things out. So, this is how it went.

With any game, it is important to teach players the basic mechanics and functions in a clear and concise way so that they can get into it as quickly as possible. Developers need to find the right balance of dispersing enough information to the player so that they can

Engage with the core gameplay while not putting too much on them too quickly. The more time a player spends being bored, frustrated, or confused, the less likely they are to enjoy the game. And I think this is even more important when it comes to online multiplayer titles

Because a player’s understanding of a game not only affects their own enjoyment, but also the enjoyment of every person they play with. In team-based games, if one person doesn’t understand how to play, they can inadvertently make the experience terrible for everyone

Else. So having a tutorial that properly prepares players seems like it would be a pretty massive priority. With the games my wife played, it was pretty mixed. Only Overwatch and League of Legends prompted her to try the tutorial, which makes sense

As both games are pretty complex. With that said, neither of them did that great of a job with teaching her how to actually play. Overwatch’s tutorial taught her basic mechanics and how to use special abilities, but it didn’t do much beyond that. When she finished it,

She then got prompted to go to the training ground which on one hand was good because it gave her some time to become familiar with different characters, but on the other hand she found it overwhelming to be hit with 30 new faces, each with their own move set.

I think the tutorial would be far more effective as a learning tool for new players if it was more specific. For example, it could start with a brief explanation of the 3 main roles, Tank, Damage, and Support, and then have players choose one of those roles and

Be assigned one of the easier to understand heroes. From there the tutorial could give a detailed explanation of how that character fits into the actual game–things like where should they position themselves, which abilities should they use most, things like that. While Overwatch

Does do a good job of easing players in by first prompting them to do the tutorial, then the training ground, and then games against bots, it never really explains how to be an effective teammate. A pretty common frustration my wife had while playing was not knowing

How to best help her team, so any sort of assistance with that would have been valuable. I understand that game metas constantly shift, but there are certain elements of basic play that stay pretty consistent, and letting inexperienced players in on that information makes a difference.

League of Legends has similar issues in terms of onboarding new players. The fact that there are a limited amount of heroes to choose from did make it far less overwhelming for her to dive in, but even with this smaller scope, the game didn’t do anything to explain the

Roles of different characters in the context of an actual match. It didn’t even do a good job of teaching her how to use her abilities. There was a moment when a big arrow pointed at them but as she was focused on the actual action and there was no voice prompt for it,

She missed the cue so I had to explain them to her. The tutorial would have been far more effective had it gone over each specific ability and how it is best used in an actual game. And because there aren’t that many characters to choose from at the start

It seems like a no-brainer to do this. Another issue with League’s tutorial is that it prepares players using settings that aren’t the default in other modes. The big one being the camera. In the tutorial, it is locked on the character which is really

Helpful for new players as it is easier to control and less overwhelming, but as soon as the first game starts, it is no longer locked. While having free range of the camera is certainly a more efficient way to play, by teaching players with one method and then

Switching it without an explanation or warning, it puts them at even more of a disadvantage. It is easy enough to relock the camera, but it added a level of unneeded stress for my wife as she wrestled with a control scheme she had never used before. Lady: “It’s fine. I’ll just lose more.”

The tutorials of the other games definitely did a better job preparing her for actual matches, but I should note that part of that has to do those titles being far less complicated. Rocket League went over basic controls in a contained environment, which gave her an

Understanding of movement and how to win. Also the fact that the game is just soccer but with cars, made it so she could take something she was actually pretty knowledgeable about and apply it to how she played.

CS:GO’s tutorial did the best job of the titles she tried as it not only went over the basic functions and objectives of the game, but it also taught her a few slightly more advanced tips like where to aim, how to bank grenades off of walls, and that switching

To the pistol is always faster than reloading. This made it so she considered these aspects when playing in an actual game. As a somewhat offtopic side note, my wife didn’t know the names of any of the guns in CS:GO, and at first that surprised me, but after thinking

About it, I realized that pretty much everything I know about weapons comes from playing video games. Obviously, there are other avenues to learn about that sort of stuff, but as guns have never interested her and she didn’t grow up playing Goldeneye, it makes sense that she wouldn’t know much about them.

Anyway, the only real problem with CS:GOs tutorial is that it is sort of buried in menus, and while it isn’t difficult to find, if a player doesn’t know to look for it, they most likely won’t play it, which happened to my wife at first, leading to some frustration

When thrown into a game not being properly prepared. Lady: “I don’t like this game.” Rocket League has a similar issue. Its tutorial is easier to find, but it also doesn’t prompt players to try it. I know that this may seem insignificant,

But the reality is that a new player is more likely to do the tutorial if they are explicitly told to do it. And as the skill of any individual can drastically shift the tide of a match, games should do everything they can to properly onboard new players. I don’t think tutorials

Should be mandatory, but pushing inexperienced folk in the right direction is easy to do and can go a long way. Fortnite was the only game she tried that didn’t really have a tutorial. After launching the game, my wife was tossed into a match before even hitting the main menu. A few tips

Did come up on the screen during that game like how to harvest materials and where she should go, but it left out a lot of other basic information like how to build structures and even the objective of the game. I later learned her being tossed right into a match

Was part of an event that was running at the time, and it doesn’t typically just toss players in with no real explanation. Regardless, there still isn’t a tutorial. This surprised me a bit because a large portion of Fortnite’s audience are kids, so I assumed it would

Give a little more direction for inexperienced players. Given the way Fortnite exploded into relevance, it is possible that the dev team figured most new players would have a base understanding of the game from seeing it on streams or YouTube. That wouldn’t really

Be a good excuse to not include a decent tutorial, but it wouldn’t be all that shocking either. All in all, I was surprised with how little focus was given to the tutorials. They either didn’t do a robust job of actually explaining how to play or it was somewhat easy to miss.

While I understand that a lot of players often go into multiplayer games with some sort of pre-established understanding of them, it’s still important to have an effective tutorial for those who don’t. Otherwise, they will be at even more of a disadvantage when they have to

There are a lot of factors that go into how enjoyable an online multiplayer game will be for a new player, but I think the most important is being matched up against people of a similar skill level. As I imagine you’ve already guessed, this did not go well for my wife

Lady: “Can I play an easier level?” Raz: “What do you mean?” Lady: “Like, I just…I don’t wanna die.” I’m not sure if it was because most of these titles don’t have playerbases big enough to have properly balanced games for new players or if they just have bad matchmaking systems,

But my wife was often paired up against people who had clearly put in far more time than here. At best the teams were typically balanced by having an equal number of experienced and inexperienced players, but that often just led to the inexperienced players like my wife

Getting pushed around by those who have played a lot more. In worse cases, like when she played Rocket League, there didn’t seem to be any balance, and one good player could swing the balance so much that every game

Was a blow out. Due to poor matchmaking, she didn’t really stand a chance which, understandably, made her enjoy the games less. The only title that seemed to have a playerbase big enough to give her a fair level of competition

Was Fortnite. All of the other players she ran into were around the same level as her, so it felt like a more level playing field, and she ended up having a fair bit of success, coming in 3rd place during her first match. To be honest, I was kind of surprised by her

Placing so high and expected her second game to go far worse, but she ended up getting a victory royale. Lady: “WHY ARE YOU SO SURPRISED?!” After she won, I learned that somewhat recently, Fortnite started including bots into their matches who seem

Like real players—the goal being that more new players will do well while still thinking that they’re playing other actual people. I have no idea how many people in her matches were real or bots; I spent a little time trying to figure it out based on their movements,

But then I realized that a lot of people probably would have assumed my wife was a bot based on how she moved, so I gave up on that. Either way, while I wouldn’t blame anyone for being annoyed with Fortnite’s deceitful practices, it did lead to her enjoying the game a fair

Bit because she felt good at it right off the bat, and if it hadn’t been for me looking into stuff for the sake of this video, she never would have known that a portion of her competition were bots. So, uh, sorry lady.

In general, I think having a mix of real people and bots can help inexperienced folk get invested in a game. My wife played a handful of matches in Overwatch with a team of real players against computers. This proved to be a good balance because she got the experience

Of playing with others while not being outmatched by her opponents. I want to note that League of Legends also had this same mode, but she hated the game so much that I could barely get her to play it at all, Raz: “I need you to play one more.” Lady: “Come on.”

Lady: “Please! No!” so she didn’t try it. Regardless, these kinds of modes give inexperienced players a space to succeed. With that said, while these kinds of modes seem to be made to help players smoothly transition into games with real players, I don’t think they do a great job of that.

Like, with Overwatch, she mostly played as Brigitte, which for a random panic pick she made due to the character she wanted to play as already being taken, ended up being a pretty solid one as Brig doesn’t rely on twitch skills or accuracy, both things my wife isn’t

Good at yet. When playing both easy and medium bots, it didn’t take a whole lot of strategy for her to do well. She would run right at the enemy, swing her mace, bash with her shield, occasionally heal allies, and this ended up working pretty well for her. When she tried

This strategy against real players though… Lady: “Oh my god, this is so embarrassing.” What I realized is that her playing against bots prepared her in the wrong way. It rewarded her reckless approach to matches, which is a strategy that doesn’t translate to actual games. Along with a more fleshed out tutorial,

I think it would far more effective for the game to have more modes that actually help players practice useful skills and strategies. Beyond just the typical and expected frustration that comes from continually being crushed by the opposing team, my wife also felt bad that her playing might be frustrating other people.

Lady: “Oh my god, did I let everyone down?” Lady: “No. Seriously. Did I? Raz: “Well…” With pretty much every team game she played, at some point she made a comment about how her team didn’t want to play with her. The idea of making

The game worse for everyone else stressed her out to the point where she didn’t want to continue with most games. I think this is a sentiment that exists to some degree for anyone who plays games—I know I’ve steered clear of certain titles because I

Didn’t want to deal with pissing anyone off—but for those one the inexperienced side of things, I imagine this ends up being a massive deterrent, which frankly sucks. I do want to mention that the only game that my wife didn’t worry about letting her team

Down in was League of Legends. In fact, she said maybe the most capital G gamer thing imaginable Lady: “My team is so bad.” She acknowledged that she wasn’t good at the game either, but she constantly felt like her team wasn’t around to support her. This

Mostly comes down to how League is designed. There are three lanes for players to go down and only 5 people on a team, so everyone is going to be fairly spread out, and while with communication this isn’t really a problem, due to her being solo queued and not knowledgeable

Of conventional strategy, she assumed her teammates were doing nothing and therefore, hated them. While all of these frustrations and stressors ultimately led to a net negative experience, I will say that when she did pull off something impressive, I’ve never seen her more excited about doing something in a video game. Lady: *Panicked Screams*

Lady: *Excited Screams* Lady: “I did it.” Ultimately, I think a lot of titles would benefit from finding more ways to give inexperienced players the sense of competition without throwing them in over their heads. Online multiplayer titles are a pretty common entry point into

Video games for new players. Most people end up being drawn to trying a game because of a friend who wants to play with them, and playing online is typically the easiest way to do that. But I think when those of us who play games a lot want to introduce

Them to our inexperienced friends, partners or ladies we live with, we have to be careful with how we do it. While watching my wife play, I realized that I viewed everything in terms of how each game was preparing her for the modes that I am used to playing, but I don’t think that

Is entirely fair. Some of the modes that I look at as stepping stones to the “core content”, are actually the destination for a number of people. For example, when my wife played against bots in Overwatch, a fair amount of the folks playing with her seemed to play

Against bots regularly. And while it isn’t how I would play the game, I get it. My guess is they preferred to experience everything at a slower pace as they beat down on AI. They didn’t have to deal with being paired against players far above their skill level,

And they could just focus on the aspects of the game they enjoy most. Having alternative modes, especially ones focused around more relaxed gameplay, can give inexperienced players a space to enjoy themselves when playing online. It can help them avoid frustration that comes from consistently losing and it can keep them out of situations

Where they may be the target of toxicity. While I do think that all of these games could do a far better job of teaching and easing in inexperienced players, I also think it’s important to consider that there are a ton of different ways to play a game, and for

Titles that have a lot of options, sometimes it’s more important to find which of those options best suit the skill level of the player instead of solely focusing on shaping the player to best fit the most popular mode.

The recurring theme of this series is that games are often best when shared with other people, and clearly that is a big part of why online multiplayer games have become so popular. They offer a space for friends to play games together no matter how far apart

They live, they provide a way for individuals to meet new people with a shared interest, and they make it possible to compete with folks from all around the world. Playing games with other people can lead to some of the most enjoyable gaming experiences, and part

Of my hope with this experiment was that my wife might enjoy one of these games or genres so much that she’d want to play more because I think it’d be fun for us to have a game we

Consistently play together. The thing I did not forsee was that her favorite would end up being the one I was least interested in. But especially with inexperienced players and online multiplayer games Sometimes you just have to meet people where they are and take what you can get…

Raz: “Aight. Where do you wanna drop?” Lady: “Uhhhh” Raz: “Let’s go to the che-” Lady: “NOW!” Raz: “OH GOD!” Lady: *Laughing* This video is sponsored by Raycon. Raycon is a company that makes high quality wireless earbuds that sound just as good as other top brands but they start at about half the price.

I’m the type of person who likes to listen to stuff all the time as the sound of silence scares me. I especially like to listen to stuff when I go to sleep, and because I don’t wanna bother my wife, I always wear earbuds, which typically leads to me waking up wrapped

In wires. Since getting a pair of Raycon earbuds, I no longer have to worry about accidentally strangling myself in my sleep. I think my favorite thing about them is that they have really good ear feel. Like, they fit well, aren’t heavy or bulky, and I honestly sometimes forget I’m wearing them.

Their latest model, the everyday E25s, are awesome. It has 6 hours of playtime, seamless Bluetooth pairing, more bass, and a more compact design that gives you a nice, noise-isolating fit. It also comes in new, fun colors.

And if you click the link in the description below you can get 15% off of your order. These are great earbuds that are really affordable, so, ya know, buy em. It’s a solid deal and it helps support the channel. Anyway, thanks to Raycon for sponsoring this video.

For all of you still watching, thank you so much. I appreciate your support. If you would like to keep up with me on a more regular basis, follow me on twitter where you can get my bad opinions about stuff and also on Twitch where I stream games a bunch—yeah

That’s what you do on twitch. So, yeah. Have a great day and/or night, and I will see you in the next one. Raz: “You wanna tell Laci she’s just fine the way she is?” L: “Yeah” *Screams*