We brush my young daughter's teeth for her at night. We actually used to let her do it herself, but our new and substantially more competent dentist told us that while it was good for her to practice, at that age she simply doesn't have the motor control to do a good job yet. She simply hasn't developed the sort of motor control that is needed for that particular task.
This particular tidbit came to mind some time after I'd been left confused reading Ellie Gibson's Big Bang Mini review. While the whole review seems a bit apologetically unimpressed (an opinion Gibson is certainly entitled to, even if I vehemently disagree), one sentence in particular stuck out: "The touch screen doesn't always seem to recognise your swiping gestures, and manoeuvring your tiny icon about is fiddly."
Now, in context, Gibson immediately follows up noting that she got used to it and did well. But I thought I'd take it out of context here because it's vexed me since I read it. I certainly have no such trouble; the moment I started in on the demo I was firing spot-on. Why would that be? What I've read of Gibson prior leads me to respect her—which is more than I can say for Game Informer's "the touch screen controls weren't dead accurate enough for me to really get into the flow" for Elite Beat Agents—so I gave it some thought.
One possibility I entertained is that Gibson was using a well-worn DS whose touch screen just wasn't cutting it anymore, something I'd thought might have been the problem with GI's EBA review. But then I thought that maybe there might have been something else at work here. It's no secret that I've been a DS addict since I first got my hands on the system in 2004 and I absolutely love touch action games. While most new DS owners were struggling with Super Mario 64 DS and the thumbstrap, I went for 100%-ing Feel the Magic: XY♥XX first.
I suspect this and the long line of touch-action games that followed have trained me and my hands in a way that people who only play them occasionally, without a completionist bent, haven't got the benefit of. While I'm acutely aware there are those out there who are even better, there are also those who, though they may indeed be highly competent gamers otherwise, may simply not have what it takes to jump into a touch-action game and have it click immediately—especially a fast-paced, accuracy-demanding one. (I don't fault these people, though, any more than I would expect them to fault me for not appreciating some of the more intricate uses of an analog stick.)
At the same time, though, it is true that a game can have bad touch controls. Gesture recognition can be very hard to get right (a problem that is especially apparent now on Wii), especially when you take into account that people are going to make a wide variety of strokes on the screen. Some developers get this, others don't, others do but just don't have the chops to pull it off. It's hard enough to tell one from the other, sometimes, for a touch-action addict like myself; I imagine it must be many times more complicated for someone who might not have worn through their touch screens.
But I do think this behooves those evaluating a touch-action game—or, in fact, any game where one might not be intricately trained on the motions needed to pull it off—to do so with a solid understanding that the reason it's not working is not the game's fault. Clearly, it would be incorrect for me to say that because I'm not able to headshot with any reliability with mouselook in an FPS is because the game's aiming is flawed, when in fact I don't play enough of the genre to have developed the motor control to do it well; in the touch-action situation, similar standards should apply.
One might note that they had trouble doing something, but with a caveat that it might simply be because they really don't do this sort of thing all that much. Being trusted to give an opinion on a game is a burden that demands you give every word careful thought and make sure that you're being fair, and while I certainly fully support conveying the experiences one has playing a game in a review, it's very important that you don't make an absolute statement that you might not be qualified to make.
I do want to close by noting that I don't have any less respect for Ellie Gibson as a result of her words; though, again, I disagree with them. It's even entirely possible I may be totally off with my theory on why she had the trouble she did firing off fireworks in Big Bang Mini, in which case I apologize. I am not here to accuse; merely to caution. I am, however, reasonably convinced that insufficient consideration is given to these issues in the pool of reviews—professional, amateur (hi!), or even just forum impressions—as a whole; and I would simply ask everyone to be careful... and be fair.
This particular tidbit came to mind some time after I'd been left confused reading Ellie Gibson's Big Bang Mini review. While the whole review seems a bit apologetically unimpressed (an opinion Gibson is certainly entitled to, even if I vehemently disagree), one sentence in particular stuck out: "The touch screen doesn't always seem to recognise your swiping gestures, and manoeuvring your tiny icon about is fiddly."
Now, in context, Gibson immediately follows up noting that she got used to it and did well. But I thought I'd take it out of context here because it's vexed me since I read it. I certainly have no such trouble; the moment I started in on the demo I was firing spot-on. Why would that be? What I've read of Gibson prior leads me to respect her—which is more than I can say for Game Informer's "the touch screen controls weren't dead accurate enough for me to really get into the flow" for Elite Beat Agents—so I gave it some thought.
One possibility I entertained is that Gibson was using a well-worn DS whose touch screen just wasn't cutting it anymore, something I'd thought might have been the problem with GI's EBA review. But then I thought that maybe there might have been something else at work here. It's no secret that I've been a DS addict since I first got my hands on the system in 2004 and I absolutely love touch action games. While most new DS owners were struggling with Super Mario 64 DS and the thumbstrap, I went for 100%-ing Feel the Magic: XY♥XX first.
I suspect this and the long line of touch-action games that followed have trained me and my hands in a way that people who only play them occasionally, without a completionist bent, haven't got the benefit of. While I'm acutely aware there are those out there who are even better, there are also those who, though they may indeed be highly competent gamers otherwise, may simply not have what it takes to jump into a touch-action game and have it click immediately—especially a fast-paced, accuracy-demanding one. (I don't fault these people, though, any more than I would expect them to fault me for not appreciating some of the more intricate uses of an analog stick.)
At the same time, though, it is true that a game can have bad touch controls. Gesture recognition can be very hard to get right (a problem that is especially apparent now on Wii), especially when you take into account that people are going to make a wide variety of strokes on the screen. Some developers get this, others don't, others do but just don't have the chops to pull it off. It's hard enough to tell one from the other, sometimes, for a touch-action addict like myself; I imagine it must be many times more complicated for someone who might not have worn through their touch screens.
But I do think this behooves those evaluating a touch-action game—or, in fact, any game where one might not be intricately trained on the motions needed to pull it off—to do so with a solid understanding that the reason it's not working is not the game's fault. Clearly, it would be incorrect for me to say that because I'm not able to headshot with any reliability with mouselook in an FPS is because the game's aiming is flawed, when in fact I don't play enough of the genre to have developed the motor control to do it well; in the touch-action situation, similar standards should apply.
One might note that they had trouble doing something, but with a caveat that it might simply be because they really don't do this sort of thing all that much. Being trusted to give an opinion on a game is a burden that demands you give every word careful thought and make sure that you're being fair, and while I certainly fully support conveying the experiences one has playing a game in a review, it's very important that you don't make an absolute statement that you might not be qualified to make.
I do want to close by noting that I don't have any less respect for Ellie Gibson as a result of her words; though, again, I disagree with them. It's even entirely possible I may be totally off with my theory on why she had the trouble she did firing off fireworks in Big Bang Mini, in which case I apologize. I am not here to accuse; merely to caution. I am, however, reasonably convinced that insufficient consideration is given to these issues in the pool of reviews—professional, amateur (hi!), or even just forum impressions—as a whole; and I would simply ask everyone to be careful... and be fair.