The Legend of Zelda taught me everything I need to know about UX
I miss the days when video games assumed their players possessed a modicum of intelligence and common sense. These days, elaborate tutorials sap the fun out of the early levels of modern games, repeatedly prodding users with instructions and tips as if we possessed the mental acumen of a stack of cinder blocks.
This is about the debate of walkthrough vs. let the user discover the app. I think that for games it makes sense for users to discover everything by themselves because, well, it’s a game.
But it quickly becomes frustrating if you’re using an app that delivers something valuable other than entertainment and you don’t know how it works. It’s a fragile balance.