Shrapnel Games Blog

As you’re probably already aware, Dominions 3 is now in the process of shipping. One really cool thing about the game is the fact that it comes with a nice, thick manual (written by Bruce Geryk, whose byline should be familiar to anyone who has ever picked up a magazine for computer games). A nice, thick manual is a good thing, and yet there are folks out there who don’t seem to care about the manual. Actually, they don’t seem to care about any manual, not just this one.

As a wordaholic who reads everything from the fine print on the Papa John’s ad that comes in the mail, to the contents of my red hot sausage links package (Wait, what’s this…hearts? Animal byproducts?), and especially manuals I find this shocking. To me, part of the experience of a game is the manual. Heck, in some cases, such as pen and paper role-playing, the manual is the game. So what is it with these folks?

Well, I would guess that some are the type that just like to jump into a game and figure it out for themselves. While this can work for some games (Okay, so let’s see, I’m this little yellow pie and if I move the joystick I eat the dots…) but for something as hardcore as Dominions, that’s just not going to work. And just as any wargamer will tell you, knowing the rules is halfway to winning. If you miss out on all the rules, say because you thought you’d just pick them up as you went along, you’re more than likely going to miss out on several aspects of the game itself. So in the end you end up not truly playing the game as it’s meant to be played.

Then there are the folks who think that if you don’t have a manual that will magically shrink the cost. By that logic does that mean you should be able to purchase games with less features for a cheaper price? For example, say you could buy game X for $10 cheaper if it didn’t include sound effects. Of course that’s illogical, because the sound is part of the game, just as a good manual should be part of the game as a whole. The reason Shrapnel offers printed manuals is as an added value. Perhaps you don’t play all our games but a great example are the ProSIM titles. Each one comes with a dense (100+ pages) manual that is chock full of information. Why force someone to scroll through a PDF or spend their own money printing it out themselves?

Ultimately though I think the reason some folks don’t care about the manual is because they’ve forgotten what it’s like. So for anyone who doesn’t recall the good ol’ days listen up…

Once upon a magical time computer games came with useful manuals. You could find out information on how to play the game, and you didn’t need to go out and spend another $20 on some strategy guide that was written even before the game was finished. Then publishers became lazy and greedy.

“Why should we make games for people who think?” the suits asked. “Let’s just keep churning out the same basic formulas, like shooters and RTS games. Forget strategy gaming. Forget flight simulators. Forget wargames. All those require documentation, but with a shooter all we have to tell people is ‘WASD’ and with a RTS all they need to know is left-click attack, right-click move.”

Some publishers even tried to portray themselves as helping the environment out. “Look, we’re not killing trees! Sure, the box is made out of cardboard, and the game itself is produced with oil, but at least we saved ourselves $5 a unit by not even including a one page hotkey summary. What, pass the savings along to you? Ha ha ha ha…” Oh, those wacky mainstream publishers!

Frankly, if you’re buying a computer game than you should expect to get a manual with it. One that is useful. It shouldn’t be an afterthought, it shouldn’t be considered extra cost, it’s part of the game! You wouldn’t buy a boardgame without a manual, why should computer games be different?

So when you get your copy of Dominions 3 crack that manual open and take a deep whiff of that new ink, and then dive right into it. Relish what you won’t be finding in 95% of the games available on a retail shelf.

Remember, manuals are your friend.

-Scott

Some personal notes…

Do you read Knights of the Dinner Table? The past several issues have featured cartoons from yours truly, and there are a couple more currently left on the last batch I’ve submitted that should be coming up soon. Unfortunately since Kenzer now owns the rights to my art I can’t reprint them here, but I can tell you if you like sea monkeys that drive you insane, half-naked elf-chicks, food that eats you, game destroying felines, and much more, you’ll like the ‘toons so check out the most recent issues. It’s a great magazine, and if you’ve ever played a pen and paper RPG you’ll definitely recognize some of the Knights from your past experiences.

My day experience consists of consulting as a DM/RM specialist for the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia in Kennesaw, a place that is sorta like the Bataan Death March, only not as fun. It appears that my time is drawing to a close so if anyone has any leads for something to occupy my time and keep me out of trouble in the North Atlanta area drop me a line (contact info can be found on the Shrapnel site). Never hurts to network I guess.