People with bad sense of direction, can you enjoy open world games?
I have always liked open world games as a concept, but I have a very bad sense of direction. So whenever I play open world games I keep getting lost and frustrated. Eventually getting bored and dropping the game. I am curious how other people with bad sense of direction cope with this problem.
Yes as long as the game has a good map system. I hate it when some games don't have an option to rotate the map to where you are currently facing.
I'm we've opposite I want my map fixed north. It's the only way I get around lol
This would be the worst tool for someone with poor sense of direction. The best would be a map fixed north to the top, so you don't have to keep track of your direction at all. Spinning maps make even us peeps with a decent sense of direction a bad time
Maps. Compasses, mini-maps, world maps, map pins, GPS systems.
I have a poor sense of direction in real life, but games are workable with the same crutches that make real life workable, for the most part.
Open world games usually give me a killer map that shows my exact location and heading. I can navigate the real world, too, when handed Google Maps. But I remember playing Minecraft back before the maps update and it was mostly just an exercise in nomadic survival. I'd leave my home for a 20 minute mining run and then never ever find the mfer ever again. Eventually I started a habit of creating a huge pillar of cobble near my home that stretched up to the map height limit and dumping lava buckets around it to make a literal glowing waypoint that I could follow back home.
I used to make maps by hand. Over time I got better and better at holding on to where I was. I've read studies that playing 3d games increases spacial awareness, so it might get better over time.
Other options I do when I'm too meh to bother is mods to add maps and quest tracking if the game doesn't already have it
The two are surprisingly unrelated. I have an excellent natural sense of direction in real life, and I easily get lost in open world games if I don't have a map.
Actually I have an excellent sense of direction in real life and a relatively poor one in games.
It's okay though - being lost in a game is part of the fun for me.
I was going to say the same thing. I've always prided myself on being able to tell you the general direction anything was in, and could drive in a general direction (before Google Maps) and find my way. But I am complete crap at in-game directions even after really trying to get a feel for the surroundings.
Yeah - I'm not sure why it is.
In the real world, I just automatically keep my bearings. It's like I have an internal compass that just tracks it all the time so I don't even pay attention.
And for whatever reason, it doesn't translate to games. If I get myself oriented in a game, I can keep it going for a while, but it never lasts.
I can only assume that there's some physical aspect to it - that the part of my brain that's keeping track of bearing relies on physical cues that I don't get when I'm just sitting in a chair looking at a screen. So when I get my bearings in a game, then keep it going for a while, that's some other part of my brain stepping in and taking over, and it never lasts because it's just a stopgap measure.
I can navigate game worlds more effectively than I can the real world. I can struggle to visualise a local route but could probably walk you through several zones of a Souls game.
I'm the same way! My partner was surprised when we played a game together and I always knew where to go and they kept getting lost.
I think it's because video games do a lot more useful sign posting than real life. Plus a mini map (in some games).
I enjoy the opportunity to try to navigate by landmarks, roadsigns, and other natural means of finding your way. Games like Skyrim are great for this, games like Mass Effect are understandably not. Unfortunately I am more of a sci-fi guy so I'm used to being railroaded through steel corridors anyway.
I get super lost in them. Honestly even if it isn't open world, if it's still a 3d overworld, I will get lost. I think what saves me is helpful accessibility features like in Xenoblade 3 for example, with the glowing red line on the ground leading you toward your destination. It won't clear your obstacles for you but it will help you orient yourself and not get super lost. I would never get through a game like that without that feature. Anything less is honestly not sufficient for me to not get lost, unfortunately. I do try to play other games but I will absolutely be lost for ages in them.
Good question. I’m like you, I get turned around so easily, I just keep using the map systems and making markers to make my life easier. Markers being the most critical component. I start going in a direction and then I check again to make sure it’s the right way (often it’s not)
Especially when the map doesn't orientate to the direction you're facing, so I end up turning 90 degrees, checking map, turning another 90, checking again. I really enjoy when a game uses the Oblivion-style nav bar at the top that shows your markers at a glance as you turn around.
I have a terrible sense of direction, so this is an important issue for me. Open world games usually do a decent job of providing a usable map, so they aren't typically a problem. What I can't stand is a where you reach a challenge or mission that consists entirely of figuring out where to go next, or finding some items while a timer counts down. They usually disable the map for these, and it makes me want to rage quit every time.
On the other hand, I love it when a game has some sort of option to show you where to go next, like in Hogwarts Legacy or Final Fantasy XVI.
Yes. For reference, in my day to day, when I try to look into my mind for a map, it’s just a black space with a spinning compass and shifting points of reference. In open world games, there’s usually waypoints and I can open the map constantly. In games without these crutches, I do get your frustration, but I’ll find a YouTube guide or something to find my way. Subnautica was probably the toughest so far.
I LOVE them, but yes I am constantly lost. I have the worst time streaming because I get lost and feel bad about any viewers watching me wander around Vanaheim going "Where was that place again?"
I will say, the more distinctive the environments are from each other, the better off I am. In Stray or Ragnarok I've had a lot of problems. In Control, even though the map is weird (The map shows levels that are above and below each other by overlapping, so the lowest areas are the lightest color and the highest areas are the strongest color) I get around pretty well because every hallway and room is pretty distinct and unique.
In Spider-Man I barely notice I'm lost, travel is so fun.
I have a pretty horrible sense of direction, and I find that looking for important (clearly visible) landmarks helps reorient me, as well as relying on a minimap wherever available. Also if there's any way to place markers or waypoints to show you a route then that helps too. Navigating still sucks but it's a bit less painful with those!
For those that do have a bad sense of direction: I'm positive that you'd slowly get a better sense if you continued to play the games that trouble you and work through being lost. Most people aren't great at something they don't do often (or ever).
No offence intended to the afflicted but some of them are absolutely hopeless. My best friend is so bad with directions that despite having never left he goes around our hometown with a GPS because he gets lost. A few years ago, the main road through the town was closed and I ended up having to text him directions how to get home.
I probably owe most of my navigation skills to the original GTA games. I cannot orient myself if the map keeps spinning with me. It's easier to me mentally keep track where everything is relative to each other on a stationary map facing north and I am the only thing moving and turning. Also when the originals had only a paper map where you had yo first find yourself and until San Andreas only showing your current location and the locations of points of interest on the separate map menu without any indicator of direction you should head while actually driving, I learned to prefer the simplest path instead of trying to find the shortest way. Least number of turns and clear landmarks where to take them is the strategy I keep utilising to this day in real life also, so I don't need to keep my eyes or ears glued to the phone and blindly try follow it.
same with gps. i can't understand people that use the option to move the map and keep the arrow static. But i see how confused they're when it's otherwise 🤷 i'm from the pacman generation i guess
Usually with a mini map I'm good but all bets are off with Deep Rock Galactic and it's 3D version. My friends can dig through a wall and pop out up in the right place were as I'm hopelessly lost as soon as I go in...
Yes, if it has good navigation.
The map has to be good. I’ve got good sense of direction in real life, but terrible in open world games.
cue Persona 5 players having trouble finding the way to school from the train station at the start of the game
When I play open world games I lose myself in the exploration and have lots of fun. I have a horrible sense of direction, like so bad that I’ve been playing WoW for 14 years and I still get lost in that game.
But with games like BoTW, ToTK and Diablo 4, I just pick a direction and go and I pick up quests, side quests or kill things for loot along the way. I find myself becoming very frustrated following the main scenarios because they require you to go to specific places on the map and I suck at reading maps so I just put that off for last and have fun exploring.
I've been fine with open world as long as the map and the relevant quest or marker I set in relation to where I am was very clear.
But, with something like Hollow Knight I was much too lost and didn't end up finishing it since I found myself backtracking in confusion too much.
My friends gets frustrated seeing me play. He will yell the direction is literally there or bro you just passed by this place
Usually with a mini map I'm good but all bets are off with Deep Rock Galactic and it's 3D version. My friends can dig through a wall and pop out up in the right place were as I'm hopelessly lost as soon as I go in...
I have a bad sense of direction IRL but an excellent sense of direction in games. I don't think it necessarily transfers.
Definitely!
I have an incredible sense of direction in real life. In games, I can’t find my way out of a paper bag. I’m not sure how that works.
I hate games that don’t have good maps. Especially in caves or big buildings. Like, why!?!?!?
I have an incredible sense of direction in real life. In games, I can’t find my way out of a paper bag. I’m not sure how that works.
I hate games that don’t have good maps. Especially in caves or big buildings. Like, why!?!?!?
I can't. I literally gave up and uninstalled Morrowind because I couldn't find my way out of Vivec. ;-;
I can't stand playing that kind of game usually. Agreed with others about needing good maps in-game. IRL, I need access to something like Google Maps before I can start understanding where I or places are in a new city.
There is a game called minetest, similar to minecraft. You can view coordinates and the direction you are facing. There is also a mod called tpad (teleporter pad) that can take you to places without walking. You can try it out.
The last game I tried to play was Valheim and I got lost. The same goes for Skyrim, I don’t play it anymore because it is impossible to navigate beyond the mountains and I get killed by giants and dragons. But in real life I have a nice sense of direction
Just depends! Well designed world with distinct level features and/or a good map? Yee it works out well. Lotta samey territory with little to do between areas? I tend to struggle.
I am horrible with directions. I keep my Google Maps going when I drive for that very reason. In games, I just use the built-in map. If there is no map and the world is not made of unique geometries and settings then I am out. I will have no way to navigate.
I have an incredible sense of direction in real life. In games, I can’t find my way out of a paper bag. I’m not sure how that works.
I hate games that don’t have good maps. Especially in caves or big buildings. Like, why!?!?!?