Written tutorials vs video tutorials. Discuss.

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JWW
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Written tutorials vs video tutorials. Discuss.

Post by JWW »

Video tutorials are an abomination, and written tutorials are wonderful.

Okay, I don't feel that way, but I prefer written tutorials. Here is why. And this is not a hit at any particular game, just a comment as we seem to be moving from written to video tutorials in general.

A well written, detailed written tutorial provides detail that most video tutorials cannot provide. At the same time, written tutorials are more concise than video tutorials. For some games, the video tutorial series gets very long. I can also fire up a game and fire up the written tutorial on my ipad mini and go through step by step without constantly switching back and forth between the game and the video.

Additionally, and I think this is a key point, with a written tutorial I can easily go back a page or two or three or seven and find that one piece of information I've forgotten. With a video tutorial, that is much harder.

Actually I think having both is the way to go. A well written, detailed written tutorial in hand along with written posts on game forums about various aspects of a game, and a video tutorial series, along with lets play videos, especially for complex games.

I also recognize the limitation of written tutorials once the game has gone through a couple of updates, though video tutorials share the same problems.

Thoughts?
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zakblood
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RE: Written tutorials vs video tutorials. Discuss.

Post by zakblood »

well i'm a book man as i'm that age, but i don't no longer buy books and have and own a kindle, plus other tablets to read on, so i guess things change, and i'm happy with either or both, but get you point and understand your post and thoughts as well
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Bamilus
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RE: Written tutorials vs video tutorials. Discuss.

Post by Bamilus »

I think what WITW did should be the new standard. The manual is written extremely well and has lots of photos. There are video tutorials and also a one hour video on the Slitherine youtube of a full playthrough of the first scenario (which also serves as the tutorial scenario). Additionally, the Players Guide is a huge addition and I think having the combination of all three is very powerful.
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Ranger33
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RE: Written tutorials vs video tutorials. Discuss.

Post by Ranger33 »

Well I think it depends on what you are covering exactly. If we are talking the nuts and bolts of how to do basic things, what all the buttons do, etc then written is good since you can read at your pace and soak up the details. As for how to play the game in terms of strategy and the flow of actually playing a scenario, I think the video wins. The best of both worlds is to have an interactive tutorial within the game, or something like Civ where you have advisors giving you hints about things, advisors which can be set to different levels of information.
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