I'm Happy Newer MMOs Are Ditching The Cluttered UI Of MMOs Past | MMORPG.com

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I'm Happy Newer MMOs Are Ditching The Cluttered UI Of MMOs Past | MMORPG.com

A discussion about the EVE Online Skill Plan UI got Bradford thinking about UI design in MMOs overall. Gone seemingly are the days of outrageously cluttered UI, in favor now for more minimalistic approaches. And Bradford is all for it.

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Abscissa15

You asked for opinions. I prefer the other end of the spectrum, specifically for mouse-activated action bar buttons. The reason that I stopped using my access to New World, Bless Unleashed and Black Desert was the constant use of keybinds to activate skills. I'm a left-handed mouser and I'm not a typist. That combination is most easily accommodated with mouse-click action bar buttons ... for me anyway. In the perfect world you could set up your own UI from scratch. Say what you will about Blizzard - they do allow nearly any customization in their UI. So, I'll take the clutter over being locked into keystrokes for everything non camera-related.

[Deleted User]

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Alpius

For me, the less UI constantly visible, the better.

Sovrath

Abscissa15 said:

You asked for opinions. I prefer the other end of the spectrum, specifically for mouse-activated action bar buttons. The reason that I stopped using my access to New World, Bless Unleashed and Black Desert was the constant use of keybinds to activate skills. I'm a left-handed mouser and I'm not a typist. That combination is most easily accommodated with mouse-click action bar buttons ... for me anyway. In the perfect world you could set up your own UI from scratch. Say what you will about Blizzard - they do allow nearly any customization in their UI. So, I'll take the clutter over being locked into keystrokes for everything non camera-related.

Well, mouse click action bars wouldn't really work for an action combat game. Or at least it would make it rather clumsy. They're better for slower games and games that are primarily tab target.

Spiider

Nothing.

Scot

Are the UI's Cluttered or Detailed, Minimalist or Simplistic?

I would argue that this design philosophy is part of the dumbing down of gaming, the UI's are simpler because the games have less features, controls, powers/abilities, forms of communication, and indeed forms of interaction.

Less is never more and gaming demonstrates that rather well.

Theocritus

I'm guessing alot of this has to do with many games being played on multiple platforms and not just a PC amymore.

Scot

Theocritus said:

I'm guessing alot of this has to do with many games being played on multiple platforms and not just a PC amymore.

Don't forget mobile even if its just a mobile version, both the capability of the platforms and the size of screens use says "lets dumb it all down" to developers.

[Deleted User]

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Sovrath

Scot said:

Are the UI's Cluttered or Detailed, Minimalist or Simplistic?

I would argue that this design philosophy is part of the dumbing down of gaming, the UI's are simpler because the games have less features, controls, powers/abilities, forms of communication, and indeed forms of interaction.

Less is never more and gaming demonstrates that rather well.

Well, making an uncluttered and simple UI allows for one to actually watch the game world and the gameplay. There is still the same amount of forms of communication and then some with voice chat.

And though I don't like voice chat it is a superior mode of communicating.

Having a complex ui doesn't work with faster-paced games. 

The UI is supposed to support the game not hinder it. Adding all sorts of options/buttons will create more issues.

And of course, part of it is a taste thing. I prefer action combat over button mashing tab targeting. It's more visceral and exciting. Doesn't mean there isn't a place for slower-paced games but that's not what is being made.

If Pantheon ever releases then "there you go."

But in the end, It's not "smart" to have a UI that doesn't support the gameplay.

Kyleran

Being an old school submarine pilot (not really) I'm used to navigating by the instruments, (10 years in EVE) so I'm not in favor of more modern UI's and their "minimalist" approach which I feel caters more to the console player.

I've been playing ESO for the past 6 months and it still very frustrating to be unable to slot all of my skills at the same time, forcing me to rely on the Dressing Room mod to make game play half bearable.

Iselin

I got used to it with ESO - especially the compass bar instead of a mini map that ESO borrowed from TES single player games and NW has kicked that same idea up a notch with proximity tracking of resources that only get unlocked when you're proficient enough with a given gathering skill.

NW also has very convenient "pop-up" UI elements that for example, tell you how much XP you just got on a kill for yourself and both of your weapons and a 1 second pop-up look of what you just looted that you can follow-up by opening the inventory screen for a closer look if something caught your eye in the 1 second look.

I also like the simple and intuitive colored damage numbers that let you know at a glance if what you're fighting has immunities to your attack type, is neutral to it or is especially weak to that type of attack.

I also like the color coded icon over quest mobs' heads that let you know if its part of a quest and which type of quest it's part of (gold for main or side quest, blue for faction quest, etc.)

As minimalist UIs go it's remarkably informative with very little clutter.

Kyleran

Compass bar? Yeah, I've hated that thing since Fallout games, so of course one of the first mods I installed prominently in ESO is the mini-map.

Console gamers who play ESO must feel crippled compared to the PC experience.

Iselin

Kyleran said:

Compass bar? Yeah, I've hated that thing since Fallout games, so of course one of the first mods I installed prominently in ESO is the mini-map.

Console gamers who play ESO must feel crippled compared to the PC experience.

All the years I played ESO I was never even tempted to use a mini map addon. I used many addons: quick gear swap mods, quick skill bar swap mods, harvest map to track resources, damage number addons, etc. but the mini map I never missed.

HeadStrongRobot

Comparing WoW and FF14 to ESO and NW is not a good example. They are games that play very differently from each other, and require different UIs. ESO and WoW both allow for modders to do their thing, and are better for it. FF14 has some tweaks that have been made by people, but it is mostly cosmetic, and has dubious legal standing. NW does not appear to have any mod support or a way to tweak the UI to your liking.

Clean UI != "Dumbed down" video games literally came from the simplest UI, a button and a joystick/dial. It can also make the difference between being able to play a game or not for some with accessibility issues.

StoneRoses

Speaking of clutter, how about all those damn currencies?

Phaedruslives

Scot said:

Are the UI's Cluttered or Detailed, Minimalist or Simplistic?



I would argue that this design philosophy is part of the dumbing down of gaming, the UI's are simpler because the games have less features, controls, powers/abilities, forms of communication, and indeed forms of interaction.



Less is never more and gaming demonstrates that rather well.

It's almost universally a sign that the game is intended primarily for a console audience, and without sounding like an elitist that generally isn't associated with a suite of player control and option.

[Deleted User]

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Utinni

Happy they're ditching bad UI, not happy theyre ditching class progression and utility for controller friendly hotbars.

[Deleted User]

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cameltosis

Can't say I agree with the article at all.

I've spent a fair amount of time designing user interfaces in my life as a software engineer and professionally speaking, UI design has definitely gone downhill in the world of MMORPGs.

Decluttering a UI is worthwhile, but that is not what has happened here.

What has happened is the games have gotten shallower and simpler. There is simply less stuff needed on the UI. The designers are not making the UIs less cluttered. They are certainly not making the UIs better. 

Some examples of how New World's UI is not very good:

1) Chat Window

By far the best example of bad design. The chat window takes up a large amount of space, but most of that space is wasted space. In the space taken to display 6 or 7 messages, older MMOs would fit 15-20. I really cannot comprehend how they managed to waste so much space.

2) Skills

Your active skills and their cooldowns are second only to being able to see the enemy and health bars. So, why are they shoved away on the bottom right corner of the screen? And why are the skill icons so much smaller than the weapon icons?!?!

3) Compass

First up, the compass seems to take up roughly the same space as a typical minimap. But, once you've progressed your craft skills, the compass quickly becomes swamped with icons for wildlife and resources. That is the opposite of decluttering.

4) Inventory

The amount of space your inventory takes up is crazy. How is that decluttering? I could run around LotRO, for example, with all my bags open, over 100 item slots visible on screen, whilst still having 75% of the game visible. In NW, I can't even get remotely close to that.

SplitStream13

Mtibbs1989 said:

Joseph obviously never used the customize UI features in these games. Or should I say.. he has...



First and foremost, why did you make the FF14 photo so cluttered? It looks like you intentionally cluttered your UI and shrunk the resolution down to 720p to fit the narrative.



I made my WoW UI as clean as the NW photo. You have complete control over your UI with WoW, it's your fault it's so clutter after 17 years. The game's options are so customizable that I eventually transitioned everything to a gamepad with mods while mythic raiding.

https://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh138/Jaysinv1/WoWScrnShot_112609_212920.jpg

Hmmm........
Maybe fancy a raid? https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DikeJQJ7MVM/maxresdefault.jpg

Theocritus

"What has happened is the games have gotten shallower and simpler. There is simply less stuff needed on the UI. The designers are not making the UIs less cluttered. They are certainly not making the UIs better."

Gameplay is still a thing in 2021?

Tiller

I like my organized clutter. Heck in FFXIV I have a whole bar just for funny emotes.

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