Why Google & Game Guides Are Ruining Gaming

All the time i choose to find my own way

Games are more fun when I use a guide to me mainly on souls like games I use guides start to finish

This is crazy, the reason you made your video is the same reason I found it. I never understood why people rely so heavily on guides. Folks are just min/maxing the fun out of gaming these days

90% of extract gamers who will brag about their inventory a week later after the game comes out. Then mad you dont know everything when you run with them😂

Just playing Resident Evil 2 remake and realized this shit and said to myself dude im again finding the solution on internet fr i wanna feel the sense of accomplishment from doing it myself then i asked hmm i wonder if some people think like this too and boom im here watching ur video. cool xD

Well a lot of developers (cod devs) don’t actually make good games anymore. They also make games that don’t work. I didn’t look up anything about GOW but looked up the last 2 bosses in Stellar blade. Helldivers I have not seen anyone with my build(maybe good or bad). Ghost of Tsushima I didn’t look up anything. Diablo 4 skill tree I looked up and didn’t make any sense.
I love dead cells and hades!!!

Well a lot of developers (cod devs) don’t actually make good games anymore. They also make games that don’t work. I didn’t look up anything about GOW but looked up the last 2 bosses in Stellar blade. Helldivers I have not seen anyone with my build(maybe good or bad). Ghost of Tsushima I didn’t look up anything. Diablo 4 skill tree I looked up and didn’t make any sense.

I respect your opinion. I apologize, but I love guides and walkthroughs. It's really rare that I play anything without them. I mostly play single player games, especially since I haven't played League of Legends in a while.

Shitty take. Speak for yourself. Maybe you're someone who runs to Google immediately, but I only do that as a last resort when I'm totally stuck, and finding the solution on the internet is better than just quitting the game altogether. That's what people used to do. How is that better? As far as people looking up things like ideal builds... you're basically arguing against freedom and choice. These routes are optional, not mandatory and they give people more choice and options on how to approach a game and play it the way they want to. Someone might like a game because it has great gameplay/exploration/etc but also includes overly complex systems and they don't feel like "studying" to understand all the ins and outs of every little thing. Having internet resources is a good thing. You're essentially arguing against the very concept of community. There's a lot of things "ruining gaming" from the corporate side of things, but people freely sharing information on the internet isn't it.

I'll only resort to using a guide on a single player game if I'm totally stumped. I refuse to use any META in single player or multiplayer games. All that has ruined multiplayer gaming for the most part. It can still be fun, but I love seeing varieties in playstyles and loadouts.

Data mining has kinda ruined the whole finding secrets thing too. Sure, you're still finding secrets, but not in a fun way.

Been gaming since the early 80s. Only time I use Google is when I cant find a user manual.

I think the best example of this would be the Hitman games. It's so much more fun to figure out the best ways to tackle missions on your own. Once you use the guide, you might as well just watch someone else play it on Youtube. The fun is in discovery.

I’m a big Destiny 2 player and this game is a nightmare to understand all on your own. Main story quest never were that hard to complete, it’s mostly go there and kill that, with a harder difficulty option that kinda forces you to make use a good build but that is pretty manageable by yourself.

But some sidequest are obscure by design. Dungeons are not that hard to figure out on your own, but some secrets in them are so fucking hard. There’s one that if you don’t understand binary code, you’re pretty much cooked. Good luck figuring it out without a guide.

But the absolute worst thing to do completely blind is a raid. First, you need 5 other players who never did it. Second, you need to at least be free for 6-24 hours if you want to complete a blind run, depending on how good your fireteam is at figuring shit out. I did actually tried the last raid the day it came out and we got past the first encounter after 6 hours. Some of us still didn’t fully understand what was going on. There’s 5 encounters in that raid. The best team in the world finished it in just under 19hrs. Everyone else were over 24hrs in it. Most of us just abandoned.

I never actually met someone who figured out a raid completely on his own. But D2 is all about the community. It’s actually part of the game to use youtube and guides. And even with a guide, a raid is still hard to learn, because every body has a specific role to do and one mistake is all it takes to wipe the fireteam. There’s only 15% of the community who completed at least 1 raid. It’s even less than that for players who actually grinds raids.

The only time I use Google is after the first playthrough or if there is a bug. I don't care to use guides especially in single player, it almost feels like cheating yourself time to play the game.

Only time i check for guides is on new realised puzzles that i cant figure out (and then i found out they are broken and not working). Saves time.
If its gatcha game, then its no mercy for a puzzle as those are designed to waste your time.

Or when i play singleplayer game and i look for a item i need to deliver to npc (yeah i hate fetch quests) and a lot of times locations are locked due to main story (but bad game design gives you a fetch quest for it).

If i am stuck on some boss and i cant figure out the mehanic, then i will check for a guide. (but this like never happens ... usualy only superbosses)

Sometimes i play as villan and guides are usefull to find the right words to use to be as evil as possible (yeah some dumb options still makes you a hero, when you are evil)


Also i do anti-meta destroying builds :P (when it comes to pvp)
So this info is usefull to destroy the noobs. Landmine builds are fun in anygame (1 shots meta players).

Hey man I’m in my mid 30s and been gaming since the old days of ps1 and prior. I actually really appreciate this video man. Like a lot. Really good to hear this because you’re right! All the magic is gone! When I was growing up there was no guides or phones to use lol. You had to figure it out!! I’m gonna check myself and make myself quit using guides.

I think it depends on the player, some players want to log in and "Be the best" and if there's a learning curve they log out and never play again, that's why I think COD was more popular then battlefield, battlefield is better but there is a learning curve compared to COD, some of us enjoy exploring the games mechanics but it's not for everyone, some players don't have that kind of time or just don't enjoy it.

I know this may be hard to believe, but I'm too stubborn to use guides. I will stay stuck on something until I find the resolve. As far as multiplayer metas that's really hard to ignore. I just use weapons that feel good to me, and if you're really good with your loadout it's not so hard to out perform someone using the meta.

Puzzles aren't puzzles anymore.... They're guessing games.... Uncharted 4 was a perfect example.
Games like Darksiders 2 get it right....

Guides and gaming has been hand in hand for at least 40 years now.. I used to get the Nintendo Power magazines when I was a kid in the 80s.. but I totally agree. Gamers are a bit too reliant on this. It's kinda like cheating.. it's not fun.. but some games you definitely need it.

I either use guides when I've been searching awhile and I'm no longer having fun, or the quest or objective is so obtuse I don't think I even have a starting idea on what to do. I have more fun than wandering aimlessly most of the time but I also usually give myself a bit of time to get fustrated before I open up Google.

Also don't shit on the yellow tape. It's not ruining games. Too much maybe but knowing which items to interact with is integral to these games. The og re4 did this it just was low poly the things that are yellow paint in the remake they were highlighted in the og. Which is easier to do in low poly textures than hyper hd textures. The yellow paint is meant to invoke the same effect. Knowing what is and isn't interactable doesn't ruin gaming it makes it more accessible. It's also just good game design.

Shout out for the old games!

I think it's a personal choice. I never search guides, it takes the fun out! The old games, where you had to figure stuff out alone were so much fun and I prefer doing it as much as I can. Especially for Souls like games or whatever puzzle I have to do.

Sometimes games get overwhelming though, some of these systems are so complex to figure out all by myself without 10s of hours of experimentation alone. I think google/guides should be there to help you create your own path, instead of just like googling how to beat game quick. I love having the internet there to help, but you gotta be smart with how you use it so you don't ruin your experience.

Figuring out OP strategies is most fun when you do it yourself, figuring out strategies that make the game easy enough for you personally to tackle the game is great actually. I would've never beat Bloodborne if I didn't see a guide for getting through Central Yharnam and then once I got through that, it became my favorite game of all time instead of a game I played for one random Saturday in 2015 and never touched again cause it was too frustrating. Developers also have a huge role to play here though, take fromsoft for example, they definitely make their games with the intention that you'll look things up, if not how the fuck are 80% of the players gonna figure out how to continue a lot of side quests or access hidden areas. Like in Elden ring, who would know to walk into a coffin to get into deeproot depths if you didn't just somehow stumble there and see the prompt. Before that first coffin, there's literally nothing in the game that says coffins can transport you to hidden locations

i just started the video so maybe you bring this up, but like they used to come with guides, not our fault companies cheap out on pack ins now

I have to time to play on my own. Bye

Dude i couldn't go through a stage in darksiders for 3 month's.

To answer the Rhetorical question at the start: Baldurs Gate 3.

when it comes to play games
I sometimes use guides when I was trying get around when I have no idea what to do about some parts of the game especially if its way too complicated to get around like it takes hours to figure it out for myself
however I dont really want to spoil the fun out of it

so its more recommended to use guides later at some point like if you are at the middle and end of the progress not in the first time I think
(I hope I said it right?)

I recently started playing Enter the Breach since it came to mobile and I get very little time to game anymore. It's a turn based tactics game.

In the past I would have immediately been looking up optimal strategies, tips and tricks, etc. And like have gotten bored with it quickly. Instead, over a month in I dropped down to easy difficulty just to be able to beat it once, and am experimenting with new strategies and tactics, and actually having an incredible amount of fun because of it.

You've made the video I've wished someone would make. I had this same realization a few months back, and realized that constant use of guides was ruining games for me.

I also think that learning too much about a game before playing hurts the experience too. Even many modern trailers spoil too much of the story of the game, such as A Way Out.

Because modern games are tediously formulaic and the obsession of achievements and unlocks to compensate for lack of story and game mechanics makes many of the bosses and puzzles just idiotic and mind numbing. I play games to enjoy them not to piss around with idiot moments lazy devs litter them with. Older games were FUN to play, puzzles were well placed, fit with the game and didn't ruin it. There's nothing worse than coming across locked in sections of "click to survive" sections of games or idiot hard bosses. Horses for courses but I always found boss fights to be the cheapest laziest game mechanic ever, its ok when the boss is just a quite tough baddie like older games, Doom, Wolfenstein, Deus Ex, many others, it had the right balance, but when its just littered with ten thousand feet tall missile spewing sludge slinging maniac bosses to inflate the games play time, I genuinely cannot be bothered with it so yes ill use a guide because I don't enjoy doing it.

Yeah, it's kind of annoying in multi-player games for sure. Everyone playing the same meta is boring. Idc what you do in a single player game, but it's also annoying when someone acts like the solved something or found a secret when all they did was watch a guide. Like some of the stuff in souls games, I know damn well you didn't get that ending organically 99% of the time

I have more time on slow shifts to plan gaming sessions, than I have to actually play gaming sessions, so I tend to pre-make characters for fun, then pick one or two to play on things like Skyrim or Diablo. Using the build-makers, watching videos about how useful skills are, etc lets me create my own skill path AND learn the game systems ahead of time. That lets me focus on the game when I do finally have a little play time, and not waste that time on systems and mechanics that are required but not actual gameplay. I don't look up quests or puzzles and try to avoid anything that says "TEN THINGS I WISH I KNEW BEFORE I PLAYED GAME*!" I'll watch a guide on how the crafting system works, or how the perk/skill point system works (good gravy, PoE2 yikes), but try to avoid anything plot-related if I haven't played the game at all yet. I love watching videos from @FudgeMuppet for all his build guides for Bethesda games because it gives me ideas for new fun characters. I don't copy them directly, it's just inspiration. Especially builds I have absolutely no interest in playing myself; it lets me at least get a glimpse into how it *could be played.

You'll NEVER catch me min/maxing a game, and I really only do these things for games that have an immense amount of character-related content that I can plan out ahead of time for fun. When my wife and I played Take Two, we only looked up how to get past 2 of the boss fights, plus one area where we just could not figure out how to progress the level. One we had been trying for half an hour and she was getting pissed, the other looked absurdly simple so we couldn't understand why we couldn't get the mechanic figured out. We were 95% there so that was a facepalm moment, lol.

But yeah, guides are there to guide you when you get totally lost or stumped. Or you're at 98% completion and just cannot figure out where those last items are hidden after fully exploring every nook and cranny you can find. Sometimes I'll store a list of completion items and then check them off as I go, but I make sure to only include the names, not locations, to avoid spoiling the fun and challenge of hunting them down.

I agree m but I think the option to just be able to search it and get the answer is good, to each their own, just don't search it if you don't want to

Sometimes you don't have time or patience to figure out some puzzles or challenges. Especially if some games have between 50 -300 of them.

Use a guide. Dont use a guide. This isn’t a deep discussion

Sometimes it’s impossible without guides.. FF12 has a side quest to get medallions that are impossible to figure out.. or some old games.. they work of metaphors without much direction

i just started playing myst (original) and taking the time to understand and figure out the puzzles is one of the most fulfilling experiences in video games

I’ve never been big on guides and help. However, I’m getting old, and I don’t have hours to devote to figuring out something. Lately, I’ve been using Grok voice mode to ask questions while I’m playing. It’s like asking a friend 😄 It’s just been for game mechanics and locations of things in games I already played and forgot.

I have the same friend, different games but same in gaming philosophy. Games don't last more than a week. He's always bored. Constantly looking up what's next and what is where when playing a game.
I mean maybe it's just me but he's literally creating his own problems like running out of games to play or being bored because there isn't any connection to story because he already knows what's gonna happen with each choice because he looked things up. I truly don't get him. You are creating the problem yourself, yet you can't see it.

Idk who defaults to using guides, I keep on playing everything in the way it was intended to be played as much as I can. Probably the most disgusting thing is when the community decides there's a certain "proper good" ending of a game and then basically tells everyone to choose that specific one.

I often struggle with this in single-player games. I really want to do things "my own way," but I tend to give in and watch guides before I even start. For example, in Baldur's Gate 3, I felt weak just a few hours in, so I looked up a guide for optimal comps. I do this mainly because I don’t always know what’s possible—like realizing a multiclass build can make a huge difference. I get that “figuring it out” is part of the fun for some people, but with my 9-5 job and family, I don’t have endless time to experiment with builds. Plus, I’m not someone who replays games. With so many others on my list, I prefer moving on rather than going back to the same one.

For multiplayer, it’s a bit different. I raid Mythic WoW at a decent level, and doing things my own way there is more of a hindrance than a help. The tools available to test different builds and gear are insane, and the top players spend tons of time figuring out the best setups. I just don’t have that kind of time, so I’m perfectly fine using recommended builds and going with what’s proven to work.

BUT I DO AGREE, it does make gaming worse, I'm my own worst enemy.