What video games taught me about UX

Development is my job, but gaming is my soul, and the longer I work in UX the more I realise games have been teaching me the whole time. Game designers solve the same problems we do, with one big difference: if a game is confusing, players just quit. Here’s what I’ve borrowed.

The first level is the onboarding

Great games rarely open with a manual. The first level is designed so you learn to jump by needing to jump. Compare that with products that open on a five-step tour people skip immediately.

In my interfaces I try to teach by doing: let people take a real action straight away, and show hints at the moment they’re needed, not before.

Feedback is a conversation

Press a button in a game and something happens: a sound, a flash, a number going up. Games never leave you wondering whether your input registered. On the web we still ship buttons that do nothing visible for two seconds.

Every action deserves a reaction, even a tiny one.

Loading states, pressed states, success moments: these micro-interactions are the web’s version of “game feel”.

Save points beat punishment

Old games made you replay an hour after one mistake. Modern games autosave and forgive. Forms that wipe everything after one validation error are stuck in the arcade era. Undo, autosave and inline validation are the save points of UX.

Difficulty curves, not difficulty walls

Games introduce mechanics one at a time and then combine them. Products should do the same: show the essentials first and unlock power features as people grow. We call it progressive disclosure; game designers just call it good design.

Accessibility options are a feature

Some of the best accessibility work today is in games: remappable controls, subtitles, colour-blind modes and difficulty assists. They show that inclusive design widens the audience without watering down the experience.

Game on

Next time you play, notice the menus, the tutorials and the moment a level clicks. That’s UX, and it’s some of the best in the world. I’ll keep writing about the games that shape how I design.