In this video Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka discuss World 1-1, or the very first level in the very first Super Mario Bros. It’s fascinating how every element on the level is designed to introduce you to a mechanic of the game, or how Mario moves and jumps. This is interesting if you like Mario, but also important for any developer in any medium who is thinking about the NUX (new user experience) of their product. I sometimes joke that in WordPress we put people on the boss monster level the first time they enter the dashboard. There have been improvements but still so much to do to naturally introduce people to our interface.
“still so much to do to naturally introduce people to our interface.” -so true. Would like to see the story of democratizing the web somehow integrated into the “nux”.
That is fascinating! I’ve been reading through “Actionable Gamification” by Yu-kai Chou and the patterns the Mario creators are referring to align well with the eight core behaviors outlined in the book – specifically providing a sense of development and accomplishment early on during the on-boarding process. Discovering things like the mushroom, and being able to jump out of obstacles also yields a sense of creativity.
But indeed these game design principles can be applied to all aspects of the web and WordPress NUX. I very well might be giving a talk about this very subject at a WC in December 🙂
I believe on how Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka created the first Super Mario Bros should be basic knowledge for a developer of any kind. That might be why Super Mario Bros was a huge hit back in the day. i do agree on how WordPress is confusing to new users, matter of fact I’m still confused on some aspects of WordPress
“still so much to do to naturally introduce people to our interface.” -so true.