Where Microcopy and Video Games Meet

How microcopy is a game changer and what can UX Designers learn from video games.

1992: id Software releases Wolfenstein 3D, and the world loses its collective mind. Our protagonist, BJ Blazkowitz (the essence of machismo) is sent to eliminate the Nazis and restore peace to the free world. While roaming Hitler’s castle and shooting up enemy soldiers, there was one thing that I remember very clearly: the difficulty selection menu and its unique naming of difficulty levels.

“Are you tough or a baby?” Wolfenstein 3D (source).

Back then, I thought it was hilarious; today, I realize that it was more than just an inside joke. It was something that the game designers put their mind into in order to create that moment of delight for the user.

In video games — just like in a standard UI system and other digital products — language matters. The essence of the game’s atmosphere and theme can be delivered via small microcopy adjustments and unique names to conventional menu items or other dialog messages.

Hate Tutorials? Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a notorious treat: it offers the worst tutorial messages ever, on purpose. (Source).

Language is how we converse with the user, and while in corporate companies microcopy can sometimes be treated as ‘tongue in cheek’ while still remaining professional and clear, video games are the playground where nothing is off-limits. id software could have just used the standard: easy, medium, hard. But knowing their audience and knowing their game, they went with the right decision and gave some character to the old boring menu screen.

In the 2014’s Wolfenstein fantastic reboot, the same classic names for difficulty levels were chosen, and not just in the sake of nostalgia. Once again, the game had a clear message for the player: you are here to kill, don’t be a baby (or be a baby, if that’s your choice). The game is mocking the players who decide to play ‘easy’ (all in good fun, of course).

“Spineless ” Wolfenstein: The New Order (source) or “casual”? Wolfenstein: The New Colossus (source).

The difficulty selection screen isn’t the only place where id Software mocks players. When a player tries to exit the game, a clear message is sent to the user if they decided they’d ‘had enough’: “Are you going to exit and be a wimp?”, or if they were going to keep playing and “continue saving the world”, one Nazi at a time.

How could you even quit with a dialog message like? Wolfenstein: The New Order (source). Wolfenstein 3D’s multiple quit dialogs (source).

That’s the simplest way to get your players into the atmosphere of the game’s world, and what is gaming if not escapism? Wolfenstein does a perfect job giving you the brutal, action packed vibes the developer wants you to feel before you even begin playing.

This puts you in the ideal mindset from the start.

There are other instances of hilarious passive-aggressive messages for players who leave the game too early, such as Binding of Isaac.

Binding of Issac’s quit message (source).

DOOM is another example for language that fits the product. While the 2016 reboot doesn’t have the passive aggressive tone (this game is brutal enough!), the menu selection screen uses phrasing such as, ‘Nightmares,’ and, ‘death incarnate,’ because frankly, DOOM is all about Hell and death. And of course how can we avoid the classic ‘B.F.G’ (You know what it stands for…)

Well there is nightmare, and then there is Ultra Nightmare! Doom 2016 (source).

In a complete contrast to aggressive FPS games, other, more subtle games which are not so blunt in their use of violence use a complete different phrasing. In these instances, the emphasis is placed more on the story. Therefore, easy mode will usually be labeled as something like ‘Story’, which is the case in action RPG games such as The Witcher and Mass Effect series.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is very forward on what sort of game you can play. (source). Mass Effect 3 even added an additional description copy to let you know what each difficulty entails. (source).

In the strategy simulation Civilization, the difficulty levels are dubbed “Settler”, “Prince”, “King”, etc., to ensure that these words directly communicate with the game’s motives.

Sid Meier’s civilization VI offers multiple difficulty levels (source).

Why am I using these video games as an example, you ask?

As a Veteran Gamer and a Product Designer, I learned that video games are not just fun, they are another place where UX designers can learn and draw inspiration from. I for one, admire systems that push the humor a little further. When done right, it gives so much more character, creates a deeper link and assists in building a whole new universe.

Even though complex enterprise systems are different from video games and meant for a different audience, we can still learn how to create a language that is completely aligned with our product and fits like a glove.

The language we use in our menu, guide and even items’ description is significant in any system design. Do it well enough, and these small (yet significant) phrasings are something the users will not just love but also remember, and while I am not expecting us to change the air conditioning temperatures labels to “Hell” and “Antarctica”, there is always something we can learn from Video Games and incorporate it in different digital products.

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