Do you read ingame books?

[Bastardchops]

No there's enough books in the real world worth reading. I don't want to read a book if I'm playing a game.

 

[Humbaba]

 

[Bloodeyes]

Sometimes. Usually not though. They're normally pretty boring so I just sell them.

 

[bionicman]

I don't read 99% of books in Elder Scrolls and such, but I appreciate their existence since it makes the world feel more alive.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Tiny snippets and scrolls like in the Thief or Dishonored games can help you better imagine the personalities and the city's woes, but fuck reading Elder Scrolls.

 

[Szenhidrat]

Last time i read books ingame was in the original Alone in the Dark trilogy because the narration was very cool (especially for games released in early '90s). Nowdays when i play the game i want to play the game, and if it the lore or the story was interesting i read books/letters etc. on a wiki after finishing the game when i have time.

 

[ELEXmakesMeHard]

I'm inclined to short lore notes like in ELEX. Always read those.

I read all the books in ARCHOLOS. But those are basically just lore notes as well.

Disco Elysium is pretty much a huge interactive book, and I did read that.

DA:O had a good system, I thought. The Codex where everything you read is stored, and doesn't clutter your inventory.

 

[Peachcurl]

The only game that forced the player to read the books was Witcher 1, and it was made in the best way possible. In any other game, reading books is pointless, so I don't bother.

Bard's Tale IV also has some "books" (hardly even close to book length, usually don't even fill more than a paragraph) that are required reading for some quest progress.

In hindsight, I don't really get why I read so many of those books in Morrowind.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Faggot shit that clogs inventory.

 

[RRRrrr]

I actually think codex entires are way better than books. They serve the exact same purpose, they can be extremely mechanically similar (clicking on a book adds a codex entry instead of opening a book), codex entries are better organised are can be read at any time as opposed to books. I really liked how Dragon Age Origins handled codex entries, they were way better than the game story itself and I enjoyed reading them at the camp after finishing a quest. I feel like I am the only person who enjoyed S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl codex (pdf) entries, too. I was very sad they were lacking in subsequent games. Metro Exodus was not bad in that regard, you could read your diary (which serves as a codex) on the train between areas.

I hated Oblivion and Skyrim books, I always felt they were there for quantity and not quality. The Witcher series had ok books, but I guess I liked them because I liked the setting. TES setting is extremely boring for me.

Strangely enough, what I find developers often underestimate is that gamers are more likely to read codex entries (or even ingame books) if they are put into the mood for this. For example, giving access to codex entries/diaries in areas that people in real life read at-a camp (Dragon Age Origins), on a train (Metro Exodus), etc. I would never open a codex entry while playing, or when looting a book in the middle of a dungeon. That just breaks the flow of gameplay.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

No there's enough books in the real world worth reading.

Behold the barely literate answer. People who like to read don't think of it as a waste of mana, and if you're afraid of wasting time you shouldn't be playing computer games in the first place.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

I thought that books in RPGs were just random generated text. Were you supposed to read them?

 

[Kruyurk]

I thought that books in RPGs were just random generated text. Were you supposed to read them?

No, books are just trash encounters intended for storyfags.

 

[0sacred]

I do, as long as they're not lore books in the strictest sense. I swear, I'd rather read "101 spells to clean your toilets" than a lore-dump book.

 

[Galdred]

They are usually lore dumps extracts that would better fit a loading screen. I sometimes read them, but I don't remember it ever seeming worthwhile, as they are always totally detached from gameplay.
I don't remember ever finding any useful clue in one of these.

 

[KateMicucci]

Getting the book cover mod and then hunting down every rare book to fill my shelf in Morrowind was a good time.

 

[Cunt Dickula!?]

Nah i always play characters that can't read.

 

[ELEXmakesMeHard]

Does this count as a book? It's in a library.

Spoiler

 

[Berengar]

Just depends on the game for me I guess. Usually don't bother but in Morrowind, Oblivion and Witcher 1 I felt compelled to read everything.

 

[Anonymous Wife Scholar]

Does this count as a book? It's in a library.

Spoiler

Thank you anon! You are a good anon!

 

[Nortar]

Behold the barely literate answer. People who like to read don't think of it as a waste

As Mao Zedong used to say: "Those who read too much, think too little."

 

[JarlFrank]

Tiny snippets and scrolls like in the Thief or Dishonored games can help you better imagine the personalities and the city's woes, but fuck reading Elder Scrolls.

Thief also had the cool thing of some books just giving you the title when you click on them, and others (those that actually contain relevant information) opening the actual book.

Making some books not readable but others yes is the perfect solution for having a ton of books in the game without having to fill each of them with text - which in turn increases the quality of the relevant ones.

 

[KateMicucci]

Behold the barely literate answer. People who like to read don't think of it as a waste

As Mao Zedong used to say: "Those who read too much, think too little."

As a boy Mao would ditch his job as a manure hauler to skulk off and read The Three Musketeers.

 

[Cunt Dickula!?]

Behold the barely literate answer. People who like to read don't think of it as a waste

As Mao Zedong used to say: "Those who read too much, think too little."

As a boy Mao would ditch his job as a manure hauler to skulk off and read The Three Musketeers.

Man with a vision.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

I can barely read character dialog anymore since they are all so stupid so reading a book is way out of the realm of possibility for me.

 

[Sigourn]

Read the books from Morrowind back in the day. Probably the best example of this feature in games.

I'll bite.

To me, Morrowind is the best example of how not to do in-game books.
For a number of reasons:

1. Many of Morrowind's books have nothing to do with the lore of the setting.
2. To add insult to injury, those that are related to the lore of the setting tend to have very cool lore. But this lore is limited to the books: you never see it in the game, you only read about it.
3. Even these books are mostly unrelated to the gameplay itself. The gameplay experience changes nothing from reading or skipping these books.
   
4. The few exceptions are those books that give hints on how to complete certain quests (e.g. cure yourself of Vampirism) or how to achieve certain goals (e.g. how to make certain potions).

Someone posted the perfect, opposite example. That's The Witcher 1's books. And I loved them, yeah.