Words Worth Knowing: Walkthrough
Words Worth Knowing was a vertical I wrote weekly explaining key pieces of gaming jargon to parents, guardians and teachers, as part of the larger overall GameHub outreach effort. The column ran for nearly two years and resulted in around 60 WWK articles. GameHubHQ.com closed in late 2017. This piece originally appeared on Oct 31 2016.
What It Is: Walkthrough = A guide to the game.
What It Means: A walkthrough is a written, or as is increasingly the case, recorded video content, guide to a game. It will detail the answers to puzzles, how to resolve difficult fight and how to find hidden objects. Walkthroughs are normally used to cheat when a player is stuck or confused. Creating walkthroughs for popular games is a time-consuming task requiring focus and dedication, and is a conscientious way to contribute to the gaming community.
Why You Care: As a parent, walkthroughs are definitely a thing worth knowing about! Have you ever been in the situation of encountering your frustrated child/teen on the verge of a tantrum because they are stuck on a puzzle or fight in a game? Or worse, those dreaded words "I can't do it, can you have a try?!" and then the controller is thrust into your hands!? If you can't do it, you lose a lot of parent-cred. So here is an alternative solution:
Find the title of the game being played. Look for the box or disc.
Pull out a tablet and slap the following magic words into Google:" [Name of Game] Walkthrough." For example "Far Cry 4 Walkthrough"
Pass the tablet to the grumpy youngling and resume peaceful Saturday morning actives.
Google will normally return both video walkthroughs on YouTube, and written text ones from a variety of fan sites. As walkthroughs are instructional rather than entertainment products, there tend to be fewer issues with inappropriate video content, but always check first. Turning the sound off and quickly scrubbing (using your finger on the video slider to fast-forward it) through the video for any obviously inappropriate images will give you piece of mind.
