What I'm interested in finding out in this discussion here though is whether it would /hurt/ to put parentheses on the gaming buttons.
Oh. Unless it will cost more for them to be added I doubt it. Since that is your goal I will skip the list of solutions I like better (that have already been discussed) and just say that if it will help some people I think it is worth a shot, and I am in favor of it. [...]
Oh, no, I'm sorry, please do go ahead!
International communication... my apologies, I really should have known better not to phrase this this way. Please allow me to clarify, I didn't mean to imply that I don't want any discussion about potentially superior solutions. If that was the case somehow, I would have made it clear from the start. But I do want to hear alternative ideas, for the same reason that I would like to hear arguments against /
my/ parentheses idea: to verify that this suggestion of mine is not improper.
I think it will help some people, but remember that humans are lazy, and often don't pay attention to little details. This is why I think parentheses will be less beneficial than using a different color plastic for each key ("press the purple button to jump" vs "press A to jump" vs "press (A) to jump")or some very distinct marking that is not like anything on the keyboard ("press heart to jump"). I think some of the people who will be confused by "press A" will still be confused by "press (A)".
While typing this I did find a solution that might help a little... I like to believe that people aren't as simple as I think they are. Would "press (a)" be less confusing than "press (A)"? If keyboard markings are all caps maybe lower case can help make them different while still going with the parentheses and Button locations/markings as on the Pandora. If you have two things that are different, or three if you add color, it should give enough signs in context in games and software that it means buttons, not keys. That doesn't fix problems when speaking or typing unless everyone types "purple (a) button", which I would not. "Press a button to jump", when written/said the lazy way, is not too different from what leads to situations like"Press any key" "Where's the any key?"
It would probably be best to use the symbols that depict their default non-game functions as markings to avoid confusion in software, however that makes it slower or more difficult for discussions.
I would actually prefer the buttons be identical unmarked black or dark grey buttons since I already know what they will do most of the time. This does not work for some games and for new users. I say drop the legacy option for anything better in one way or another, although a color or simple common symbol seems best.
Maybe to help users make the delete key red. They can remember "delete is red is bad" in places where it can be destructive. For symbols/characters/letters if we stop trying to mimic something else we are more likely to get something that is less confusing. If those symbols correspond to the keyboard function, even better. Use a pentagon/home plate/house for home, the Five Fingered Hand of Eris (two arrows pointing at each other, or a line with an x in the middle: -x-) for insert, the "no" symbol (circle with slash through it) for delete, etc. I wanted to say fire for Delete, but it might look too much like the Pyra logo. Those symbols will be visually distinct, and are unlikely to be confusing when thinking about it, and the user can say "press the no symbol to exit" or "press delete". You can use a hat or cap, and shoe for page up and page down or something, I guess. I dunno. I am just going around in circles with this.
I don't personally see a problem, but if you want to fix it you might as well start from scratch instead of trying to fix something that there is no reason to stick with.
