After all these years, Sony still has no clue wtf they're doing with their UX on consoles do they?

[Vex]

They have this feature called "accolades". You get one when a player sends you one.

Great.

So today I got one. From who? Oh, it was a player I was just playing with in returnal. I didn't catch their name. Easy remedy, I'll just go to "played together" right? Because this should show a list of players you've played with right? Ok where is it..? Under a icon called "game base" (which makes no sense, but ok). I go there, and look at "played together". Ez right?


Wrong.

This shit is showing a whoping 3 people from days ago I played with in god knows what game that was because it doesn't list the game either. But I can tell from the dates that wasn't the person I was playing with. Great.


Hmmm... What to do, vex. Think! There must be a way to salvage this. Oh! I know, the accolade that popped up was a "notification". Maybe if I go to the notification icon, it will show me who gave me the accolade.

Clicks on notifications
Yes! It says "you have received XXXX accolade". It's still there!
I click on it. It takes me to a screen that explains what accolades are. Great. Ok who gave it to meeeee annndddd nothing. There's no way to tell. It leads to no where.

You see... When I received the accolade, I wanted to return the favor, but I quickly exited out of the pop-up by mistake after an online session in coop. So now I CAN NEVER FIND THIS INFORMATION EVER AGAIN. EVER. It's lost to time.

EDIT: AND GUESS WHAT, THE NOTIFICATION AUTO-EARASES ITSELF. SO THERE'S NO TRACE OF IT IN YOUR HISTORY. You can't make this up.

Again: Why isn't played together working PROPERLY STILL AFTER DECADES of this (it used to be "players met" on the old Sony consoles and it didn't work 100% there either). Again: It's great that you show I got an accolade, but why not at least tell me WHO, and WHAT GAME I got it for?!? It's 2022. We have the technology. I promise.

Fuck!!!

 

[s y]

Might be due to the other players privacy settings

 

[Dest]

They had this shit right with the PS3 for the most part and then they fucked it up moving forward and it's just gotten worse.

 

[LightKiosk]

The accolades are the friends we made along the way.

Spoiler

I still have no clue how that part of the system works.

 

[shadowsdarknes]

I've never heard of accolades.

Sorry this feature doesn't really work. But my experience with the PS5 UX centers around a lot of other things. Most of it works pretty well.

 

[HBK]

Xbox isn't doing that much better either on that front.

Those consoles are feature-packed so, while criticism is always warranted, it's unfortunately kind of expected that the UX will be ... let's just say imperfect.

 

[Vex]

Might be due to the other players privacy settings

Click to shrink...

I'd buy that if this hasn't been happening since I bought my PS5. I played with so many people that I find that hard to believe. Like 100s of people. The list shows ..... Three.

 

[pete_clarf]

I know this isn't what you're really talking about, but do only certain games support Accolades? I've never gotten one and I've also never sent one.

EDIT: And I've definitely noticed the "recently played with" list is definitely incorrect. Even the Switch gets that right!

 

[TheStebe]

I have absolutley no need for this feature but even so how to access said feature is an accolade in itself

 

[Vex]

Spoiler

I still have no clue how that part of the system works.

Click to shrink...

And you won't because the UX/UI is garbage and doesn't do a good job of having an intuitive layout.

Nothing makes sense on it. Like honestly someone explain to me why that icon is named "game base". Go ahead. Because to me that sounds like that's where YOUR LIBRARY should be... Wtf?

 

[SinkFla]

One thing that's really bummed me out going from ps4 to ps5 is the lack of update history for ps5 titles. Ps4 games installed on a ps5 still have the option but there's nothing for ps5 games themselves. Of course one can just google patch notes for games but that shortcut through the interface was really convenient IMO.

 

[Liam Allen-Miller]

I know this isn't what you're really talking about, but do only certain games support Accolades? I've never gotten one and I've also never sent one.

EDIT: And I've definitely noticed the "recently played with" list is definitely incorrect. Even the Switch gets that right!

Click to shrink...

Yeah devs need to support the feature.

 

[Rowsdower]

I had no idea this feature existed.

 

[bitcloudrzr]

They have this feature called "accolades". You get one when a player sends you one.

Great.

So today I got one. From who? Oh, it was a player I was just playing with in returnal. I didn't catch their name. Easy remedy, I'll just go to "played together" right? Because this should show a list of players you've played with right? Ok where is it..? Under a icon called "game base" (which makes no sense, but ok). I go there, and look at "played together". Ez right?


Wrong.

This shit is showing a whoping 3 people from days ago I played with in god knows what game that was because it doesn't list the game either. But I can tell from the dates that wasn't the person I was playing with. Great.


Hmmm... What to do, vex. Think! There must be a way to salvage this. Oh! I know, the accolade that popped up was a "notification". Maybe if I go to the notification icon, it will show me who gave me the accolade.

Clicks on notifications
Yes! It says "you have received XXXX accolade". It's still there!
I click on it. It takes me to a screen that explains what accolades are. Great. Ok who gave it to meeeee annndddd nothing. There's no way to tell. It leads to no where.

You see... When I received the accolade, I wanted to return the favor, but I quickly exited out of the pop-up by mistake after an online session in coop. So now I CAN NEVER FIND THIS INFORMATION EVER AGAIN. EVER. It's lost to time.

EDIT: AND GUESS WHAT, THE NOTIFICATION AUTO-EARASES ITSELF. SO THERE'S NO TRACE OF IT KyN YOUR HISTORY. You can't make this up.

Again: Why isn't played together working PROPERLY STILL AFTER DECADES of this (it used to be "players met" on the old Sony consoles and it didn't work 100% there either). Again: It's great that you show I got an accolade, but why not at least tell me WHO, and WHAT GAME I got it for?!? It's 2022. We have the technology. I promise.

Fuck!!!

Click to shrink...

There is a possibility that the person has privacy settings a certain way.

 

[Vex]

I had no idea this feature existed.

Click to shrink...

Yea so far only returnal uses it afaik? Who knows? Because— and this is another issue I have with sony's user experience — nothing is universal guaranteed! Some games support this, some games only support that. It's a fucking mess.

Judging by this thread, this feature could quietly be removed and no one would notice lol. That's actually hilarious.

 

[MJForum Poster]

I had no idea this feature existed.

Click to shrink...

lol same

 

[Jawmuncher]

I remember having trouble finding a recent player I played Granblue Vs. with to send a "GG" message since it wasn't clear.
Had to google "How to see recent players" to find them. It's an aspect that's definitely resulting in WAY fewer player using the "accolades" for other players I would wager.

All of the systems seem to have some blindspots usability wise

 

[CubeApple76]

I do kinda miss the old school XMB from the PS3 days

 

[the-pi-guy]

Accolades are sent anonymously.

Click to shrink...

Sony

From how you describe it, I am surprised that you were able to see who it was in the first place.

 

[joshcam19]

Here's the real secret, all the UX are terrible and you just get used to the one that you use the most.

 

[Pocky4Th3Win]

Yea so far only returnal uses it afaik? Who knows? Because— and this is another issue I have with sony's user experience — nothing is universal guaranteed! Some games support this, some games only support that. It's a fucking mess.

Judging by this thread, this feature could quietly be removed and no one would notice lol. That's actually hilarious.

Click to shrink...

Is that on Sony or developers of the games? Sony can't force developers to take advantage of a system that is only on their platform.

I'm actually surprised how uneven the UX for PS5 has been considering the UX for the PS4 was great in my opinion, it was simple and got the job done. The UX for PS3 was good but I think it could overwhelm a lot of people.

I just don't think there is a good UX on any console is that great right now. I can't stand the UI of the Xbox and Nintendo's is just so bare and limited.

 

[ss_lemonade]

About UX, who thought that hiding things behind the triple dot submenu was a good idea? Makes searching difficult. I remember not being able to find the single player GTA 5 at all because the online game was all the would show up. Turns out it's hidden behind that menu under the online game. Also had the issue of not understanding how to play the Ninja Gaiden collection games initially because of this. They also hide the FF 7 Remake PS4 -> PS5 upgrade behind this menu.

Speaking of FF 7, I went to do the upgrade again just to switch from using my physical disc to the PS Plus version (which meant I had to contact customer support for help) and ran into this:

One was for the disc upgrade, the other is for PS Plus. Pick the wrong item and I guess you're back to contacting customer support again lol.

 

[Vex]

Sony

From how you describe it, I am surprised that you were able to see who it was in the first place.

Click to shrink...

I wasn't able to see it but it was obvious who it was since the side bar pops up after you end a session in returnal. It asks you do you want to give an accolade.


My problem is, if you CLOSE that menu on accident, you can never find this information again (players met). Players met is busted. ACROSS ALL GAMES.

 

[j7vikes]

I think Microsoft and Sony seem to be making things worse in this area over time not better.

 

[EntelechyFuff]

One thing that amuses me on PS5 is that when you look at a game in the PS Store, it sometimes has a little avatar and the phrase "8 other friends play this".

But you can't see any of the names.

A lot of my PSN friends are randos I barely talk to but friended due to a specific online interaction once upon a time. Sometimes I am genuinely curious which of my friends may have played a given game, and I'll even ping them to ask how they liked it. But I can't do that on PS5!

 

[Fisty]

I think that's kind of the point, Accolades should be anonymous because it just creates an economy of Accolade trading or an expectation of reciprocation. Usually it's easy enough to figure out who gave you one in a 2 player game but for bigger MP games the anonymity is the point.

Also I think you can only give an accolade through the in-game menu, not later or outside the game. And "players met" isn't busted, it's a per-game thing where not all games support it, it makes sense that Returnal might not have it since it was single-player only for the first year

 

[Vex]

But you can't see any of the names

Click to shrink...

Exactly. You click on it and it just awkwardly shows "compatibility notices"?

They are literally trolling with that. Come the hell on.

 

[pete_clarf]

One thing that amuses me on PS5 is that when you look at a game in the PS Store, it sometimes has a little avatar and the phrase "8 other friends play this".

But you can't see any of the names.

A lot of my PSN friends are randos I barely talk to but friended due to a specific online interaction once upon a time. Sometimes I am genuinely curious which of my friends may have played a given game, and I'll even ping them to ask how they liked it. But I can't do that on PS5!

Click to shrink...

This exact thing has bugged the hell out of me too! I still click on the box it's in every single time just in case they've allowed you to see who it is. They never have. They never will.

 

[defaltoption]

It gets worse every console generation, ps5 is my most hated console to "use" (not talking about games) its just terrible having to do anything with friends or shut off or navigate through anything

 

[Praedyth]

I wish Destiny had accolades support.

 

[Fadewise]

None of the platform holders do, really. At least Microsoft has recognized that it should be an iterative approach and not throw everything out every new console just because people are distracted by new and shiny (and less functional)

 

[AHA-Lambda]

They had this shit right with the PS3 for the most part and then they fucked it up moving forward and it's just gotten worse.

Click to shrink...

This, they peaked with PS3 then crashed

 

[Androidsleeps]

The PS5 UI in general is half baked and terrible imo. Full of unnecessary junk, messy and a step down from the PS4. At least it's snappier I guess.

 

[Mr. Shakedown]

Modern console UIs are TRASH. Bring back XMB and the blades!

 

[mudron]

It's been a year-and-a-half and I still find myself holding down the PS button on my PS5 controller to turn off the power but no dice.

 

[MrWindUpBird]

This seems like a whole lot of hubbub about nothing. The PS5 UI is perfect, but it's been more than solid in my experience.

 

[Bishop89]

Just go on my profile and give me the accolade instead. I would appreciate it

 

[Vertpin]

They had this shit right with the PS3 for the most part and then they fucked it up moving forward and it's just gotten worse.

Click to shrink...

^^^^

PS3 UI was sooooooo good.

 

[.exe]

I was watching Jeff Gerstmann's video playing the new PS Plus Premium games the other day, and the interface problems are downright shocking. There is seemingly zero thought put into how a human would navigate and find games.

 

[Vex]

^^^^

PS3 UI was sooooooo good.

Click to shrink...

Added a poll. Ps3 UI was the goat PlayStation UX.

 

[LordofPwn]

they design them visually instead of structurally. only thinking of a couple use cases and then needing to implement several others and thats when things typically go to shit. just be glad you don't have to drive a cursor around on the main screen using an analog stick to click on things.

EDIT: since there's a poll I'll add some thoughts on the different generation experiences.
PS5 - I like how well the app works with it, the media page, visually how it looks, and that you can pin games so things don't get cluttered. for the love of god though can we remove the discover page?
PS4 - I like the folders and how easy it is to turn off the console (up, hold right, x + x) can do it without needing my monitor or TV on.
PS3 - it was simple and just fucking worked. doesn't look the best and with the rise of digital games getting to a game sucked but navigating it made sense.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Yea so far only returnal uses it afaik? Who knows? Because— and this is another issue I have with sony's user experience — nothing is universal guaranteed! Some games support this, some games only support that. It's a fucking mess.

Judging by this thread, this feature could quietly be removed and no one would notice lol. That's actually hilarious.

Click to shrink...

The feature is available but not mandated, which is... the way it should be, IMO. Aside from general game accessibility/usability features, extra features like this should not be mandated, else we have another "leaderboards" situation like with the 360 with games that had no business having online functions.

Here's the real secret, all the UX are terrible and you just get used to the one that you use the most.

Click to shrink...

This! Most UI are awful only because you're used to something else and/or they're not labeled as you would expect them to be. Some people have ideas that a feature should be under one header when others think it belongs in another. I'm sure after decades (literal decades!) of using GIMP, navigating Photoshop again would drive me insane.

Modern console UIs are TRASH. Bring back XMB and the blades!

Click to shrink...

Also this. XMB was so great and I finally retired my last non-PS3 XMB device a few months ago (a BD player). It's such a simple, useful menu that just makes sense (aside from points I mention above) and is rather quick.

 

[ElephantShell]

I'll be honest I really don't use anything beyond the most basic features of the system software and I've found it fine. Fast to move around, looks nice. I am surprised they haven't added more since launch though (really want themes).

 

[ClutchAnderson]

Everyday I miss that sweet XMB

 

[shadowsdarknes]

^^^^

PS3 UI was sooooooo good.

Click to shrink...

I don't see what's so great about long vertical lists of content.

The PS5 UI works nicely by giving the player a lot of functionality while also keeping much of the game screen free.
A tap of the PS button opens up a lot of system functionality that brings up small-medium menus.

The PS3 XMB overlay basically took up the whole screen and I just don't find that preferable to have a blurred game screen in the background. I really don't see how that's preferable.

 

[Novocaine]

Where's the Vita option. All of the consoles have been shit. XMB was okay. They should have kept iterating on it.

 

[dgrdsv]

It's been a steady decline from PS3 to PS5.

PS5's newest "improvement" compared to PS4: not showing any patch notes after patches.

 

[Faceless_Caesar]

The PS5 UI is god awful which is part of the reason I barely use mine. People do use this against Xbox but I think reusing the same UI from Xbox One on Series S|X was a good idea because at least you know how to use it.

 

[Manu]

It's been a steady decline from PS3 to PS5.

PS5's newest "improvement" compared to PS4: not showing any patch notes after patches.

Click to shrink...

God I hate this so much. It's even dumber because you can see the update history on installed PS4 games.

 

[Iwao]

I think it's less about understanding "good UX", but the fact that the OS for these machines launched hot and different things get prioritised that way, and that remains as future updates are pushed out based on feedback.

I don't see what's so great about long vertical lists of content.

The PS5 UI works nicely by giving the player a lot of functionality while also keeping much of the game screen free.
A tap of the PS button opens up a lot of system functionality that brings up small-medium menus.

The PS3 XMB overlay basically took up the whole screen and I just don't find that preferable to have a blurred game screen in the background. I really don't see how that's preferable.

Click to shrink...

Agreed. the only vertical lists I want are for trophies and thankfully they remedied that.