I can't help but notice how much larger they're getting, and even though some options allow me to dim them, they're just getting too intrusive for me.

So I'm curious how others feel about them. How would you improve them, if you could?

If I had my choice, I'd remove many of the "features" of them, such as the overly large map (a few meters is one thing, but not the whole area). I'd also remove ammo count (how does a HUD know this, anyway?).

I'd also make them button-required, so they're always off until I need them.

Are developers not confident people wouldn't enjoy the game if they didn't spoon feed everything to us?

M'aiq only uses HUDs if he absolutely has too. If he doesn't need it, he won't use it.

I hated the Skyrim HUD and never understood why they gave you the option to turn the whole thing off but not the option to turn off individual elements, like the compass. In general, I prefer small, minimalist HUDs in games.

I love HUDs, because they're useful! When they're designed well, anyway. I don't have any intrinsic problem with them, and I'll gladly use them whenever possible. Some devs just need to get good at UI design, is all.

Turning off the HUD always svcks.

I prefer no HUD unless it's dynamic as in leaving when I'm not shooting at something. Along with the HUD I like no crosshair, pretty much anything obstructing my view.

I really enjoyed Skyrim's http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3222/? mod, does what I want it to

I was on console when I played Skyrim. Now I have a PC and at some point I will download Skyrim, and the Immersive HUD mod will be at the top of my list.

Depends on the game.

Depends how they work.

Same here.

They work great in some games, but are often intrusive or useless (looking at you GTA V's Health Bar tucked in the furthest corner of the screen) Other ones tell me exactly what I need to know and are non-obtrusive or blend very nicely into the game. here's looking at Brink's or Halo's (Except 4's) HUDs.

This. I enjoy a well designed HUD. And I see nothing wrong with a game providing you with the proper information you need to play it... it's not "spoon feeding" or "hand holding" - it's playing the game with proper feedback/etc.

(I'm sure it would be more "immersive" or "challenging" to not have a speedometer / markings on the gear shift / dashboard indicators, while driving my car. But I'd rather not drive that way. Perhaps that makes me a casual driver. )

I loved the Ghostbusters game, but making the HUD the tiny little meters on the proton-packs was an incredible oversight. I need a proper HUD of some kind.

I think the question of what information is necessary and proper for an HUD depends on the context of the game. In a driving game, then sure, have dashboard gauges. In a futuristic game like Fallout, the Pip Boy seemed to fit in well with the post apocalyptic theme.

In Skyrim, where the game provided so many visual and auditory clues about where enemies were, I felt the futuristic Fallout style enemy radar detector was unnecessary and a bit out of place, given the context of a fantasy game. And the icons on the compass for locations you had not found yet spoiled exploration a bit. They should have at least given you the option to turn that stuff off without loosing the invisible status bars.

I like having a HUD when I play FPS like HALO or Flight Sims.

This.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth managed to pull off no HUD well without sacrificing good gameplay. HUDs are pretty much a necessity for most games to display vital information related to the gameplay.

Depends on the game. For a game like Skyrim, I like the HUD to be gone to add to the immersion. For a game like Borderlands, I love the HUD to show my ammo, shield health, overall health, status effects etc.

I hate huge huds.. Like I don't need a very huge map. Just make it small. If I wanted to see a big map Ill just go to the map menu

The Ammo is fine. If it doesn't take up alot.. (Like Gears of war) maybe a bit smaller though

I like HUDs, but I prefer them to be minimalistic and unintrusive rather than too fancy. The Immersive Interface mod for Oblivion is a good example. I also prefer them to be static rather than appearing as-needed, though I would like a handy hotkey to make them vanish if I fancy taking a screenshot.

I like very little hud, but I still need to see things like health and stanima, I will always prefer a visual bar than just a red splatter or heavy breathing. But compasses, minimaps, overdone aim riticles I can do without.

Not much for toggling hud on and off, some games are designed around the hud and it could mess with the experience or design.

I like HUDs a lot, and don't really mind them taking space if they have a minimalistic design (no "fancy" stuff like the compass frame in Oblivion). Infact, the main thing I don't like about HUDs is when they get to small. In most older games the HUD have one fixed size so when you play in a modern resolution the HUD and text are extremely small, so I'm kinda forced to play those older games in 800x600 instead of 1920x1080 just because I want my HUD to be large enough

I see HUDs as very important to properly give the gamer feedback from the game. I mean, if you hurt your arm and is seriously wounded, you will know, it's painful. You will not just moan for a second and call it a day. I vastly prefer something like the Deus Ex HUD that clearly show me a wounded arm instead of an invisible nothing.

I'm the opposite, i want all useful information on screen. Like the battle logs in old RPGs, i miss those.

I'm also allergic to the "i" and "r" words

This is too general a topic i feel; it varies on the game and what features the game has. But normally i'm quite fine with the default HUD. Recently more games seem to take note about hud customization, a fair number of them allow you to customize what you need and dont need. Dishonored's a prime example.

I think skyrim's HUD was pretty good, what they did with the health mana and stamina bars. Only thing thats visible is the compass. Many other games are worse.

Depends on the genre, game, setting, and even story at times. The Shin Megami Tensei games have a highly minimal HUD when you are playing the console games. If a game's some sort of simulator such as a mech simulator, why would I refuse a HUD? Having a HUD makes too much sense. Games that are about playing as something that has enhancements such as Deus Ex are best with a HUD. For one, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ5VzlRvIw4. Logic means nothing when my vision is augmented.

I tend to like HUDs. They are rarely annoying, anyway. Some can get a bit annoying, but most games don't overdo it much.

I consider it hand-holding when a HUD constantly points us to our destination. I know in open world games, having a HUD can be useful if one just wants to run the quest, but, and this is entirely my opinion, it's self-defeating of the purpose of the open world environment.

Some games, like Skyrim, give us the option to turn off markers, but sadly, many games do not allow us to disable markers. However, the fault of Skyrim is the remaining "all or nothing" HUD display, where if I don't want the compass to show on the screen, I also am forced to not show other elements such as M/H/S.

So far, most comments seem to fit where I sit: a good HUD is helpful, but design is key. I agree, so may it's just me who tends to notice intrusive HUDs today.

You could be right about other games. I don't play games that are linear, which is 99% of all video games, so there are only very few games I will play. Even if the game is open world, if it doesn't allow sufficient character customization, I won't bother with it.

In the past two years, I have only played Oblivion, Morrowind and Fallen Enchantress LH. And in my whole life have only spent significant time playing those three plus Skyrim, Borderlands, Fallout 3, and Two Worlds. NV is on my to do list. I have tried dozens if other games but couldn't play them for more than a few hours.

I liked what they did with the Skyrim health mana and stamina bars but absolutely hated what they did with the compass. Big intrusive thing in the middle of the screen with all sorts of info on it I did not want or need like icons for places I had not found yet and bright red dots showing the direction of enemies.

Reminded me constantly that it was just a game and prevented me from getting immersed in the world. Frustration with the HUD was one of the main reasons I stopped playing Skyrim.

I tried going completely hud less but that has its own frustrations. Finally gave up on the game entirely, primarily because I could not stand the HUD. That was not the only reason, there were other things I did not like about Skyrim but the HUD was the single biggest factor for why I quit. If there had been an option to turn off the compass I would probably have overlooked the other stuff I did not like about the game and still be playing it.

I am getting ready to build a gaming PC and will probably play Skyrim with the iHUD mod (and many others) at some point once I have the ability to mod it. But I only had a console back when I played Skyrim.

It really depends on the HUD but yeah I don't really like games that remove or limit it too much because of realism.

I don't love them either though, I just find it necessary.

Kinda like I don't love butter but I can't eat a sandwich without it.

It's just a necessary component of a game for the most part IMO.

Or drink coffee without it.