Mommy, where do heroes come from?

EA would have you think that it was the Battlefield, but in fact they have much humbler beginnings.

You see, every hero was once like you and I, scared lost and unsure of their surroundings. Let me explain what I really mean, in open world games almost all of the time you will finish the tutorial and get booted out into a huge world unsure of your place in it, unsure of what to do, what you're capable of doing, and, most importantly, where to go.

When I got Oblivion it was the first game I owned that featured a massive sprawling expanse of a world, with one notable exception (Don't judge me). I felt really lost as soon as I stepped out of those sewers and into the real meat of the game. Sure, it had given me a direction, but what if I hadn't wanted to follow the main quest? Plus, how was I supposed to get there? Take a direct route on foot? See if I could pick up a horse somewhere? (I would sadly not discover the wonders of fast travel until much later.)
Games that are large, open or sand boxy are very daunting to new players. This doesn't affect the 'hardcore' contingent as much, but you can't assume everyone paying for your product necessarily is already familiar with similar games.

When people feel daunted they may feel put off from delving deeper into your content, and then they don't get all they could out of your game. Everyone deserves the opportunity to derive all the enjoyment that they can from your game, they have all had to pay for it, after all.

I don't have a perfect solution to this problem, but I do know that this is the kind of thing you have to design with Joe Everyman in mind. I have a couple of imperfect solutions rolling around in my head, but nothing firmly nailed down. I'll let you guys know what I come up with at some point, maybe we could bounce some ideas around between us. That could be fun.

Everybodys' got their problems