Balancing Choice With Irreversible Consequences In Games 352
The Moving Pixels blog has an article about the delicate balance within video games between giving players meaningful choices and consequences that cannot necessarily be changed if the player doesn't like her choice afterward. Quoting:
"One of my more visceral experiences in gaming came recently while playing Mass Effect 2, in which a series of events led me to believe that I'd just indirectly murdered most of my crew. When the cutscenes ended, I was rocking in my chair, eyes wide, heart pounding, and as control was given over to me once more, I did the only thing that I thought was reasonable to do: I reset the game. This, of course, only led to the revelation that the event was preordained and the inference that (by BioWare's logic) a high degree of magical charisma and blue-colored decision making meant that I could get everything back to normal. ... Charitably, I could say BioWare at least did a good job of conditioning my expectations in such a way that the game could garner this response, but the fact remains: when confronted with a consequence that I couldn't handle, my immediate player's response was to stop and get a do-over. Inevitability was only something that I could accept once it was directly shown to me."
It's OK. (Score:4, Funny)
How to accept the consequences (Score:4, Funny)
Re:If I wanted consequences (Score:4, Funny)
Well life doesn't feature unicorn, for one thing...
But it does feature kitchen sinks and trolls...
Two out of three ain't bad.
Re:Unforgivable games (Score:5, Funny)
In the final moments of the game, you have to borrow a broken-down spaceship to leave the planet. The spaceship has a crack in the windshield, repairable only by...get ready for it....SUPERGLUE! Without the superglue, the ship has no integrity and your head explodes when you take off. There is no alternative item to the superglue, and it is never otherwise mentioned in the game.
You should have seen the look on my face when I realized, after dozens of hours of gameplay, I forgot to grab the superglue from the ship in the first scene. I was ready to hunt down the game developers, one by one, Rambo-style.
Re:If I wanted consequences (Score:5, Funny)
This is the plot of 90% of action movies and games, isn't it? Everyone dies so the hero can take on an entire army by himself... In fact he might as well put them out of their misery himself so we don't have to hear about their stupid family and how they only have one day left in the Core and then the inevitable "tell Sarah and the kids I love them..." crap as they bleed to death.
The only difference here is that this bit of the plot has moved from the cheezy FMV sequence to be part of the actual game. We have Call of Duty/Medal of Honour to thank for that where you hit the beech at Dunkirk, everyone on your side gets mown down and then you fight your way to Berlin single handedly only to find that the last boss (Hitler) realised the futility of resisting your one-man assault (even if he can shoot lasers out of his eyes) and shot himself. Either that or he was hoping one of his guys would go on a similar solo orgy of violence and destruction if all his team mates were wiped out leaving him as the last/only hope for victory.
Re:Eh, it could be worse (Score:4, Funny)
Bioware usually writes damn good characters but they love this kind of character so much that it's becoming a) formulaic and b) hard to take seriously anymore.
Aribeth: "I have joined the bad guys because my lover was wrongfully executed! Oh the sorrow..."
Player: "Well, of course you did."
Aribeth: "...the pain, the-- what?"
Player: "Yeah, you're female, you used to be lawful good and we're in a Bioware game. Of course you'd turn chaotic evil and join the bad guys. I saw this coming since chapter one."
Aribeth: "I will not have you mock my hardship! Die, you--"
Player: "Yeah, whatever. We both know you're just a tiny speed bump between my party of epic-level demigods and the final battle. Your new name is Mid-Boss."
Mid-Boss: "I should've signed up with Nippon Ichi..."
Of course in a Nippon Ichi game she'd face a party of level 9999 demigods.
Trent or Tiffany ? (Score:4, Funny)
"Joe's Bar, Upper Sandusky, Ohio, Earth
You begin the game in this, er, fine establishment. The urge you feel is the urge to urinate. Pick one of the bathrooms (women northeast, men northwest); this will determine your character's sex for the game"
Now THERE's REAL CHOICE!!!
Plus, you can use the scratch and sniff card to smell pizza!
"For Your Amusement:
Don't go to the bathroom.
Buy a beer before relieving yourself.
Play as a man if you are a woman, or vice versa.
After selecting one bathroom, try entering the other.
Urinate somewhere other than in the toilet (e.g., the sink).
Flush the toilet.
Eat the pizza. Then vomit. "