The Illusion of Choice
Choice in narrative is a double edged sword, it can elevate a story to the next level or create a dull black and white system of choices that robs a title of organic player interaction. The worst offender of giving illusory choice is games that implement a moral choice system that is tied to in game upgrades or enhancements. This is not a new concept, the first time I saw it was in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, where you could make good or evil choices that enhanced your affinity to either the light or the dark side. Therein lies the issue, if you want to fully access the powers and abilities of either side the most efficient thing to do it pick good or evil from the very beginning and stick with it. This means if you find yourself wanting to help or hurt someone, you likely will not act in accordance with your desire, but rather with path that is the most beneficial for non-narrative reasons. Many games have implemented a binary narrative moral choice system: Mass Effect, Infamous, Fable, Bioshock ect. In all of these games you are either passively or directly encouraged to stick with either the good or evil path throughout the playtime. Partially this is to encourage multiple plays, but I have never found the narrative difference in the second run through to be satisfying or different enough to justify playing again purely for the narrative experience.
An example of a game, that in my opinion, uses player choice to craft a compelling and interactive story is the Witcher 3. Many of the stories in the Witcher 3 are mircro branches that begin and end while you purse the larger narrative. This means you get to see the direct impact of your choices within the smaller stories and then those mircro stories impact on the larger narrative. The choices offered are also morally gray; a drunken farmer burns down a dwarfs workshop because of racial tension between humans and nonhumans, the dwarf is completely innocent and has even helped the man's family in the past. Once you track the man down you he pleads not to be taken in for fear of a harsh punishment (death) and offers you a bribe, do you accept the bride and let him walk free?
Another title that showcases the power of player narrative interaction is Divinity Original Sin 2. This title gives you thousands of options on how to move the story forward. In fact you can miss entire chunks of the main story based on your actions, or even inaction. Main characters live or die based upon your choices even small decisions can have a large impact on the larger narrative. See my summary of the Divinity Original Sin in 2017 in review.
Some companies, such as Telltale, exclusively offer narrative based experiences with morally gray branching choices. These titles are sometimes referred to as "walking simulators" and feature light or no serious gameplay, but instead focus on telling an integrative story. These style games are not my cup of tea, however if you know someone who doesn't like traditional video games, but would like a interactive narrative based experiences a "walking simulator" may be the game for them. These titles typically don't feature large amounts of active gameplay so someone who has never played a video game before should have no issue picking up and playing the title. Some games I would recommend in this genre are The Wolf Among Us, What Remains of Edith Finch, and The Stanley Parable.
Video games as storytelling devices with an unparalleled ability to interact with the person who is experiencing the story. Crafting a narrative that allows a player truly put themselves in the place of the protagonist and make meaningful and organic choices is something unattainable outside of video games. This special ability should not be taken lightly and should be used to propel narrative design as we know it.
This is fire!
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