hey did any of you guys watch strip
search you should have it was great
anyway I asked because today we've got a
special guest artist and he just so
happened to be a contestant on strip
search so say hi to Nick Trujillo
he's the cartoonist behind a
mint-condition comics and an all-around
great guy so go read his comic and say
Mon strip search anyway moving on over
the next few weeks we'll be talking a
lot about choice in videogames
we'll be talking about what a meaningful
choice is why the illusion of choice is
often as powerful as real choice just
how much choice you need to feel like
you have agency in a game and why choice
is so powerful why we care about the
feeling of choice in a video game where
we don't in any other medium but first
today we have to define choice there are
a thousand different ways to define that
word but in the context of games for our
purposes we're going to try to lay out
one concrete definition that we'll be
using throughout a choice is any moment
during play that the player could
perform two or more distinct actions but
has to pick some number of actions less
than the total number available to
execute this can happen in the context
of mechanics at this moment I can either
dodge right dodge left or shoot but I
can only do one in this frame or in the
context of narrative like you in this
dialogue tree I can either be nice to
this person or a jerk to this person but
picking one precludes picking the other
and both are equally valid and essential
to our understanding of game design any
definition of choice and meaningful
choice we use should be able to cover
both which leads us to the question what
does meaningful choice mean and why do
we care about it well a choice is
meaningful when the decision-making
process isn't arbitrary when the player
understands the choice they're making
and has some system to weigh their
options
this doesn't by any means mean that they
have to fully understand what the
consequences of each option will be only
that they believe they have what they
need to weigh the choices presented to
them for example when choosing from
various dialogue options you don't often
know the exact outcome of your choice
but if the dialogue options are well
written and you know enough about the
character you're talking to you can make
some informed meaningful assumptions
about what to say based on your goals
your characters personality and traits
and the personality of the character
you're talking to and so on and so forth
additionally for it to be a meaningful
choice the player has to believe that
what they choose will lead to different
results if you know a choice in the game
isn't going to do anything or you're
completely indifferent about the thing
it does it ceases to be a meaningful
choice next a choice is not a cow
halation this may be the most
controversial of these definitions but
if there's a definitive right answer
that can be ascertained wholly through
mathematics or a straight to logical
reasoning that's Performa Balai the
player and the time allotted to make the
choice the choice is no longer
meaningful for example there was a
period in world of warcraft history
where talent and equipment choices were
rendered essentially meaningless by
there being a definitive right answer
there were demonstrably superior
character builds and since these right
answers were circulated throughout the
community and posted online players no
longer had to make a choice but instead
follow the steps given to them to get
the best result lastly it's important to
note that the same choice can be
meaningful or not meaningful for
different players we the people in front
of the screen are not absent from this
equation for example a player who picks
up the controller in a fighting game for
the first time may not have meaningful
choices their choices are essentially
arbitrary they mash buttons because they
don't understand what their choices are
whereas for someone who's played
fighting games for years their choices
are not arbitrary they know what their
options are and they can use some
internal understanding to way which
possibility will be best for them to
execute this doesn't mean that they know
what the end result will be as that's
also dependent on the other player but
they are indubitably presented a deep
and meaningful set of choices so why
does this all matter
why does choice come up so often in
discussions about games why is it so
prevalent in conversations on game
design when it's never seemed to bother
us that it's absent from any other mass
media well namely because of the fact
that it's absent from all other mass
media games are the only form of mass
media where the audience gets to
interact games are the only place where
we can explore parts of the human
condition even when it's just the primal
part that wants to run and gun through
our own choices rather than by
interpreting the choices of others this
is an incredibly powerful and empowering
thing it lets us pose questions in ways
we've never been able to before it
allows us to better understand ourselves
and shows us just how amazing our
ability to act through volition to have
choice and agency in our lives is
fundamentally games are about choice
choice is at the heart of the medium and
what makes it so engaging to us the
ability to do rather than to be told or
shown is the whole reason why we love
games and it's the reason we'll be
spending the next few weeks talking a
lot more about choice I know that a lot
of this episode was sort of a recap of
information scattered across various
other episodes we've done before but we
wanted to make sure that everybody was
on the same page before launching into a
big multi week series on a major topic
we may do this again whenever we need to
set up an extended series now that
weren't
six seasons in thanks for sticking with
us and we'll catch you all later as we
start discussing some of the finer
points about choice thank you for the
help Nick we'll see you guys next week