Meaningful Choice in Games: Practical Guide and Case Studies (Research)

Meaningful Choice in Games - link

A blog-post defining what makes the element of choice in video games meaningful and what the essential parts are to achieving this meaningfulness.

It was written by Brice Morrison for Gamasutra.com.

Summary

• Morrison recalls a character named 'Boyd' from RPG video game Fire Emblem, whose death had a profound effect on him, even today. The character wasn't pre-programmed to die and the game didn't necessarily intend it, which made it a meaningful death. 
• Morrison had grown attached to the character while playing and often felt regret for losing Boyd. 
• This taught Morrison as a game designer himself what it is to create a "meaningful choice" in a game. 
• He describes how such a meaningful choice is created:

1.  Awareness - The player must be somewhat aware they are making a choice (perceive options)
2. Gameplay Consequences – The choice must have consequences that are both gameplay and aesthetically oriented
3. Reminders – The player must be reminded of the choice they made after they made it
4. Permanence - The player cannot go back and undo their choice after exploring the consequences

• This 'recipe' to create meaningful choice is important, according to Morrison, because all of them are components of meaningful choice in real-life

Component 1: Awareness

• The player must be aware that there is a choice being made, otherwise this isn't a choice, but an inevitability the player could not control
• If they are not aware of other options, they cannot agonise or deliberate one choice over another, negating the choice in the first place
• For example, Telltale's The Walking Dead has life or death situations around every corner, often with the choice of saving one character over another. This is always a clear choice, as both characters able to be saved are in the player's POV. 
• The player is given plenty of time to decide and the choice is obvious, so the player feels responsible
• However, level of awareness can vary, such as a character's constant questioning when their motives aren't clear. The player is clear that there is a choice though because of the interface, always presented with two or more options to respond with. 

Component 2: Gameplay Consequences

• Meaningful choices should always have aesthetic and gameplay consequences, rather than mere set dressing
• The Walking Dead - gaining the trust of certain characters may effect how they defend you later in the game
• Choices must have consequences, otherwise they are purely filler and feel tacked-on

Component 3: Reminders

• Pride and regret are two key consequences of your choices. However, if you cannot remember your choices, then they cannot be felt by the player. 
• By reminding the player and hinting at their past choices, the choices gain more emotional weight and may even affect the player's future decisions
• They are 'imbued with meaning'
• Without regret or pride, the player feels nothing when making looking back at their decisions

Component 4: Permanence

• Real-life choices are so affecting because they have permanence
• Choices in games often have no meaning because they can be reset, meaning the player has no problem destroying a building or attacking innocent bystanders
• The use of the 'auto-save' function in The Walking Dead means that your decisions are locked in and permanent, they cannot be reset
• This imbues them with meaning, again, with added emotional weight and importance

• Morrison ends the blog-post with his thoughts on games as art
• He believes that meaningful choice in games can be effective in changing the player themselves in real-life, evaluating themselves by taking on-board the lessons of the game itself
• Morrison thinks this is what makes games special and different from other mediums

Key Quotes

"Choices that pull at players heart strings, that make them look deep inside themselves at their own character in real life, that they remember as deeply emotional experiences. These are the designs that turn a game into art."

"By making the choice meaningful, we help to make the game itself meaningful."

"The best meaningful choices have both aesthetic AND gameplay consequences. Changing the experience of the game, the behavior of the player, is typically more meaningful than just playing the same game with different set dressing."

"By sprinkling reminders through the game of what choices the player made previously, the choices take on more and more weight. As the player goes forward in time the same old choice affects more and more of their experience, imbuing it with meaning. If you made your choice and then went on without even remembering it, you would never later feel regret or pride. You’d just feel nothing."