Gaming the System - Warren Spector on Narrative

HiddenX

The Elder Spy
Staff Member
Original Sin Donor
Original Sin 2 Donor
Joined
October 18, 2006
Messages
19,813
Location
Germany
RPGWatch member Silver spotted two interesting articles on the Narrative in games written by Warren Spector:

Part 1: A Narrative Fallacy: It’s All About Aristotle

Part 2: Another Narrative Fallacy: It’s All About Choice
[…] Put another way, before you start crafting your story, make sure you have something to say. […]
[…] Here it is: The interesting aspect of player choice isn’t the choice itself. The interesting thing – the only interesting thing, really – is the revelation of consequences. Choice without consequence is a waste of time, effort and money. […]

More information.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
19,813
Location
Germany
In a lot of ways Warren is stating the obvious. But lots of developers fail to do these things with there narrative (*ahem* Telltale) so I guess it needs to be stated.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
9,312
Location
New Zealand
One game which, in my opinion, did the choice - consequence well for its time is Arcanum. Even with its bipolar nature of magic vs technology. Granted, I played it long time ago and don't remember the details all too well. Your actions could affect the world in ways not apparent immediately. I remember doing one quest in a way that screamed right at the moment only to later find out my actions had a devastating effect on the world (well, actually on one town in the game, but you get my point).
 
Joined
Jun 24, 2014
Messages
899
Choice without consequence is a waste of time, effort and money.

True, but not every choice needs to have earth-shattering consequences. They just need to be noticeable by the player.
 
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
5,521
Location
Seattle
They [choices and their consequences] just need to be noticeable by the player.

I agree with that. That was done particularly well in G1 and G2 and I'm not just talking about which guild you might have selected in those games. They were full of game changing consequences where you'd have to re-play the game to see a different outcome. Or at least do a lot of save/loading in situations where consequences were very near the moment a choice was made.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,897
Location
Oregon
Back
Top Bottom