Stories in Gaming

The amount of if/then moments in games is unfathomable. At first, as a somewhat potent gamer, I think of RPG style games where the player has control over the storyline. Red Dead Redemption or Fallout 3, for example, give immense control to the player. Whether you play as a civil problem solver or whether you choose to kill everybody on sight has an impact on the story. The player reacts to the situations provided in the game and then the game reacts to the solution provided by the player. What results is a completely immersive experience for the player, where they are in control of the story. For the longest time, this idea of choosing factors of the story was the defining factor in my mind of a game with if/then properties. Then, I changed my opinion on how serious the if/then moment had to be in a game. Games that, in the past, hadn't seemed to offer any choice, also showed dozens of opportunities for decision making. My example piece is Halo, any game of the main series. In fact, this applies to most recent First Person Shooters. The story is always incredibly linear. You are the hero. You need to go from here to here. Go. There is never any variance to how the story can go. However, that does not mean there is no variety! No two people will play the same level the same way. Often there are several pathways, albeit physical pathways, not story paths, to the goal. Weapon choice and fighting style all depends on the personality of the player.

Where one may wish to stay at a long range to battle, another may want up close and personal fighting. This results in different players getting different opinions about the same level based on the decisions that they make. So it turns out, that at any game gives the player more decisions than they are aware and, in turn, allows the player to have a completely unique gaming experience.

photo from http://images.wikia.com/halo/images/b/bb/Unsc_guns_halo4.jpg