Choice in Games

What is Choice in Games?

One thing about choice in game design that people often misinterpret is that it solely relates to story decisions. Potentially, some of the more analytic players may also recognize that elements such as weapon loadouts or skill trees also constitute choice, but these are fairly limiting definitions. Choice in games is a much more broad idea than any one characteristic but instead refers to all decisions a player can make throughout their play experience.

Subtly of Choice

Take a game like the Halo franchise, for example. There is no leveling, there are no skill trees, no dialogue options, and no mission order. Instead, your choice is then based on how to play within these confines. Do you like to get up close and personal? Use a shotgun. Do you fear grunts more than elites? Bring a pistol. Is there a rocket launcher you can loot but it’s in front of a wave of enemies? Depending on your playstyle, you may want to go after it.

Even little choices are influenced by the designers when the game teaches you that killing the leader elite causes all grunts to panic, but killing all grunts tends to be a bit safer. Now your choice is what order to defeat enemies that most closely fits your game style.

Disillusion of Choice

Notice that this requires the player to want one decision vs another. They believe that the choice they made based on kill order or weapon loadouts offered them the best advantage. Almost like they are “outsmarting” the game. If instead, there is an objectively best enemy to defeat, then no choice was made. Take the Watchers from Halo 4. These enemies can create shields, capture grenades, summon new units, and even resurrect dead units. There is no reason any player would ever go after another enemy other than Watchers first. That’s no longer choice; that is the game telling you the kill order.

Obviously, this can then be stretched into any other example of choice in games. If one leveling up perk makes you invincible and another increases your defense by 4%, there is no choice to be made. If a crate you can hide behind allows enemies to hit you vs a defensive position that actually offers cover, players will never go to the first one. If you’re given the choice to play DOOM Eternal or Animal Crossing: New Horizons¸ there clearly isn’t a choice.

Overall

Overall, as a developer, it’s important to balance decisions for the player that makes them feel like what they are doing has meaning. Allowing them to explore the world presented to them in a way that best fits their play style is one of the hardest elements of good game design to balance because that means you have to come up with equally rewarding options (either literally, such as gold or weapon damage, or intrinsically such as satisfaction or enjoyment). It’s all about recognizing how different players like to solve similar problems and giving them the tools to do it. Until then, this was just a quick look at Choice in Games.