This is an incredibly insightful article on the problem of choice in video games, complete with a nice run-down of recent discussion. Should be of interest to those who have played or are interested in games like Fable 2, Fallout 3, Bioshock, etc.
The Problem of Choice
– April 13, 2009
This is an incredibly insightful article on the problem of choice in video games, complete with a nice run-down of recent discussion. Should be of interest to those who have played or are interested in games like Fable 2, Fallout 3, Bioshock, etc.
About the Author
Richard Clark (Co-Founder/Editor-in-Chief) has spent his entire life writing, reading, listening, and playing. He has a Bachelors in Theology from the Baptist College of Florida and has a Master of Arts in Theology and the Arts from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He lives in Louisville, KY where he is the classroom technology manager at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition to writing at Christ and Pop Culture, he is also a staff writer for Kill Screen Magazine's website and has written for various other outlets such as Paste, Gamasutra, and Collide.
Email: deadyetliving [at] gmail [dot] com. Twitter: @deadyetliving. Xbox Live: deadyetliving 
Fallout 3 presented a fair mix of choice and problem-solving. In many cases, a pragmatically clear choice was not apparent. However, armed with the internet, one can play through, making only the most pragmatic choices and turn some of those choices into mere problems.
At the end of the day, however, there’s little pragmatic difference between the character who chooses to disarm Megaton’s reason for being and the character who nukes the town at the request of
OfficerAllistair Tenpenny. I played both ways and both characters were virtually unstoppable engines of fury and destruction by game’s end.The Danes last blog post..20090406.outOfControl