The Sit-Down, Episode 1: Choice and Consequence Nerd RoundTable With the Percival Bros.

OH MY GOSH WE'RE NOT DEAD. In his new solo series, Matthew uses "Life is Strange" to talk about one of gaming's most important mechanics. Video version is on our Youtube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muixLvYHE4M Hate listening to sound? Text version below: ***contains minor spoilers for Life is Strange, a lovely adventure game I highly recommend playing without spoilers. If you want, go give the first episode a try for free on Steam and then come back! Choice and consequence has been one of the defining, unique traits of videogames from the very beginning. In many games, the choices are presented as possible solutions to a problem: -Mario needs to get past a Goomba. How do you do it? -Missiles are raining down on your cities! What order do you shoot them down in? -Asteroids are surrounding your ship, how should you proceed? The consequence in most games are simple: you either succeed or you fail. And they’re usually tied directly to the execution of your choice. You choose to jump on the Goomba’s head, but if you miss, Mario’s in trouble. You may choose the right order to shoot at the missiles, but you need to aim properly. You either clear the asteroids, or you get smashed to pieces after a poorly timed hyper jump. In other cases, the gameplay’s choices and consequences involve more critical thinking. One of my favorite examples of gameplay choice is in Halo: Combat Evolved. Thanks to the 2 weapon carry limit, the player is having to constantly make decisions on what weapons to take with him to the next encounter. And since the weapons are designed for pretty specific circumstances, your choice will have major consequences on how your next fight goes, especially if you’re not sure what types of enemies you’ll encounter. Do I take the powerful sniper rifle, despite its limited ammo? Or do I take the scoped pistol, which is much weaker but more versatile? And what should I combo it with? The plasma pistol for its charged shot? Or the hot-pink needler for its usefulness against Elites (assuming you’re on legendary mode. Otherwise DROP THE NEEDLER IT’S TERRIBLE). Gameplay choice is the most common version of this mechanic, but today we’ll be focusing on narrative choice. Narrative choice is a common staple of RPGs, especially Western RPGs in the post-Knights of the Old Republic era. The player is faced with a decision that will have lasting effects on the rest of the narrative. Sometimes it will be a binary “good” or “evil” choice (Fable, KOTOR) sometimes it’ll be a little more nuanced than that (the Mass Effect series), and sometimes it’ll be a choice impacting the relationship between the player character and others (Persona, all the Bioware games). This aspect of choice and consequence has always excited me the most, creating narratives that are not only interacted with, but shaped by the player. This is where, as a form of expression, video games are wholly unique. And in a time where the Internet has given us all the ability and desire to create our own content, videogames have the chance to become our culture’s most beloved artistic medium. That brings us to Life is Strange, an episodic adventure with some of the most successful uses of choice and consequence I’ve ever experienced. The story follows a high school senior girl named Max Caulfield who discovers that she has the power to rewind time. With this newfound ability, Max rescues then reunites with her childhood friend Chloe, and together they try and solve the mystery of what happened to Chloe’s friend Rachel, who went missing several months ago. Oh, and maybe the apocalypse is happening. And with that setup, the game becomes a series of choices and consequences. During a scene, Max will sometimes have to make a choice, with the game pausing to let you think about it. In most games, the choice and its consequences are final, barring a reloaded save file. This can sometimes lead to unexpected (and undesirable) conseque