Weekend Confirmed 144 - Holiday Special Part 1 - 2012 retrospective

The problem here with the criticism of TWD, and the sort of hindsight reluctance to criticize Mass Effect 3, is that "player choice" is a false concept. What makes the time limit compelling about TWD is that it simulates a story unfolding. The player him or herself can not be Lee. But the game can present the player with possible outcomes based on what Lee would do. And in this scenario Lee and not just tell everyone to stop and let him think for a minute.

So the reason Mass Effect 3 fails, where as TWD succeeds, is that ME is asking the player to project a personality onto their avatar, where as TWD is asking the player to change what happens by changing what an existing character does. Its like giving the player the opportunity to participate in a person's life Ground Hog Day style.

That said, everyone who is engaged in this debate, and deriding The Walking Dead as not qualifying as a game, needs to watch this trailer for the PS2 title Shadow of Destiny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9e4fkop7CE
"It may seem trivial,
but suppose you're in a cafe
trying to decide between coffee and tea.
The you that chooses coffee,
after a long deliberation,
and the you that chooses tea
actually both exist."
And a tag line: "Life is a wheel of changes."


This is an adventure game with 8 endings, and dozens of variations in the plot leading up to those endings. It is no more mechanically in depth than the Walking Dead, but it does compensate the player for figuring out a variety ways to shape the long term outcome of the plot.

"Player choice" is a falsehood, but branching narrative is not.

So on The Walking Dead you can't just say it isn't a game because the architecture of the design is built around its story. And likewise you can not just isolate the story itself and proclaim that it isn't "game." The story of TWD is intrinsic to what kind of game it is.

So likewise on Mass Effect, it is irresponsible for a critic of games to just throw up his or her hands and say "well there's just no way they could have actually made the story different based on your choices." That game's failure was based on the false concept of the player projecting his or her individuality into the experience, and conflating that with strong narrative.

Also props to Garnet for going all out on this episode.