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Choice and Consequence consequences
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Choice and Consequence consequences
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Momen 4 May, 2015 @ 12:19pm
Choice Depth Score
Hello everyone,

I've been browsing through the list of 143 Recommended Games from this Steam Group. At the moment there is no (objective) score that measures the level of impact your choices can have on the game world.

I would recommend we introduce a "Choice Depth Score" (or Consequence Score/Impact Score/Chaos Theory Score/etc.) for each game and write it in the game description. With this score, you can easily look for a game with a specific "choice depth". We could define this score on a scale from 1-5:

1. Choice Depth Score 1 (e.g. Fable)
The choices you make are not individually processed by the game (game doesn't remember your choices), but they impact a (hidden) score (e.g. a good/evil score).

2. Choice Depth Score 2 (e.g. Animal Crossing)
The choices you make are individually processed by the game, they have a superficial (e.g. cosmetic) impact on the game world. These choices don't effect the game mechanics.

3. Choice Depth Score 3 (e.g. The Stanley Parable)
The choices you make are individually processed by the game, they have a unique and (directly) noticeable impact on the game world.

4. Choice Depth Score 4 (e.g. Mass Effect)
The choices you make are individually processed by the game, they have a unique and hidden (future) impact on the game world.

5. Choice Depth Score 5 (e.g. Dwarf Fortress)
The choices you make are individually processed by the game, they have an immeasurable impact on the game world. The impact however, is not one of few fixed paths (impact is either A, B, C, D or E), but it can lead to many paths.

This "score system" is only a proposal. I think a score could significantly help with the grouping of the "choice based" games.

<<< Not all game choices are created equal >>>

With this system, users can easily search for a game with a specific "choice depth". If anyone has a better scoring system, you are more than welcome to post it as a comment below !

PS:
Thank you Upper Dave for creating this Steam Group :)
Last edited by Momen; 5 May, 2015 @ 7:32am
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Showing 1-7 of 7 comments
Upper Dave 17 May, 2015 @ 10:19am 
I really like all of this. Some good thoughts here, and this is a discussion worth having, to be sure. I'll consider adding something like it to each of the recommendation posts, when we've had some more feedback of the system.

However, I think it might be worth mentioning that the group is for curating and recommending narrative-based choice and consequence games, and as such we're less concerned with gameplay or mechanics consequences as we are story-based consequences, unless the mechanics enhance the narrative in some way.

I would also have scored Fable a little higher, as it does technically remember your choices in many ways. The world changes and people die based on what you choose to do, after all.
#1
Chiff 19 Sep, 2015 @ 8:06am 
The problem is that would put Telltale games into only bracket number 2 despite being some of the best examples of the genre due to less reliance on "mechanics" and more on story outcome.
Last edited by Chiff; 19 Sep, 2015 @ 8:07am
#2
Upper Dave 22 Sep, 2015 @ 1:14pm 
Originally posted by Chiff:
The problem is that would put Telltale games into only bracket number 2 despite being some of the best examples of the genre due to less reliance on "mechanics" and more on story outcome.

Yeah, I absolutely agree.
#3
♥ ｓｐｉｄｅｒｓ 7 Nov, 2015 @ 5:32pm 
Quite a few games feature immediately noticeable changes as well as long term, hidden consequences to choices. (Telltale games and the Mass Effect games come to mind - typically, other characters will have base reactions to your choices and THEN those choices will come back to bite you in bigger ways than you anticipated.)

This has a good basis, but could use some refining. Perhaps games should not given a depth score but rather gathered into groups based upon their depth. There are some games which do not neatly fit into one strict depth "score", but if we were to assign groups based upon similarities of their choice and consequence engines, it may be easier to categorize them without such outliers.

Ultimately, C&C games all share that one trait that makes them a part of this subgenre, but they can be grouped rather than ranked by degree.
#4
Upper Dave 29 Dec, 2015 @ 6:07am 
I agree that groups or types or tags or something for each choice game would be ideal.
#5
GSoda 31 Jan, 2016 @ 1:29am 
Originally posted by Chiff:
The problem is that would put Telltale games into only bracket number 2 despite being some of the best examples of the genre due to less reliance on "mechanics" and more on story outcome.
I would actually argue that TT games are not such a good example of the genre. That's however simply because I highly value the impact of choices done by me and TT games consistently refuse to let them influence how their -at the core- very linear games play out.

Imo TT games are 95% illusion of choice with 5% window dressing.

I would actually love C&C to somehow give me an idea of how much my choices can impact the game world. As it stands now I just know if a game has choices for me to make ...I miss a clear differentiation of the "consequences" part in most curations.
Last edited by GSoda; 31 Jan, 2016 @ 1:31am
#6
Upper Dave 31 Jan, 2016 @ 6:28pm 
To me as the curator, a choice can be immediate (in how a character reacts to you, or which character dies) or it can be eventual and longer lasting. But it's still a choice with consequences, even if those consequences don't change the ending or the overall story dramatically. But I agree there needs to be an indicator of how much choice and how much consequence in each game.

However, The Walking Dead 2 had like 5 different endings, based on your choices.
#7
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Date Posted: 4 May, 2015 @ 12:19pm
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