Educated Gamer: Sophisticated Illusion- Choice vs Story

Excerpt:

“The future game player might be an actor in a drama over which he has no control” - that’s exactly what makes a drama dramatic (Poole 2000). To be realistic, a game should be more like life in the respect that you only have a facile amount of control over a situation. If you’re all powerful in a game and control and change all outcomes, the game is less immersive and less dramatic because you are, in a sense, omnipotent.

Loss of control is more engaging, more realistic, and more dramatic - something beyond your control happens and your choices revolve around how you deal with that outcome. The Walking Dead game is a good example of this: you steer the story but can’t predict the future; therefore you have no control over the outcomes you've orchestrated. It allows you to feel the illusion of control and then reminds you that, sometimes, shit happens and there’s nothing you can do but pick up the pieces."