Decider vs. Overseer: your role in a narrative-driven game

AridLizard · Sep 5, 2019

virtually every game is story driven and because of this, the player's actions don't really have any real impact on the ending, after all, the player eventually wins and the bad guys lose. some games give a lot of freedom to the player in how each obstacle
is overcome while others only have a single correct way to succeed, but they all follow the broad narrative set out by the developers.

the only time this doesn't happen is if the game doesn't have a story and is a pure sandbox/survival game.

:)

Radiant Sword X

Not sure, but I think decider is games like choices that would affect the game's outcome. Not sure for overseer.

Fos

I prefer to be the one that changes the story with my choices.

Northern Lass

I find games where my decisions impact the story more engaging than oversight roles.

I however dont like games where the achievements are spread across lots of different scenarios so I am forced to play the game more than a couple times.

Legendgenesis

Ah, the illusion of choice. It can make for some seriously great experiences, and encourage multiple playthroughs. But when you do it wrong, it can have a seriously detrimental effect on an experience. Interestingly enough, the Mass Effect games a prime
example of how to do this very, very well, and how to also do it very, very wrong. The first three games all were some of the best out there when it came to choice-driven narratives where you felt like what you did actually mattered when it came to how things
turned out... up until the now famously botched red/green/blue Mass Effect 3 ending, which basically took everything you did not only in the third game, but the previous two games and chucked them out the window (yes, I realize they "fixed" it later.) Even
now, this is still held by many people as example of what NOT to do with a choice driven narrative.

choppyseize

I like being able to make decisions that affect the overall outcome. Aside from the replay value I find it way more immersive. Although I am a fan of games I can just pick up and play without much thought too. It just depends on my mood.

Decider vs. Overseer: your role in a narrative-driven game