Critical Path /// Games Are about Choice

2:18

Games Are about Choice

Interviewed 2013. Games can be about empowering the player to experience another person’s perspective.

Robin Hunicke

Roles: #Founder #Producer

Credits: #BOOM BLOX: BASH PARTY #BOOM BLOX #JOURNEY #THE SIMS 2: OPEN FOR BUSINESS #MYSIMS

Tags: #Empowerment Fantasy #Choice #Problem Solving

Added on July 19, 2016 · View Transcript

Hmm. I would say I - I honestly believe that games are about choice. Um, they’re about giving you meaningful choices. Um, Warren and I have had many conversations about this. Because games are about meaningful choices, they can be about empowering choices. But, they don’t necessarily have to be about that. I’m working on a game concept right now that’s actually about transformation and about understanding how emotional environments that people live in, the challenges that we have as people day to day, they’re not really like you see in blockbuster films or even in some games. It’s not like you have a problem and then you can just go and solve it by getting revenge, or you can go back in a time machine and fix it. Um, people have challenges in life and they incorporate the challenges and then those challenges become who they are. And I’m really fascinated right now with this question of what is a meaningful choice in a situation where you were attracted to something that was maybe not so great for you. You got yourself backed into a corner and now the options A and B are both not so great. What is a meaningful choice in that context? And if you put the player in this position, are they empowered by making that choice? The design of the choice itself is really important. It can’t feel false. It can’t feel like I’m just beating you over the head with feeling screwed, you know. You need to be able to see and empathize with the situation the character is in and then to be able to move forward from a place of disadvantage. Um, many people are challenged in their lives from the very beginning. They are not born where I was born on the planet, in the body, and the class, and the society that I’m in. And I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about games for those people, people that have had a very different experience, um, and may not necessarily be as interested in processing empowerment as processing the challenges of becoming a whole person in an environment that’s constantly pushing back on them. So, Cliffy and I have talked about this. He says he’s Guns and I’m Roses. I believe that games can be about empowering you to see and experience someone else’s perspective.

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