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Author: Koveras

Apr 27th 2013 at 9:48:19 PM

@Stratadrake: The way I understand it, and I cannot speak for the original poster, obviously, it's as follows: in most games, you have the core gameplay (how the game challenges the player) and the story (what the game tells the player). The story may have associated gameplay mechanics, too (e.g. persuasion mechanics, KarmaMeter, RelationshipValues, even the DialogueTree can be considered one), but these are usually isolated from all others (combat, stealth, equipment, trade, etc.). So, for instance, in most games I played, it doesn't matter to the story which weapon and armor you use, whether you prefer front assault or stealthy ways, etc.: ''what'' you do in the game is not affected by ''how'' you do it.

This YKTTW appears to be about games where the dividing line between "gameplay mechanics" and "story mechanics" is intentionally blurred, either by having your in-game skills and equipment affect the [[StoryBranching story flow]], or by having characters' skills that don't rely on player input feature strongly outside of cutscenes and dialogues.