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Author: MasamiPhoenix

Sep 9th 2015 at 8:32:27 AM

Actually, a lot of games the player has no ability to influence how the plot plays out.  In most Mario games, Mario defeats Bowser and that's it.  There are no decisions being made by the player that change the story, only his skill at beating the levels.  No multiple endings, no alternate story lines, nothing.  You can chose which levels to play, or how to play, but in the end, the actual story cannot vary.

This trope is about when you can vary the story.  For example, Life Is Strange has multiple interactions you can do that will change what people think about you.  If you are nice to the Alpha Bitch character, than she remembers that later and will help you out and give you more information.  If you were mean to her, she ignores you.

Now, in contrast, there are a lot of games that let you chose dialogue options, yet do not have this trope.  For example, Secret of Mana.  You get to chose what Kid says often, but other than the very next line of dialogue, this has no effect on the story.  You get kicked out of the town no matter what you do, the Sprite joins you no matter what you do, the mushroom king trusts you with the dragon drum no matter what you say to him.

Actually having decisions that influence the plot has been a dream of game designers for a long time, we've seen advertisements for it as long ago as the SNES age (FinalFantasyVI claimed it, even though it wasn't true) and it's been the basis for many ad campaigns such as Fable, Life Is Strange, and the Walking Dead.

tl;dr most games don't actually give you the ability to affect the plot line, just to advance it down a predetermined, unshakable path.