Permanence and Decision Making in Video Games
Critical Gamer Writes: A few weeks ago I was reading a very interesting round-table discussion in a well known gaming magazine, concerning the role of traditional narrative and the author in modern video games. At one point they touched upon games trying to impose a sense of permanence upon gamer decisions, and they highlighted an individual, his name escapes me, who decided to play with permanent death. Basically, if he died it was permanent game over. This got me thinking about the wider issue of games attempting to impose a sense of irreversibility onto the player, and as an extension of that, how developers utilise player led decisions in their games.

I can see the appeal of, and am slightly intrigued by, the idea of approaching a game with a sense of finality. Taking the Far Cry 2 example, it's easy to see how this would add an entirely new dimension to the game. Creeping around every corner, exercising caution where you would usually run in blindly, and spending large portions of the game running away around the nearest corner to pull bullets out of your body. Come to think of it, it doesn't sound quite as much fun as I initially thought!