Valid Player Choices

Something important to define is what I mean when I talk about a valid player choice.

All interactive media is comprised of a series of choices made by the end-user: the "player."  Media here comprises everything under the sun that's interactive: from Choose Your Own Adventure books to Dungeons & Dragons sessions with a great GM; from Rock, Paper, Scissors between two children to tournament-level Street Fighter or StarCraft play.

In any piece of interactive media, aside from the emotions the player receives while experiencing the media, the only involvement the player has are the choices he makes.

As a generalization (but in video games especially) the player experience - the range of emotions a player feels from a piece of media - is the basis for the initial draw to a game.  However it is valid player choices that heavily dictates whether an interaction remains enjoyable in the long run (especially simple interactions).

Consider an analogy using a game one may have experienced in elementary school: Rock, Paper, Scissors, Dynamite.  In this variation of Rock, Paper, Scissors, a fourth choice is added - Dynamite - which beats all the other weapons.  While children may find the inclusion of dynamite is exciting and comical at first, the variant quickly loses interest once players realize choosing anything but dynamite is a bad idea.  Their positive player experience from dynamite is eventually offset by the reduced depth of choice in the game.

Having too many choices that are ultimately invalid, or too few seemingly valid choices, can cripple a game's longevity and especially replay value.  No grown adult plays Rock, Paper, Scissors, Dynamite more than a couple times unless as a joke.  Many video game "timeless classics" have myriad and balanced player choices, allowing so much replay a player could possibly never get their fill: Civilization II, Street Fighter, The Sims, etc.  Even classics that rely on strong narratives with seemingly limited choices have many more options buried just under the hood; Final Fantasy VII has only one way to progress through the main storyline, but beyond that the player has numerous options in what abilities they choose during combat and how they customize their equipment, and can even choose different locations to explore later in the game.

So to this end, we shall explore in video games what makes valid player choices, and explore how to avoid making invalid ones.