Argax Project:: Dissertation: A Rough Draft Node

Node Status: ROUGH

False Branching

Some games offer the user clear choice points at different points within a story. This may be a simple and explicit menu option of what to do at this point: "Go left, or Go right". It may be part of a conversation menu, where the user selects what to say to another character. Or choice points might be part of a broader system of interaction. After retrieving an ancient idol, it might be possible for the player to destroy it, donate it to a holy order, or use it to magically dominate other characters. The user would need to discover what actions are possible with the idol, as well as decide which to do.

Some choices offered by games are illusory, however. These come in two flavors:

Dead-End Choices

A line of blue nodes, with each branch away from the line ending in an X

Crawford (2005) calls this the kill 'em if they stray structure. Frequently a game will offer a long string of choices. However, for each choice, only one of the options will advance the story. Choosing any other option will end the game in an unsatisfactory way (usually with the player character's death). Although, superficially, it seems the player has interaction at the story level, replaying reveals that there is really only one linear story.

Pure Foldback

A line of blue nodes branching paths that return to the line at the next node.

As we will see, sometimes branching structures "fold-back" into another path of the story tree. When all options "fold-back" to the same end, we have a Pure Foldback system. In such a system, the user is offered a choice, but either path will bring them to the same end. The player will probably only discovers the illusion on replay, however, when they try some of the other options available to them and discover that the story comes out the same regardless of what they choose.

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Works Cited

Crawford, Chris. Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2005.

ToDo

Foldback does allow for role-play--same results but different motivation (projected); and it might change values that mean the two choices are different.
Some people look at foldback as exploration of alternative realities; perhaps add a bit of that take here. (Indeed, sometimes finding the various ways your character can die can be rather amusing. The death-and-reload cycle can look like a loopback of sort, as Meadows shows in his "Nodal Plot".)