• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 07:41
CEST 13:41
KST 20:41
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview8[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21
Community News
ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo16Weekly Cups (June 8-14): Clem and Solar double, PTR tested0RSL: S6 Finals played at BlizzCon 202611Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28)10[BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June4
StarCraft 2
General
StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th Daily SC2 Player Grid - feedback wanted Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview TL Poll: How do you feel about the 5.0.16 PTR balance changes? Updates to The Core/Core Lite for v5.0.16?
Tourneys
GSL CK #4 20-21th June Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28)
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
Mutation # 530 One For All The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 529 Opportunities Unleashed Mutation # 528 Infection Detected
Brood War
General
STARCRAFT MOVIE - Last Night at the Command center BW General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Battle cruiser feet vs Carrier fleet Fact based Zerg Upgrade Tier List
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues CSLAN 4 is Coming! Small VOD Thread 2.0 The Casual Games of the Week Thread
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Relatively freeroll strategies Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Why doesn't anyone use restoration?
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread ZeroSpace Megathread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread [H]Internet/Gaming Cafe Tips and Tricks The Games Industry And ATVI UK Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
How To Predict Tilt in Espor…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 8753 users

Let's talk Player Choice in Video Games Part-1

Blogs > DragoonPK
Post a Reply
DragoonPK
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
3259 Posts
August 29 2012 18:53 GMT
#1
I've been recently thinking about player choice and decisions in Video Games quite a lot. So I decided to put up a two part video on Youtube talking about it and explaining some my own opinion on its use in games. The first part is up right now and I should be putting up the second part in a couple of days.



Player choice is something that is very crucial to the future of the Gaming industry as it allows for customizable experiences that include input from the player himself/herself. Its current state is indeed far from perfect, but a few notable games (most recently The Walking Dead game from Telltale) managed to do it so well that it makes the experience feel like something quite personal to the player.

What are your thoughts on the Player Choice? What games do you think implemented it well?

P.S. Liking and subscribing helps as well !

*
Spikeke
Profile Joined October 2010
Canada106 Posts
August 29 2012 20:14 GMT
#2
This is an important topic. Funny because I been thinking about it for a while now. I just wanted to throw in that Left/Right decisions (Choices that don't seem to matter) can be disguised as complex systems and still fail. Diablo 3 for instance, advertising hundreds of builds, but really there are only a few ideal builds. WoW's talent system was messed up when I seen it last, what's the point of variety of skills if everyone just picks the strongest cookie-cutter build anyway.

Games are interactive, choices make the experience. Or else it's not a video game, it's just a video.
Roe
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
Canada6002 Posts
August 29 2012 20:21 GMT
#3
On August 30 2012 05:14 Spikeke wrote:
This is an important topic. Funny because I been thinking about it for a while now. I just wanted to throw in that Left/Right decisions (Choices that don't seem to matter) can be disguised as complex systems and still fail. Diablo 3 for instance, advertising hundreds of builds, but really there are only a few ideal builds. WoW's talent system was messed up when I seen it last, what's the point of variety of skills if everyone just picks the strongest cookie-cutter build anyway.

Games are interactive, choices make the experience. Or else it's not a video game, it's just a video.

For MoP, WoW did a major overhaul in the talents. You now have 3 specs which give most of the important, cookie-cutter abilities from before, and then about 18 talents which are fairly equivalent but different enough in their own way.
Luepert
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United States1934 Posts
August 29 2012 20:25 GMT
#4
This is pretty much the reason I only play multiplayer games like LoL and SC2. Every game is different, I can literally use any of thousands of builds, from 3 races or 100 characters and I have to react to other real people who act differently not just ai who are programmed to do the same thing no matter what.
esports
Roe
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
Canada6002 Posts
August 29 2012 20:51 GMT
#5
On August 30 2012 05:25 Luepert wrote:
This is pretty much the reason I only play multiplayer games like LoL and SC2. Every game is different, I can literally use any of thousands of builds, from 3 races or 100 characters and I have to react to other real people who act differently not just ai who are programmed to do the same thing no matter what.

That's not really true. In RTS your build is first going to be dependent on the other player. Then there are just certain builds that don't work (ex: mech against protoss sc2, or bio against protoss BW), and certain builds that have to be used in order to counter the other person's build (if a zerg goes 6 pool, you can't CC first, you can't fast expand. if they go early aggression that means you go early defense instead of anything you want). When you think about it more deeply, there are very few alterations in style of play and builds, and the choice you think you have is just an illusion.
Cyber_Cheese
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Australia3615 Posts
August 30 2012 00:52 GMT
#6
umm, can we get a text version by any chance?
The moment you lose confidence in yourself, is the moment the world loses it's confidence in you.
DragoonPK
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
3259 Posts
August 30 2012 01:08 GMT
#7
On August 30 2012 09:52 Cyber_Cheese wrote:
umm, can we get a text version by any chance?

Oh, I made this specifically on Video form :/. But if a lot of people would rather have me post writing I could do that in future blogs!
EatThePath
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States3943 Posts
August 30 2012 01:14 GMT
#8
On August 30 2012 05:51 Roe wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 30 2012 05:25 Luepert wrote:
This is pretty much the reason I only play multiplayer games like LoL and SC2. Every game is different, I can literally use any of thousands of builds, from 3 races or 100 characters and I have to react to other real people who act differently not just ai who are programmed to do the same thing no matter what.

That's not really true. In RTS your build is first going to be dependent on the other player. Then there are just certain builds that don't work (ex: mech against protoss sc2, or bio against protoss BW), and certain builds that have to be used in order to counter the other person's build (if a zerg goes 6 pool, you can't CC first, you can't fast expand. if they go early aggression that means you go early defense instead of anything you want). When you think about it more deeply, there are very few alterations in style of play and builds, and the choice you think you have is just an illusion.


But the threat of alternate lines of play keeps you from making truly optimal plays, and once the game state departs from well-explored territory, it's all about choice as well as execution.

The most engaging games (games in general, not sc2) ride on the line between "I know what to do" and "I have no idea what to do".
Comprehensive strategic intention: DNE
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
WardiTV Spring Champion…
11:00
Playoffs
WardiTV643
TaKeTV 376
TKL 237
IntoTheiNu 232
IndyStarCraft 137
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
TKL 237
SHIN 143
IndyStarCraft 137
trigger 58
MindelVK 24
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 28624
Mini 1661
Hyuk 1185
Horang2 906
firebathero 823
EffOrt 328
Soulkey 306
actioN 295
Last 173
NaDa 161
[ Show more ]
Pusan 110
Light 109
Mong 92
JulyZerg 56
Free 51
sorry 36
Movie 32
Sea.KH 21
Shine 20
Sharp 20
yabsab 20
Hm[arnc] 17
HiyA 16
Noble 11
Bale 9
Dota 2
Gorgc6196
XcaliburYe155
Fuzer 146
Counter-Strike
x6flipin486
Sick270
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor16
Other Games
B2W.Neo516
Pyrionflax321
Hui .210
DeMusliM178
Happy162
XlorD100
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Secondary Stream8963
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream4284
Other Games
gamesdonequick624
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 26
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH256
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota247
Upcoming Events
GSL
20m
Maru vs Reynor
Lambo vs Solar
SHIN 143
IPSL
4h 20m
Hawk vs Julia
Patches Events
5h 20m
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
7h 20m
Dewalt vs Messiah
Bonyth vs Mihu
TerrOr vs XuanXuan
eOnzErG vs Messiah
Jaystar vs Mihu
Dewalt vs XuanXuan
Bonyth vs TerrOr
Replay Cast
12h 20m
WardiTV Weekly
23h 20m
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 4h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 22h
The PondCast
2 days
Douyu Cup 2020
3 days
Oliveira vs Trap
Jieshi vs XY
soO vs FanTaSy
TY vs Coffee
[ Show More ]
Douyu Cup 2020
4 days
Neeb vs Impact
MacSed vs Cyan
Scarlett vs Kelazhur
INnoVation vs Dear
Douyu Cup 2020
5 days
Maestros of the Game
6 days
herO vs Classic
Maru vs Serral
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
6 days
Douyu Cup 2020
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-06-19
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Heroes Pulsing #2

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSL Season 21: Qualifier 1
SCTL 2026 Spring
Maestros of the Game 2
WardiTV Spring 2026
Murky Cup 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026

Upcoming

CSL Season 21: Qualifier 2
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
Douyu Cup 2026
BCC 2026
Light HT
Heroes Pulsing #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.