In the last article, I mentioned dichotomies. And I thought that it might be a good idea to expand that and explain why not every dichotomy works as well as any other.

Really, what I’m trying to answer here is the simple question, of what constitutes a compelling binary choice. If a game can provide only two options to the player, what kind of problems can be posed interestingly?

Ah, time to get back to a topic I’ve not visited in a while. Not from lack of anything to say, I didn’t have time lately and had to pick my battles. But now we’re back, and I’d like to talk about some issues of balancing practicality and player agency.

Specifically, I want to speak of why many renowned narrative games will present you with (at least) three options for things to say, with the third option having a specific meaning.