When Stanley Came to a Set of Two Open Doors

The Impossibility of True Agency in Video Games and the Power of Illusion

Authors

  • Elizabeth Radko University of New Haven

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/pur.2025.117

Keywords:

video games, choice, agency, ludology, narratology, video game development

Abstract

In narrative-based video games, the player is given control over how the story is experienced and continued. However, this sense of control is based solely upon the illusion that true choice is present.  Despite various production limitations that arise during game development, developers try to better anticipate the unpredictability of player desire when creating the choices within the narrative. However, the implementation of these choices and what types of choices players are asked to make varies greatly between games, as does the success with which they are implemented. As a result, there needs to be an examination of choice-based games and the theory of choice and narrative interaction to see how one can modify the strengths and weaknesses of these various forms of storytelling to provide players with that long-desired sense of purpose in gameplay. This will also provide developers with a much-needed guide on how to produce more successful narratives and thus more profitable games. Based on an analysis of different types of choice-based games, it was determined that the vignette style of storytelling and choice implementation was the best way to integrate meaningful choice into narrative games.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Radko, University of New Haven

Elizabeth Radko holds a BA in English from the University of New Haven. She is currently studying to teach English as a second language in Cambridge's CELTA program.

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Downloads

Published

2025-11-03

How to Cite

Radko, E. (2025). When Stanley Came to a Set of Two Open Doors: The Impossibility of True Agency in Video Games and the Power of Illusion. Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.5195/pur.2025.117

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2025): Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review

Section

Research

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Copyright (c) 2025 Elizabeth Radko

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