Warren Spector on Choices and Consequences

Penny Arcade talked to Wing Commander veteran Warren Spector about player freedom in solving game puzzles. Check it out here.

The way Spector looks at a problem is almost backwards, at least from the typical perspective. He works his way out from the center of the maze or erases walls to make his own way out. “Games to me are about choice and consequence. It’s about me setting up problems, or my team setting up game problems, like you have to get through that door. Why do I care how you do it?” he asked. Spector gave an example from Deus Ex.

“You have to make a choice; you can blow the door off its hinges, you can pick the lock, you can sneak through the air vents to get to the other side of the door. What’s important is you get to the other side of the door, not how you do it,” he said. “Most games, what’s important is how you do it, which I think is really dumb.”