Keeping the MP3 copies of the tracks that were on the CD that you've sold and thus no longer own isn't really any different to grabbing them off the net.
I agree that multiple plotlines are good in principle, but in practice the amount of extra content you would need makes it unfeasable to have more than a few significant branches. Pity really.
But what's the point in letting you pick from a bunch of responses? Since it's not practical to have proper divergent plotlines at every encounter, then there has to be a 'correct' response. Letting you pick responses is then just asking you to guess the correct response - the others will just (out of necessity) get you some generic response that doesn't go anywhere, and just indirectly tells you to try again.
This is a big problem with any kind of interactive story. Give the player any real choice and they are liable to go off in the 'wrong' direction and miss all the exciting stuff you planned for them, OR you have to create far more content than you can possibly manage.
To make sure they get to see the good stuff you've got to push them in the right direction which means that any choices you give them aren't real choices.
There's a similar problem with 'choose your own camera angle' ideas for television and movies. If I'm watching the story and then get asked which camera I want to watch the next bit through, on what basis am I supposed to make that decision? I'd much rather let the director decide since he actually knows the script.
All in all, 'guess the correct response' type interactivity is less fun than no choice at all.
Actually, pop-up dialog boxes are like this. They suddenly interrupt you with a choice, of which one is effectively correct and the others are time-wasters. You don't get any fun out of making the choice, you just want to get rid of the box as quickly as possible because it's in the way and stopping you getting anything done.
Slashdot Mirror
Keeping the MP3 copies of the tracks that were on the CD that you've sold and thus no longer own isn't really any different to grabbing them off the net.
I agree that multiple plotlines are good in principle, but in practice the amount of extra content you would need makes it unfeasable to have more than a few significant branches. Pity really.
But what's the point in letting you pick from a bunch of responses? Since it's not practical to have proper divergent plotlines at every encounter, then there has to be a 'correct' response. Letting you pick responses is then just asking you to guess the correct response - the others will just (out of necessity) get you some generic response that doesn't go anywhere, and just indirectly tells you to try again. This is a big problem with any kind of interactive story. Give the player any real choice and they are liable to go off in the 'wrong' direction and miss all the exciting stuff you planned for them, OR you have to create far more content than you can possibly manage. To make sure they get to see the good stuff you've got to push them in the right direction which means that any choices you give them aren't real choices. There's a similar problem with 'choose your own camera angle' ideas for television and movies. If I'm watching the story and then get asked which camera I want to watch the next bit through, on what basis am I supposed to make that decision? I'd much rather let the director decide since he actually knows the script. All in all, 'guess the correct response' type interactivity is less fun than no choice at all. Actually, pop-up dialog boxes are like this. They suddenly interrupt you with a choice, of which one is effectively correct and the others are time-wasters. You don't get any fun out of making the choice, you just want to get rid of the box as quickly as possible because it's in the way and stopping you getting anything done.