Good Agency

Video games differ from other kinds of media like books, film and TV due to one major thing: agency. That's what we're talking about today.

When I say agency, I obviously don't mean the FBI or something like that but your ability as the player to make decisions and play the game. This may sound like a small thing but it is one of the fundamental foundations of what makes games fun. 95% of the time this is a non-issue but occasionally developers really screw up.

The line between setting up a mission/quest and stealing agency can be hair thin. Good games give you the objective and let you figure out what to do. There can be several solutions or just one, but the important part is that you have to figure it out and you have to do it. Bad games tell you what to do in minute detail or don't let you do anything at all, they essentially play the game for you.

Many games like, for example, racing games don't really have a problem here as the act of racing is agency. It's your skill versus the AI or other players. Rubber-banding, or when the AI gets to cheat by snapping loosing racers up close to you is perhaps borderline agency loss, but it's done to keep you challenged throughout. It's cheap but not too bad.

So lets take a look at some examples of bad agency loss, shall we? Mild spoiler warning for World of Warcraft Cataclysm, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Fallout 3.

The MMORPG giant World of Warcraft is almost always really good at preserving your freedom, but in the Cataclysm expansion there is a quest chain that spoofs Indiana Jones. Here he is called Harrison Jones, and you get to help him delve in to ancient tombs. This chain is bad when it comes to agency loss, very bad.

Most of the chain is Jones giving you quests and you doing them which is obviously fine, but at one point the bad guy decides you have screwed him and takes you out in the desert to shoot you. You can do nothing but watch as your character walks out there and cowers in fear until Jones swings in and saves the day. Really now? At this point in the game you have fought giant monsters of every flavor and defied death a thousand times, but they thought you should meekly follow along and stand there shaking in your boots with no say so? Bad agency loss.

In the end segment of the quest chain, you do nothing at all. The bad guy and his two dragons show up and then another NPC comes along and saves the day in a cut-scene. You have 0% input while the game smugly tells its story and shows how cool the NPC's are. Bad agency loss again!

Another game that repeatedly steals agency is Red Dead Redemption 2 by Rockstar. To be fair and above board, I must tell you that I haven't played RDR2 myself, but I watched a live streamer play it for a couple of weeks, and I saw these things first hand.

One example is when Arthur has to clear out some bad guys from a ruined fort. The game demands that you kill them with a double barreled shotgun that has lousy range. You may well have a long rifle, but if you use it, the mission fails and you are reset. Bad agency loss.

Another example is when the gang you belong to is staying in an abandoned mansion and raiders attack. The game explicitly orders you up on the balcony for a bit, then orders you to run down and stand exactly next to a window and then to jump through the window to go help a friend. If you walk through the door that is right next to you, you fail! An exciting combat scenario ruined by being micro managed to hell and back. Very bad agency loss.

Fallout 3 is a really great game, but the last part contains a crazy bad agency loss. At one point you have to walk through a door. If and when you do, you are hit by a stun grenade and kidnapped by a faction. It doesn't matter what you do, or what your skills are, you will be taken. I tried having maxed out sneak and using a stealth field, but the scene still triggers and you go down. Lousy agency loss. One could argue that the story couldn't continue without this event happening, but I call BS on that. The story could have been written in any way they wanted, and they chose to take agency away from you.

With other forms of entertainment, your only agency is whether you consume it or not. Read the book or put it down. Watch the movie or turn it off. In games, it is all about what you do and how you do it. It infuriates me to no end when developers forget this and start playing the game for you or start telling their own story that has got nothing to do with you. It's bad design and should be shunned and avoided.

Perhaps I have ranted enough here, so I'll head out. Join me again next time and until then have a great week! Stay safe and play games with good agency!