A Framework for Choice Hermeneutics

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
The framework argues that choices in storygames should be read for the meaning and characterization they convey rather than for their causal effects on plot, and it is designed for grammatical rather than psychological interpretation.
02
It builds on Mawhorter et al.'s (2014) choice poetics and on hypertext theory, notably Tosca's relevance theory and Morgan's conjunctive and disjunctive functions, adding granular elements such as Departure Context, Choice List and Options, and Arrival Context.
03
A three-stage implicature model and new terms for phenomena existing taxonomies overlook, including unchoices, dead-ends, false choices, and blind choices, form its core analytical contribution.
04
Applied to Focht's Sonder (2019), the analysis shows how the protagonist Chris is characterized through what he considers, avoids, or cannot do, demonstrating that meaning can be encoded in the structure of options as well as in their content.
05
The scope is deliberately bounded to explicit, discrete choices in multilinear narratives, excluding real-time or implicit decision-making, which the authors acknowledge require separate frameworks.
06
The authors position the work as a foundation for further hermeneutic approaches to game ontologies, giving critics a richer vocabulary for analyzing choice-based interactive fiction.

Summary

"A Framework for Choice Hermeneutics" proposes an expanded analytical vocabulary for interpreting the choices players encounter in storygames, the discrete and explicit decision points found in multilinear narratives. Building on Mawhorter et al.'s (2014) choice poetics, the framework draws on hypertext theory, particularly Tosca's relevance theory and Morgan's conjunctive and disjunctive functions, to introduce more granular elements such as Departure Context, Choice List and Options, and Arrival Context. Its central argument is that choices in such games are best read for the meaning and characterization they convey rather than for their causal effects on plot, and it is designed for grammatical rather than psychological interpretation.

The framework's analytical contribution rests on a three-stage implicature model and a set of terms for phenomena that existing taxonomies overlook, including unchoices, dead-ends, false choices, and blind choices. Applied to Focht's Sonder (2019), the analysis shows how the game characterizes its protagonist, Chris, through what he considers, avoids, or cannot do. Dialogue options and the ordering of choices are shown to reveal relationships and motivations, demonstrating that meaning can be encoded in the structure of options as well as in their content.

The scope of the work is deliberately bounded. It addresses explicit, discrete choices and does not extend to real-time or implicit decision-making, which the authors acknowledge require separate frameworks. Its applicability is framed broadly across multilinear narratives with choice structures, following Reed's definition of storygames, and it draws on related concepts such as closure and rereading as well as established taxonomies of narrative choice. The authors position the framework as a foundation for further hermeneutic approaches to game ontologies, offering critics a richer vocabulary for analyzing choice-based interactive fiction.