Practical Game Design

Dilemmas

Dilemmas are probably the most important elements in a game and the type of conflicts they generate are often the most meaningful to the player experience. Dilemmas are the choices players have to constantly make when playing a game.

The legendary game designer Sid Meier (Civilization franchise, among others) once said:

"Games are a series of interesting decisions". The more meaningful those decisions, the better the player experience and the game will be. Choices in games are everywhere; how to invest resources in strategy games, which team and formation to select in a football game, which option to choose in a dialogue, which weapon to use in an FPS, which character to leave behind in a narrative game...

Dilemmas have their impact ...