Do you prefer predictable outcomes from your choices or to be surprised by the game?

[SpoiledPrince]

Straight to the point: as the title question says, do you prefer that the choices you make in a game always result in predictable scenes and routes or do you value a pinch of unpredictability to spice things up?
Is it a bad thing/infuriating for you that you´re not given a clear hint of what is awaiting for your character when making decisions?

 

[Battleland]

It mostly depends on my mood at the time. Honestly I think i'd prefer it if my choices had predictable outcomes. But of course some randomness isn't a bad thing. I think you'd find that's where most people end up.

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

I hate unpredictability, especially RNG but also just the game not telling you in advance what your options do. Ideally the effects of each choice should be clearly indicated, but you may have to work to make them available. As in, gameplay.

 

[Vhaerun]

I like some unpredictability. Sometimes, things don't go the way we want them. Control is an illusion that can be harnessed in games to some extent, though it's important to keep in mind that many players play games to be in control.

As for the second question, it is kind of moot in most games with the roll-back feature. In general, I don't like decisions that aren't flagged as somehow important if they are, indeed, very important to the game -- like causing the game to end many hours later because of a certain seemingly insignificant decision that was made in chapter one.

 

[Rando Civ]

Surprised and unpredictable is my way to go.

 

[DaRoach69]

I like some amount of surprise, but it should be logical. If an option is "say hello" and your character actually says "hey ugly" making them hate you is no fun.

 

[Hadley]

You can never go wrong with a good plot-twist. Especially in Incest-Games the whole "I am your Father" thing could be a good one.

 

[Crossett]

Predictability is dull and has no guts. At times I want the same old favourite flavours I like, but I've been around long enough to appreciate being blind-sided. As long as control is not taken away completely and the story starts feeling railroaded into a scenario I cannot avoid, shaking up the formula just keeps things fresh and exciting.

I don't even mind when a twist is a direct turn-off for me, if it is well written enough. A single scene of scat or bestiality doesn't ruin the whole story, unless it turns into shitting dogs simulator 21 with no warning afterwards. Heck, if it pisses people off with trying something new- GOOD! Most people need to get exposed to more fetishes to dare find out a few more that actually turn them on.

 

[lemonfreak]

You can never go wrong with a good plot-twist. Especially in Incest-Games the whole "I am your Father" thing could be a good one.

Yes but, for me at least, it needs to be something you could have seen coming but missed do to a misdirect, not "Lol, I'm a serial killer" a la Leah in Acting Lessons

 

[Deleted member 2437296]

I'm okay with some surprises and unintended consequences, as long as they are written well and feel like they could have logically come from your choices in hindsight. I don't worry about the surprise introduction of a fetish that I don't like because usually they're tagged so you can avoid those games.

 

[Mimir's Lab]

In my opinion, all our choices should have immediate predictable outcomes, but whether they have some additional tacked on side effects or consequences is up to the writer. If there are negative consequences that we can't foresee (lack of foreshadowing), then they shouldn't be harsh or worst yet, permanent. I don't mind when new problems are created unintentionally from my choices, but I don't want to unintentionally solve a problem in a manner I didn't mean to through my choices. If that makes any sense.

 

[j4yj4m]

I'd say it depends. I do not like overly predictable stories, but if there are actual choices, they shoud matter and lead towards the direction which that choice would imply. Otherwise the choice becomes random an as such pretty much meaningless. That doesn't mean that there can't be plottwists and surprises, they just shouldn't be connected to an acutal and different choice.

There are way too many games which are essentially only playable by using a walkthrough and usually they aren't the best ones.

 

[khumak]

Unpredictable is fine for repeatable events. If it's not repeatable then I want predictable results. Otherwise I have to keep saving and reloading constantly or follow a walk through. I want to just play the game.

 

[K.T.L.]

Depends on the surprise. I'd be pretty miffed if I'd spent the entire game chasing a cute female only to have her whip out a well hidden horse dick when we finally got her in bed.

 

[rk-47]

i dont care either way

 

[Diconica]

It depends on what you mean by predictable.
If you mean something that is unrealistic or could happen happens then no. It kills immersion.
I also hate when authors push a narrative so much they block all realistic options for a character that would normally exist.
You can see this a lot in blackmail or any seen where the woman goes "I guess I have no choice"... Authors not willing to do the work to support the scenario are the worst. If you don't know how to write it correct and just want to half ass it the story would be better off without it. Leave that type of writing with someone with more skill.

Trying to be excessively unpredictable is one of the biggest mistakes game developers make.
Take magic even magic has to have some sort of rule system for people to accept it.
If magic was entirely unpredictable no one would use it. Imagine you cast a spell that is supposed to fill a glass full of water and instead it blows you up.

Also ignoring commonly known science is a real bad idea unless you are capable of writing a decent system to replace it and explain why it exists. It can be difficult which is why a lot of writers resort to FM(Fucking Magic).
"How is that island floating up there?"
"It's floating up there because of FM."

If your idea of unpredictable is a plot twist of some type. Well don't expect rave reviews from it people have seen most of the types of plot twist by the time they graduate primary school from required reading. All you are going to do is put another spin on it and change character names and scenery.

My point is don't worry so much about being predictable or not. Worry, more about writing it well.

 

[SpoiledPrince]

Reading some of the answers I have realized that I may have probably not phrased my question well enough. What I meant was not about randomizing outcomes as in making them completely dependant of hazard or throwing illogical events at players, but getting outcomes directly related to the player´s actions that don´t exactly go as they intended.
For example a bad ending or a severe punishment to an evil MC whose bad actions have been overlooked or gone unpunished for a long time, a character mistaken for a love interest who doesn´t really has an interest in MC or is an enemy misleading them, a good action towards an amoral character that is taken for weakness and used against MC, or, as one of you has said, sex scenes that might include a different flavor than expected.

 

[Vhaerun]

Reading some of the answers I have realized that I may have probably not phrased my question well enough. What I meant was not about randomizing outcomes as in making them completely dependant of hazard or throwing illogical events at players, but getting outcomes directly related to the player´s actions that don´t exactly go as they intended.
For example a bad ending or a severe punishment to an evil MC whose bad actions have been overlooked or unpunished for a long time, a character mistaken for a love interest who doesn´t really has an interest in MC or is an enemy misleading them, a good action towards an amoral character that is taken for weakness and used against MC, or, as one of you has said, sex scenes that might include a different flavor than expected.

This is why I said, "Sometimes, things don't go the way we want them. Control is an illusion that can be harnessed in games to some extent, though it's important to keep in mind that many players play games to be in control."

In this context, there's a couple ways a dev can write a game. First, they can let the MC have all the control. Any action that takes place in the game is directly determined by the MC's actions/dialogue. Second, they can let the MC have control over himself. Actions that take place in the game can be influenced by the MC's actions/dialogue, but they do not have full control over what will happen.

There are very well-done games that take both choice one and choice two. Most of it comes down to execution. There are devs and players that lean particularly one way or another. My opinion is that a little chaos can be a good thing.

 

[j4yj4m]

... but getting outcomes directly related to the player´s actions that don´t exactly go as they intended.
For example a bad ending or a severe punishment to an evil MC whose bad actions have been overlooked or unpunished for a long time, a character mistaken for a love interest who doesn´t really has an interest in MC or is an enemy misleading them, a good action towards an amoral character that is taken for weakness and used against MC, or, as one of you has said, sex scenes that might include a different flavor than expected.

I'd say it really depends on the context and the atmosphere of the game as a whole. There are games which are written in a more "serious", darker way and feature stuff like corruption, NTR, etc. There's it's totally fine to actually challenge the player in the way you describe.

But if you've got a light and somewhat fluffy game, you shouldn't throw a wrench in the works by suddenly introducing stuff that drastically changes to the mood. The majority of players won't like it.

 

[khumak]

Reading some of the answers I have realized that I may have probably not phrased my question well enough. What I meant was not about randomizing outcomes as in making them completely dependant of hazard or throwing illogical events at players, but getting outcomes directly related to the player´s actions that don´t exactly go as they intended.
For example a bad ending or a severe punishment to an evil MC whose bad actions have been overlooked or gone unpunished for a long time, a character mistaken for a love interest who doesn´t really has an interest in MC or is an enemy misleading them, a good action towards an amoral character that is taken for weakness and used against MC, or, as one of you has said, sex scenes that might include a different flavor than expected.

There's a big difference between a story that has plot twists (which is a good thing) and a story where individual events have randomized outcomes. If those individual events are irrelevant or repeatable then random events isn't a big deal. I still wouldn't like them but if I can still get to the ending I want then it's not a big deal.

For individual events I want enough context to be able to make an informed decision on a per event basis. In particular I shouldn't stumble into a game over/bad ending from a random event. A common example of this that I see in a lot of games is to have some sort of pervert related stat that you need to increase for MC which you do by peeking on girls or molesting them in their sleep. This is required to advance the plot for the game.

The problem is peeking on some girls is fine while it's game over/bad ending for others with no real indication which is which. Same for the sleep sex stuff. I can strip her naked while she sleeps, fondle her tits, and face fuck her, all without waking her up (really?), and that all gives me positive points to progress the story but then I cum on her tits and she wakes up and it's game over. In real life I couldn't do ANY of that without waking her up so where is the context that lets me know how far I can go?

There are a TON of other examples but the above example is the one I see the most often that drives me nuts.