Some thinking out loud on dialogue options in RP games

Written September 2022

During my play-through of the game Cyberpunk 2077 I noticed that it didn’t really matter if I was playing a good or bad person — I realised none of my actions had consequences. It became so obvious that it ruined my (already not great) experience with the game.

As an avid gamer I like escaping reality by playing choices that I would never consider in a real life situation. I can be quite cautious in real life — weighing my every decision. I am painfully aware that my actions can impact those around me. While playing a game I try to push myself to be the exact opposite because I think that’s challenging and fun.

If it doesn't make a difference, does it really matter?

Misinterpreting dialogue options

A worse offender is misinterpreting the dialogue options. Like I said, it's fun playing a character that's a little cooler than you yourself are. What’s not fun is completely misinterpreting the options that are available in the dialogue interface and having my character blurt out something that I did not want them to say or do.

The reason we misinterpret things is explained by factors like — Localisation, perspective, context personality and bad copy. When creating an RP game where choices actually matter it's important to make sure the options are, well, loud and clear.

Here are a handful of fun examples of misinterpreting dialogue