The Walking Dead: the choices we make

I don’t know about anyone else but the end of The Walking Dead game frustrated me. Throughout the (for me because I suck at the game) long hours of playing and making difficult decisions, the player comes to care about both Lee and Clementine. Then, viciously, the game kills Lee off, and Clementine is left without him. So what on earth was the point?

Galloway says that video games are action-based, pointing out that the player physically acts to alter the world of the video game. Most people would say that this is what makes the difference between this medium, and the written word.

 However, the player also mentally acts, making choices that change the world we are playing in. In The Walking Dead we get to choose what kind of person Lee is, and the way on which he affects his relationship with others.  As Clarkson points out “Lee's choices don't change the world, or alter the fundamental flow of the story”. They do, however, alter Lee’s character.

The video game medium lacks certain advantages of the written word in being able to draw audiences in. A book can describe a characters thoughts and feelings, pulling on the audiences’ heart strings. A video game cannot describe a character’s inner monologue so easily. The video game’s advantage lies in the player’s choice. By struggling to make difficult decisions, watching their affects and living with the consequences/benefits we come to care about the character that we are taking this journey with. We also come to care for the people we save, serve, and risk ourselves for. So, while our choices won’t matter in the grand scheme of things, that wasn’t really the point anyway. So the answer to ‘what on earth was the point?’ is the same as the point of reading a good book: We met people we will remember, and we cared for the characters regardless of how the journey ended.

1). Hamilton says that there was no way to make it out of the game without making some sort of ‘immoral choice’. Why would the game makers make it that way? Why not give broader options?

2)How can we be ‘judged’ at the end if we literally had no other choice than to make decisions that out captor sees as bad? Are we supposed to take his point of view in condemning our decisions, or are we supposed to see their necessity and stick by them? What is the point to this judgment?