https://www.stanleyparable.com
The main concept of The Stanley Parable that is brought to the surface is the concept of choice. With the narrator “telling you what to do”, the player begins to think about different possible choices within the game. They could do what they want to and disregard the narrator or do they follow the narrator and disregard what the player wants or a combination of the two. Then, when deciding between the two options, the game provokes existential questions in the player (or at least it did for me). Such as are humans making their own choices or are we following the orders of another person? And is that person following the orders of another person and so on and so on. Because this concept is being translated into game play. Another concept to think about with this game is about the definition of winning. There are over 16 possible endings for the player to achieve but after each ending, the game restarts and that’s it – that’s the game. A lot of the definitions of games that we have read so far include the requirement of a sense of victory in a game. Based on that, the argument can be made that this game is not a game at all unless a player can find a way to find victory in this game.
