The Stanley Parable Analysis

This essays main analysis will focus around the element of control that hypertexts possess. I’m going to be looking at how specific features of the hypertext are affected by control, and in turn, how these influence the readers/players decisions. The hypertext narrative I have chosen to analyse is a game called The Stanley Parable written by Davey Wreden. The game involves you playing as a man named Stanley who one day believes all his co-workers are gone. It is narrated by a voiceover who gives you instructions on what you to do. I’ve chosen this particular hypertext as it plays with the element of control in an intriguing way. As well as following the narrator’s instructions, you can also defy them and create your own path in the game. For …show more content…
Usually in a text-based hypertext there is no reaction to the choices you make, you simply carry along the path you have chosen. However, in The Stanley Parable, the narrator comments on the ‘incorrect’ choices you make. For example, if you defy him multiple times he comments ‘Stanley was so bad at following direction it’s amazing he wasn’t fired years ago’. (REF?) Here, The Stanley Parable, is playing with the traditional hypertext structure and giving reflection on your choices. This brings The Stanley Parable to a new level of hypertext as this is something that couldn’t be done effectively in a text-based …show more content…
It is not a web like structure as none of the links lead back to each other, once you have made a certain amount of choices, the ending is out of your control. This means that despite being given the choice of pathways, once you have chosen a particular one, the ending for that choice is decided for you. This varies through the game, with some endings taking five choices until it is out of your control, and others only taking one. One specific ending which is interesting in terms of the control is the ‘confusion ending’. This ending involves you ‘breaking’ the game, with the narrator getting more and more confused and restarting several times. In this particular ending you only have to make one choice to have the next ten minutes of gameplay decided for you. This is compelling to think about in terms of the control. Although the game gives you the allusion that the entire story is your choice, after just one decision the entire ending is laid out for