"Interesting Decisions" in Games

Extracted 08MAR2012 from http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116212-GDC-2012-Sid-Meier-Sees-Inte...

Sid Meier is an institution at GDC, having been a part of the game developer community for nearly two decades. How big of an institution is the designer of the iconic Civilization series and creative director of Firaxis? His panel at GDC 2012 "Interesting Decisions" started off by referencing a quote he made at GDC all the way back in 1989: "A game is a series of interesting decisions."

...Civ is perhaps the best example of his approach to game design as its patient, turn-based strategy approach is essentially always asking the player to decide between long term success versus short term gain, what playing style they should pursue, and what trade-offs they're willing to endure in order to succeed.

...Through Meier's nearly hour-long talk, his slides kept highlighting key decisions a designer may give the player - customization, trade-offs, long-term vs short-term benefits, etc.