This is the Story of a Man Named Stanley.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no! This isn't right at all! You're not supposed to be here yet!"

In just the past 30 years, video games have completely changed the way we experience media. Instead of being stuck in the passenger seat of a story, you get to be the driver. You save the castle, you defeat the villain, and as many can attest, the triumph at the end of the story feels yours in a way that other forms of media can't provide.

But at the end of the day, it's still the same story. The Hero's Journey, the monomyth, the same narrative being told since prehistory. Take a classic game like Super Mario Bros. Even though you're the one moving around, the story isn't really yours to control. The path you take never changes no matter what you do. Even though you're the driver, Super Mario Bros. is more a train than a car- you still can't control where you end up.

"When Stanley came to a set of two open doors, he entered the door on his left."

In 2011, an indie video game developer named Davey Wreden created a game called the Stanley Parable. As the game begins, a narrator introduces you to Stanley, a boring pencil-pusher who leaves his desk to go on an adventure. Each step of the way, the narrator guides you by narrating what is about to happen. In most games, this would be it. You go on a quest, beat the bad guy, save the princess, save the world.

But in this game, you don't have to do what the Narrator tells you to.

When the Narrator states that you are going to enter the door on the left, you can choose to take the door on the right. What happens next is fascinating- he insists you must have misunderstood. He tries to put you back on track. And in the process, you and he together create an entirely new story.

The Stanley Parable has nineteen possible endings. Each one has a different fate for Stanley. In each one, you, as Stanley, build a different relationship with the Narrator. Sometimes he is sympathetic. Sometimes he is condescending. Sometimes he is angry, or indifferent, or just sad. And no matter what decisions you make, eventually the game ends, and you start all over.

Which would you choose? Which one tells a better story? If it's just a game, does your choice matter?

Stanley is literally the most uninteresting person imaginable. Everything you know about him comes from the disembodied voice of a stranger. But as the Parable takes him on a journey with you, you grow attached to him. You feel his pain, not because of who he is, but because of what he represents.

The Stanley Parable is a perfect example of postmodernism. Which path you take, which story you tell, doesn't really matter. What matters is the way the story is told- the conflict between the author and the player, the illusion of choice within artificially imposed rules. Does the creator of a game owe something to his players? What about an author and her readers? Once a game is released to the public, who "owns" it? Is the point of a game to win? Does a game need a point?

Is the illusion of choice any different from actual choice?

I have no idea. All I do is drive the train.