Moral Victory: The Walking Dead Vs. Life Is Strange

• Are you motivated differently in each game?
  
  
  My motivation in both games are the same; I want to the make the best decisions in order to have the best outcome, but I’d say that I’m a little more motivated in The Walking Dead because the zombies provide that “death is around every corner” aspect to my decision-making.

• Why did you make the decisions you did in each game?
  
  Most of the decisions I made in each game were based off what I would most likely do if I was in that particular situation; however, I’ll admit that some of my decisions were based off trivial things such as my like or dislike for a certain character. In these instances, I may not have made the “right” choice, but it was the right choice for me because I wanted to see something happen to that specific character(s). In Life Is Strange, I was granted the opportunity to make these types of decisions often with no real penalty/consequence due to the rewind ability, so I certainly enjoyed that.

• Did you ever feel like you could "game the system" as Karabinus states in her article? Were you able to? Why or why not?
  
  I  definitely felt like I could game the system; however, it remains to be seen if I can actually game the system or not since I’ve only played the first chapter. From my initial estimations, I don’t think that I can “game the system”. The rewind ability encourages players to try to “game the system” so that they can get only the best results, but in Life Is Strange, they don’t make it obvious as to what specific consequences will come about because of your choices. This is unlike The Walking Dead because in that game, you can make a decision and then see a character die in the next scene as a result of your decision so the consequences can be much more immediate. Moreover, in The Walking Dead, there are actually some decisions that are validated by the majority of players choosing that decision. In Life Is Strange, the decisions are more like just standard events that seem to have no real right, wrong, good, or bad to them. Then again, maybe I just haven’t got that far into the game yet; I have a feeling I’m in for quite a few surprises.

• Which game gives you more moral strife?
  
  
  Although I’ve only played the first chapter, Life Is Strange definitely gives me more moral strife as a result of the rewind game play feature. The creators of Life Is Strange were very clever by using the player’s own morality and indecision against them which is the true beauty of the rewind ability in my opinion. There are so many times in life where we wish that we could go back and rewind a moment in life to obtain what we believe to be a more favorable outcome. We’re granted this gift in Life Is Strange, but when I rewind back to a specific moment in which I had to make a decision, I found myself more distraught by the decisions I had to make since I knew what was coming next.
  
  
• Ultimately which game do you prefer on a character development and emotional investment level and why?
  
  
  I prefer The Walking Dead on a character development and emotional investment level purely because I believe that I tend to have an affinity for video game characters that go through a lot of struggle or tough situations, but are able to find a way to survive. It’s not to say that Max from Life Is Strange hasn’t faced adversity in this first chapter, but Max’s story doesn’t really compare to individuals doing whatever they can to survive a zombie apocalypse in which sometimes the "undead" are the least of your problems.  Not to mention, I’m a super fan of Lee and Clementine, so it’s hard to take their spot in my mind and my heart. Lastly, I get to see the evolution of Clementine as her childhood innocence fights against the reality of life around her and it’s cool to see how Lee teachers her to handle situations that aren’t supposed to be a part of typical childhood.