User blog comment:Martolives/Losing the Plot/@comment-4237253-20121018033251/@comment-2076032-20121018151807

I've been thinking about what you said here and indeed, gameplay CAN be a means to tell a story, not unlike a novelisation or a film, but this is merely the MEDIUM on which the diegetic plot is presented - games are special in that the non-diegetic story elements can vary from player to player, depending on the meaning they take from the game. On one hand, EVE online again has no plot, and it tells no story, but rather the thousands of players that inhabit the New Eden galaxy "write" their own stories every day. Some stories are captured for reproduction on YouTube, some are literally written for fanfiction in the very popular Eon Magazine - don't worry, though, I'm not trying to "sell" the game, or the magazine, just making a point. In EVE, you CAN shoot someone for no particular reason, or you can shoot someone for a VERY particular reason. Either way, the reason or lack thereof is your own to determine.

While on the other end of the spectrum, Mass Effect is entirely plot-driven. It is linear, to a degree, but regardless of the path you choose, the overall plot is the same - in other words, the journey is different for every player, but we all arrive at the same destination. There are arguments to the contrary, however, but in the grand scheme of things you can have your own story in Mass Effect, you just can't have your own plot - it's off the table, for example, to kill the Illusive Man in ME2, or even try to hunt him down, just like you don't get the option to take out Officer Tenpenny much earlier on in GTA San Andreas, because the characters have purposes to fulfil in the plot.