Is a long pause at a story choice a great dilemma or just confusion?
A choice that makes players stop and think is what a story wants, but a choice that makes them stop because they do not understand it looks identical in the pause time. This entry shows how to compare the pause with the time it takes to read the options and how to use the number of people who leave there to tell them apart.
Why this works
A long pause has two opposite causes that look alike on the clock. A dilemma means the player is engaged and thinking; confusion means they do not understand and some give up. Reading time sets the baseline, and who leaves at that very choice tells the two apart.
When not to use it
Do not use it when the choice has a timer, or when players are known to talk it over with friends or look up outside help. The pause then measures something else. Also skip it with few players; read a handful of sessions by hand instead.
In the full entry
- What to build, step by step
- Starting values and the reason for each
- 4 common mistakes and the fix
- 22 lines of example code with 4 checks that pass
- How your AI shows you that it works
Say this to your AI
Use the Spielerando entry "Is a long pause at a story choice a great dilemma or just confusion?" (read_entry story-choice-dilemma-or-confusion) in my game. Build it step by step, and show me how you checked that it works.Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP