Player autonomy is often misunderstood as "giving players freedom", which can lead to player frustration and disappointment instead of satisfaction.

In order to direct a good experience for players, developers must have an understanding of what player autonomy means in game design.  

In this 2017 GDC session, Immersyve's Scott Rigby discusses the pitfalls of designing for player autonomy, providing developers with an accurate blueprint of what autonomy truly means.

Rigby uses open world games to give examples of how contemporary designs optimize for autonomy, and offers the best practices that developers should follow. 

Developers curious to learn more about player autonomy can now watch the talk completely free via the official GDC YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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