Deeper Meaning to Stanley Parable?

[PaulTheCarman]

This game is very deep. The very tone and atmosphere of the game is thoughtful and pensive. What message do you think The Stanley Parable is trying to convey?

Personally, I think it is an enormous metaphor to games and real life.

If you care to hear what I think, keep reading below. If not, just post below what you think the Stanley Parable means.

In order to grasp my interpentation of The Stanley Parable, you must understand what a parable is. A parable is defined as "A short story told using familiar elements in order to explain a deeper truth". There is definitely a ton of familiar elements within The Stanley Parable. From the fact that you are playing a game to the atmosphere of the game (an office building). Everything about the game is incredibly familiar. Now consider the other part of the title-Stanley. He is a robot; a puppet. He knows nothing, feels nothing, and most important of all, has no story. His only purpose, as we see in the opening video to the game, is to push the buttons on the keyboard that he is told to push.
Then he makes a choice.
He gets up.
That's where we come in.
When we start playing the game, we are not playing as Stanley, despite what the narrator thinks. We are playing as ourselves, a human being. This is why the narrator gets so upset when we make a "wrong" choice. We are doing things he did not tell us to do, and he is accustomed to Stanley simply following his every order without a thought. The narrator, as we see in one of the endings, is our manager and our boss. That is why he knows exactly what code to put into the keypads in his office. He is used to controlling our every movement, and when we make choices not within his plan, he gets upset.
This is the difference between us and Stanley. Stanley does not make choices. Stanley does not know how. When we start playing and we start making choices, we are writing our own story. We are taking control of our own destiny.
Now consider a normal game. What do you do? You do what you are told. You push buttons on a keyboard or controller. In most games, you don't make your own choices. You simply press what the game tells you to press.You press the buttons you are told to press, and you experience the predetermined story that was written for you. And yet you are happy with your existence.
Consider real life. Is anyone telling you what to do? Is anyone telling you what choices to make? Is anyone controlling your destiny? NO. YOU are the master of your fate. YOU decide what choices to make. YOU WRITE YOUR OWN STORY.
This is why the narrator doesn't like Minecraft! Minecraft is one of the few games that has absolutely no story! You make your own choices how to play the game, what to do in the game, and how to end the game. In the "True Ending" to the game, where you disobey every command the narrator gives you and he finally recognizes that he is playing with an actual person, the narrator finally has enough with you and leaves you outside the map to observe his new game subject-Stanley. Except he does not tell Stanley what to do. He asks Stanley to make a choice.
And Stanley doesn't move. Ever.
This is what we lose when we decide to play a game-free will. When we play a game, we are signing our destiny over to the game designers and allowing them to take control of our existence.
As you play the Stanley Parable, it is easy to ascribe a certain choice as the "right" choice or the "wrong" choice. There is no right and wrong within The Stanley Parable. Whatever ending you had is what YOU chose to have happen. Just like real life. In real life, you end up with whatever you chose.
So break free. Don't go through life obeying the overlord, simply doing what you are told for the rest of your life. Make your own choice. Write your own story to your life.
This is the difference between us and Stanley.
This is The Stanley Parable.

[What Would Spock Do]

I've read this analysis multiple times. It seems spot-on!

[PaulTheCarman]

Originally posted by What Would Spock Do:

I've read this analysis multiple times. It seems spot-on!

Thanks so much! I was so excited to share this with everyone because I knew it was right on the money!

[WeaponsGradeHumanity]

You get told this during the game.

[PaulTheCarman]

Originally posted by WeaponsGradeHumanity:

You get told this during the game.

Seriously?
I didn't know that....

[PaulTheCarman]

Does anyone have any interpetations of the Stanley Parable they'd like to share?

[Quincy Quinn]

I simply got the mesage of balance between free will and a higher power. Free will seems like an amazing thing, but is not truly possible. Even the "ending" in which you obtain the most freedom is something that is in some way controlled. However, alternate routes show the people and the "higher power" (narrator which Iam taking as a metaphor for God) would be co-dependant on each other, therefore also suggesting that God would need people as much as people would like to believe that they need God, or in this case, a narrator to show the way or work together.

Not sure if I agree with all of that, but food for thought. It's what I got out of the story and it was the closest real-life eqivalent to the Narrator that I could think of.

[Zefnoly]

Some good example on games that is both narrative but stil give you choises in the story to decide how it will end is the Mass Effect trilogy. It is stil pretty linear and story driven. But they have made a story with choises. Choises that can make certain characters live or die. Different endings, different relationships (or even relationship issues) based on choises you are allowed to do. Allowing you to slightly be yourself in the story. Doing what you think you would do through it based on these choises.

So some games (even story driven ones) are something in the middle of games with free will or narrative gameplay. This is why I like mass effect the most when it comes to fully story driven games. I'ts narrative but gives you choises that can have effects that matters through the rest of the games. Some choises might even lead to characters die and make things very different, or parts missing.

And when you think of it. Stanly parable is pretty the same. You get choises to decide how it goes. Becuase they have put them in. Means not a completely linear game. Experience is decided by choises. Unlike some games where you need to follow the exact same story without any choises to have different outcomes.

[SANSational]

... My opinion of the Stanley Parable is that it's learning to trust. Think about it. Whenever you don't trust the narrator, something bad happens. He's emotionally broken after the ending where you LITERALLY COMMIT SUICIDE JUST TO ESCAPE A GAME THAT HE CREATED FOR YOU! He's trying to be a good person. He's trying to help you. You don't want to be helped.

You thought i would put something here, didn't you. SUCKER!

[Zefnoly]

Originally posted by SANSational:

... My opinion of the Stanley Parable is that it's learning to trust. Think about it. Whenever you don't trust the narrator, something bad happens. He's emotionally broken after the ending where you LITERALLY COMMIT SUICIDE JUST TO ESCAPE A GAME THAT HE CREATED FOR YOU! He's trying to be a good person. He's trying to help you. You don't want to be helped.

You thought i would put something here, didn't you. SUCKER!

Thanks for Necro...

[Communist Fish Tank]

To me it's a message for me to kill myself because my life sucks.

[JUST TABLES!]

Originally posted by Great Speckled Bird:

To me it's a message for me to kill myself because my life sucks.

Stanley felt sad. He wasn't sure why he was sad, when he first started feeling sad, or what sad even was, just that whatever it was, he felt it, right now, at this moment. And in knowing that he felt something, right now, at this moment, he suddenly felt...better. In fact, he dared say, he felt quite good that he had felt sad at all, for if he could feel sadness, Stanley thought, then surely I can feel anything: anger, surprise, contentedness, perhaps even hope. Yes! Hope, he thought. One day, perhaps, I will feel hopeful, he thought. Perhaps in the near future even! Perhaps I won't merely FEEL hopeful, but I will BE hopeful! But then he realized something. The future wasn't due to come to pass for quite some time. It could be any length of time really. How long would he have to wait? Stanley couldn't bear the thought of it, and he suddenly felt quite sad.

Stanley wasn't sure why he was sad, when he first started feeling sad, or what sad even was, just that whatever it was, he felt it, right now, at this moment. And in knowing that he felt something, right now, at this moment, he suddenly felt...better. In fact, he dared say, he felt quite good that he had felt sad at all.

[What Would Spock Do]

Originally posted by Pills and Kittens:

Originally posted by Great Speckled Bird:

To me it's a message for me to kill myself because my life sucks.

Stanley felt sad. He wasn't sure why he was sad, when he first started feeling sad, or what sad even was, just that whatever it was, he felt it, right now, at this moment. And in knowing that he felt something, right now, at this moment, he suddenly felt...better. In fact, he dared say, he felt quite good that he had felt sad at all, for if he could feel sadness, Stanley thought, then surely I can feel anything: anger, surprise, contentedness, perhaps even hope. Yes! Hope, he thought. One day, perhaps, I will feel hopeful, he thought. Perhaps in the near future even! Perhaps I won't merely FEEL hopeful, but I will BE hopeful! But then he realized something. The future wasn't due to come to pass for quite some time. It could be any length of time really. How long would he have to wait? Stanley couldn't bear the thought of it, and he suddenly felt quite sad.

Stanley wasn't sure why he was sad, when he first started feeling sad, or what sad even was, just that whatever it was, he felt it, right now, at this moment. And in knowing that he felt something, right now, at this moment, he suddenly felt...better. In fact, he dared say, he felt quite good that he had felt sad at all.

This was awesome. Definitely in the spirit of the game's writing.

[SANSational]

Originally posted by Zefnoly:

Originally posted by SANSational:

... My opinion of the Stanley Parable is that it's learning to trust. Think about it. Whenever you don't trust the narrator, something bad happens. He's emotionally broken after the ending where you LITERALLY COMMIT SUICIDE JUST TO ESCAPE A GAME THAT HE CREATED FOR YOU! He's trying to be a good person. He's trying to help you. You don't want to be helped.

You thought i would put something here, didn't you. SUCKER!

Thanks for Necro...

wat?

[ausfo55]

I think it's a lot less complex then you give it credit for. It started out as a half-life mod that was just someone messing around. Then the creator added in some elements of nihilism and threw in a sarcastic narator to berate you.

It's a fun "game" for a little bit but it is also very shallow and offers nothing that watching a youtube playthrough couldn't offer because of how little content there is to it. The author also has a really hard time taking criticism and hides behind the "theme" of the game to justify how empty it is.

I get it that people like to play up the philosophy angle but I personally play games to be entertained not to have a gradeschool lecture on nietzsche shoved down my throat.

[JUST TABLES!]

Originally posted by ausfo55:

I think it's a lot less complex then you give it credit for. It started out as a half-life mod that was just someone messing around. Then the creator added in some elements of nihilism and threw in a sarcastic narator to berate you.

It's a fun "game" for a little bit but it is also very shallow and offers nothing that watching a youtube playthrough couldn't offer because of how little content there is to it. The author also has a really hard time taking criticism and hides behind the "theme" of the game to justify how empty it is.

I get it that people like to play up the philosophy angle but I personally play games to be entertained not to have a gradeschool lecture on nietzsche shoved down my throat.

While it does have much exisitential bent, there is a lot more there than a gradeschool lecture on existentialism. Point of fact, you play as a protagonist in a world where you are not merely lectured to on the tenets of existentialism, but sometimes nurtured, tormented, manipulated, cajoled, etc., all with a mischievious sarcasm by an unseen narrator. If you get past what you might consider banal questions of the nature of choice and creating meaningful actions (though I don't see how you could unless you've successfully played out your life in the exact right way you "wanted" and are on your deathbed, completely satisfied, in which case, kudos to you I guess), the writing and acting are still phenomenal.

Does it have a "deep" meanning? I think Nietzche would bristle at the question and tell you that freedom is all that matters. His successors (Kant in particular) might instead as the question, "were you able to manufacture meaning from it in this given framework?" It seems like you weren't: fair play to you. Many will.

Existentialism is not really about the death or abscence of meaning, but rather what humanity does in its abscene. Does it find it? Does it create it? Does it throw its hands up and say "f it?" I think these questions are far more pertinent in this well-presented game that to me seems far more about the tricky nature of choice and free-will than it does with creating an overall sense of meaning.