Disobeying orders in games
Skyrim and Deus Ex spoilers. / mrwendal if you want to support me.
Full email from Sheldon Pacotti: "Regarding Paul in DX1, the intention was definitely to give the player a choice. But we wanted the choice to be a difficult one -- or, at least, balanced. Take the easy route out the window and let your brother die, or stand by him despite all of the signals to do the opposite. (Heroes often are given an "easy out" by other characters who offer to sacrifice themselves... only to risk everything to make sure no one but them pays a heavy price.)
If I'm remembering correctly, Paul shows up later in the game if the player saves him, so that path is "fully supported," so to speak, at least to the extent that we had the resources to build it out.
We would have ideally liked to give the player even more freedom in how he/she reacts to being hunted by UNATCO. The player can actually battle through several maps, back through the subway and to Battery Park (?), I believe, before encountering an impossible battle and "forced failure." It just wasn't feasible to support a whole different branch where the player has gone completely rogue. Looking back, though, I wonder if we could have supported two playable states of that last UNATCO mission, one where the player begins as a prisoner, and one where the player breaches the facility from the outside, proactively going after the secrets of MJ-12. That could have given the player the illusion of complete freedom, without adding too much pain to the development effort.
Anyway, those are my confused thoughts fifteen years after the fact. I hope they aren't coming too late for the video. My best,
Sheldon."