The Stanley Parable

Window Ending

And..... he was back in the office. Stanley let out a sigh of relief. It was an odd relief without a doubt, but still, Stanley was happy being back. Stanley got up and stepped out of his office. He was greeted by the Narrators usual line. 

"All of his co-workers were gone. What could it mean? Stanley decided to go to the meeting room; perhaps he had simply missed a memo."

Stanley smiled and thought to himself "why not have some fun? There is no one here besides me and the Narrator". So, in an act of true idiocy, Stanley climbed on one of his coworkers desk and looked out the window. There was no view, it was just a white void. Stanley then proceeded to jump out the window. It wasn't a long fall, though his ankles did feel a bit sore. Stanley looked up at the window, wondering what he should do now. The Narrator wasn't speaking. Stanley got a bit worried with all the silence. 

"At first Stanley assumed he had broken the map, until he heard this narration and realized it was a part of the game's design all along. He then praised the game for its insightful and witty commentary into the nature of video game structure and its examination of structural narrative tropes."

Stanley smiled. He found it funny whenever the Narrator praised himself, since he made it painfully obvious he was doing so. But still, Stanley was unsure of what to do. He didn't really think this through. 

"So now that you're here, what do you think? Isn't this a fun and unique place to be? Why don't we take a minute just to drink it all in!"

There was an awkward silence, the same kind of silence as when Stanley went in that maze during the confusion ending. 

"Okay I'm over it now. What do you think, are you sick of this gag yet?" 

Suddenly words popped up in front of Stanley. "Are you sick of this gag? Yes No". Stanley felt indifferent, so he just clicked no. 

"Ah, then in that case we'll continue! But now here comes the real question: what do you think would have happened if you had told me that you wanted this to stop? Do you think it would have been particularly different?"

Stanley doubted so.

"Would I have taken this same idea but rephrased it superficially to fit that answer? Perhaps you never would even have thought of it if I hadn't brought up the issue in the first place!"

Oh god. Stanley hated when the Narrator teased him with options. Stanley didn't like thinking about it. 

"Oh, now think about it, will it be worth it for you to restart, and then come BACK here, just to do the other option? Clearly this whole gag takes some time, what if the other option is even longer! How long will you spend in total just to have heard all the narration!"

Stanley let out an inaudible groan. Now he was curious. 

"Or -- oh this is rich! - perhaps you've just played the other option and now you've come to see what happens in this one! So what do you think, which choice was the better one?"