Player and Character Intent in Dialogue Options

I read this post from the inimitable Thaliarchus whilst like two drinks in and a bunch of thoughts came bubbling up. You should read it yourself, and also the rest of their work. Thaliarchus rules. This is not intended to be a takedown in any way whatsoever in case you clicked on this hoping for random internet drama, this is more of a Cohost-thread-style continuation post where I go "ooh, ooh, I can ramble about this topic!" I've kinda already done so before anyway. I am not a game designer so take anything I say with a shaker of salt, but this concept comes up sometimes when talking about games with dialogue options (so mostly RPGs, but also many visual novels or adventure games, or really just "narrative" games). Thaliarchus writes: "But here’s a question: when a game with VN-style presentation throws a set of dialogue options at the player, do those options represent: possibilities outside the protagonist’s mind, so that when you select one the protagonist will think and then say…