Aside from things like Choose Your Own Adventure books, gaming is pretty much only story telling medium where the player can actively change the outcome of the story(within the constraints of the game of course). It's been a staple of the medium since the early days and is something some players seem to hold in high regard. My question is: is this necessarily a good thing?
On the one hand, being an interactive medium, it's something gaming really lends itself to. It also allows players to add something of a personal touch to their play-throughs and can allow them to end the story in the way they most prefer. Theoretically, everyone ends the game more or less satisfied.
On the other hand, it can severely hamper things from a story-telling perspective. If they decide to make a sequel they either need to declare one ending canon, negating the point a bit, or distance the new game's story enough so that the last game doesn't really affect things. So in theory this could weaken the overall narrative and lose focus.
So what are everyone else's thoughts on multiple endings in games? Good? Bad? Can be improved?