Edit: For clarification of my argument look to my points on inFAMOUS. You don't have a choice of being good and sometimes a little evil if you want to unlock more powers. You have no choice if you want to get top tiered powers.
This is not about the effect or lack of effect resulting from a choice (e.g. Mass Effect 3's ending), but rather the idea of being given choices.
With inFAMOUS: Second Son on the horizon there has been more details coming out about the mechanics of the game. One piece of information is that your karma levels will be tied with Delsin's powers [1]. The player will be punished for taking a morally grey path. This is troubling, but based on inFAMOUS 1 and 2's history as well as the Fetch choice [2] presented in Second Son the decisions are so black and white you may as well select a good or evil path at the beginning and let the cut-scenes roll uninterrupted.
The first Mass Effect also had this issue with Bioware's own version of morality [3]. If you chose to follow the paragon (good) path, but did not accrue enough paragon points you would be locked out of verbal choices. This would happen if you chose neutral or evil dialogues too often. The problem being that sometimes you would rather jail a criminal rather than release or execute them. By Mass Effect 3 this was mostly resolved by the reputation system, a system where just making a decision contributed to the meter and being good or evil only effected a specific ending. It was not perfect, but it allowed the player to make their own decisions based on the situation, rather than worrying about the outcome restricting future content.
The Last of Us:
When Joel rushes into the operating room to rescue Ellie his actions are given back to the player. Do you take revenge on the Fireflies or do you only kill the one doctor and worry about escaping? TLoU has a story to tell. It's not about the player questioning the situation, but rather Joel making difficult decisions. Just like most player decisions in gaming it's irrelevant, but it's still yours to make.
While this particular scene in The Last of Us has been polarizing among gamers I found myself laughing at how I dealt with the situation. My first thought was to go online and make sure I did not just ruin my playthrough. While not everyone plays like this there is always that thought of, "Don't screw this up." Too often the player is not given a choice. It's made for us. Dragon Age: Inquisition does have me hopeful though. During an interview Adam Sessler brought up the idea of the player being punished by choice [4]. Paraphrasing, Mark Darrah responded that it's the developers job to ensure the player does not feel like he or she made the wrong decision.
TL;DR
inFAMOUS: SS - Choose good or evil. If you don't pick every good or every evil option you may be locked out of higher tiered powers.
Mass Effect - Same deal. May miss out on additional conversation options that effect the story.
Mass Effect 3 - Make good, evil, or neutral decisions on a case by case basis.
The Last of Us - Make your own decision because it doesn't matter.
Dragon Age: Inquisition - Right or wrong, you won't feel like you're missing out on content. This remains to be seen.
How do you as a gamer feel about choice in a video game? Is it needed in its current state? Excuse my rambling and thank you for reading.
[1] Morality level affects powers.
[2] B-Roll footage presents a choice.
[3] Mass Effect's morality system.
[4] Adam Sessler's interview of Mark Darrah. Dragon Age: Inquisition.