Do you ever become your character?

[Zhukov]

I do that every now and again.

I generally consider it to be a sign of a good game.

 

[Marik Bentusi]

Sadly I don't which ruins all immersion for me. I just do what I think gets me forward in the game, tho I take the "good" alignment route when possible due to it fitting my own alignment better. I don't even think "Alright, now gotta do this, then that", I just try something out, reload if it fails and predict the AI patterns.

 

[Dwarfman]

I do sometimes with my Table top RPG characters. I don't class computer games as role play games because you're just clicking away to a pre-detirmined destination. When I dice my fellow gamers and I get right into it. I try to become the character. I think 'yeah this would be the dirction we should take but that's not how my character would do it'. After a good session, sometimes we're still in the 'zone' so yeah I guess our characters' personalities rub off on us.

 

[Switchlurk]

Considering your character to be you is a result of immersion.

Immersion is a result of good design.

They say that immitation is the sincerest form of flattery...perhaps for games the aformention relation to the character is, if not the sincerest, the most conclusive.

 

[megaraccoon]

Okay so lately I've restarted playing Saints Row 2. The other day while waiting for a resturant to cook my and my family's dinner since I'm too lazy to do so myself, I started thinking about what was needed to get done in the game. Needed to clear out some more strongholds and hopefully finish up the Sons of Samedi missions, then go on to the Brotherhood.

What I realized while thinking this was that I was using the word "I need to" and not in that third person "I gotta get this other person to do this", but in the "this is my responsibility to take care of" kind of view. I even went so far as to thinking that "I didn't like the way the leader of the Brotherhood talked to me."

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not crazy. My bad-assedry only goes so far as the game, I wasn't shooting anybody up at the resturant and I obeyed the rules of the road getting there and getting back. I didn't assume the persona outside of the game, but when thinking about it and when playing the game, the woman that I had created to lead the Saints was "me." Soon after this realization, I noticed that if I thought back to playing Mass Effect, my femshep was another "me."

So it got me wondering if anyone else does this? Or am I just that pathetic?

not just you i do the same with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. call of pripyats major dagtryev or whatever and Fallout New Vegas

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I've become some RPG characters before, notably Chrono from CT. Its fun getting in that mindset

 

[Dr. Paine]

If I really get into it... yeah. Then again, I write, so I'm rather prone to falling into the character's mindset within 10-20 minutes xD Mass Effect is the easiest to get into, then (for some reason) Portal is the next.

If I play the latter too long, I start trying to plan the best route for portalling...

 

[Cypher10110]

Definitely, I've recently played trough Mass Effect 1 (femshep ftw), Alpha Protocol and I'm currently playing Dragon Age. In each game I thought about what I, the player, would do in that situation whenever it came to dialogue.
Alpha Protocol was great with this as the speech was actually a large part of the game play, so it effected what information I discovered, how missions turned out, and who ended up supporting me in various missions in the game.

Dragon Age falls a little short in those context as you don't see your character speak, but it's still got the actual role-playing fun to it

I love being immersed in the story-line. When you get to have a say and take each situation as it comes, it makes those few game-changing moments for your character exciting for you too.

I feel disappointed that Alpha Protocol won't see a sequel, if I knew it was this fun I would have got it a long time ago.

 

[SoulIsTheGoal]

I have been in this state to such an extent that I will refuse to take certain weapons because my character wouldn't use them. Especially in games like Dragon Age, I don't care if the cursed armour of M'kharrar is going to give me infinite health, my Elf would not wear it. I once spent so long playing Brotherhood I actually realised I was walking like Ezio and if I saw someone I didn't like my left palm would twitch. When games are immersive and have good storytelling and a richly developed world you fall into that state.
An experience only games can provide.

 

[SageRuffin]

Your character, polygon count notwithstanding, is pretty much an extension of you, even more so if you based your character's appearance off of your own. I think that's perfectly normal and I'm willing to believe that it's more common than you think. After all, you directly control the character.

 

[YesConsiderably]

I find that getting into character has a positive effect on my in-game performance. I was struggling to finish Transformers: WFC on the hard difficulty. so decided that in order to win, i would need to become as fast as Bumblebee and as tough as Ironhide; as intelligent as Ratchet and as brave as Optimus Prime.

I needed to become the Valentin Seleznyobot, so i made a helmet out of cardboard. It only took me a few tries after that.

 

[Diablo27]

Well next time I play a RPG I'll see if I do that but I do have one experience. This may not be me getting right into the game but when I lost Legion, Garrus, Thane and Mordin in the suicide mission of Mass Effect 3 I was so depressed I could cry but it wasn't just that, I felt like it was my fault that they died. Not my character's fault, mine and my own.

 

[ChocoFace]

Like this? (kinda NSFW)
Sadly i'm not that ingenious.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I do it with RPGs and any game that lets you put yourself over the main character (Saints Row 2 being another example)

Games like Stranglehold or Max Payne I tend to think in the third person, as if I were watching a story unfold.

Mass Effect I absolutely think of as 'I need to.' Fallout 3 is another contender. Sometimes my level of roleplaying has actually led me to make bad strategic decisions because I got too caught up in the character.

Protip: Just because you got accepted by the Regulators and have a duster and a Blackhawk magnum you are not suddenly Walker Texas Ranger...

I got killed a lot after the Regulators accepted me.

 

[Wutaiflea]

I don't think it's pathetic. Even though you're playing a role as a protagonist, you're still effectively driving what they do and how they react in a lot of games- so it is still "you" that needs to deal with the Samedi etc. and not your character.

Particularly in games where you design your own character and have considerable control over their choices, I think it's much worse, because its easy to become much more immersed.

Well next time I play a RPG I'll see if I do that but I do have one experience. This may not be me getting right into the game but when I lost Legion, Garrus, Thane and Mordin in the suicide mission of Mass Effect 3 I was so depressed I could cry but it wasn't just that, I felt like it was my fault that they died. Not my character's fault, mine and my own.

I relate to this, although from the other standpoint- I made it through first time with my entire team intact, and quite frankly, the relief I felt was bordering on the ridiculous.

 

[Diablo27]

I don't think it's pathetic. Even though you're playing a role as a protagonist, you're still effectively driving what they do and how they react in a lot of games- so it is still "you" that needs to deal with the Samedi etc. and not your character.

Particularly in games where you design your own character and have considerable control over their choices, I think it's much worse, because its easy to become much more immersed.

Well next time I play a RPG I'll see if I do that but I do have one experience. This may not be me getting right into the game but when I lost Legion, Garrus, Thane and Mordin in the suicide mission of Mass Effect 3 I was so depressed I could cry but it wasn't just that, I felt like it was my fault that they died. Not my character's fault, mine and my own.

I relate to this, although from the other standpoint- I made it through first time with my entire team intact, and quite frankly, the relief I felt was bordering on the ridiculous.

Making it with the entire team would be quite a feat but looking back on it I'm kind of glad that some people died, it made it so much darker, more realistic and I just got sucked into the story so much.

 

[Wutaiflea]

snippy

snip

snip

Making it with the entire team would be quite a feat but looking back on it I'm kind of glad that some people died, it made it so much darker, more realistic and I just got sucked into the story so much.

To be honest, doing it first time was more luck than judgement. Even though I'd invested a lot of time in upgrades and loyalty missions, that was more about enjoying all the game had to offer than being determined to get through it in one piece.
I can see what you mean when you say it made the story darker, but from the perspective of my first run-through, I felt it was still very dark and realistic- that sense of relief when a character made it through a dangerous situation, and that painful decision over who to pick for what task really added to the game whether they survived or not.

 

[Diablo27]

I hope I snipped right.

To be honest, doing it first time was more luck than judgement. Even though I'd invested a lot of time in upgrades and loyalty missions, that was more about enjoying all the game had to offer than being determined to get through it in one piece.
I can see what you mean when you say it made the story darker, but from the perspective of my first run-through, I felt it was still very dark and realistic- that sense of relief when a character made it through a dangerous situation, and that painful decision over who to pick for what task really added to the game whether they survived or not.

Let's hope Mass Effect 3 is dark enough to make me cry. It takes one Hell of an emotional scene to get tears from me *cough*Dom and Maria Gears of War 2*cough* but I respect a piece of art if it makes me cry. Another thing I hope is in the third one, pretty much Dragon Age: Origins in space with the army collecting. A lot of people don't want that but my answer to that is "why not? That'd be fu**ing awesome!"

 

[realslimshadowen]

All the time. Heck, outside the game, describing my progress, if it's not a game like War For Cybertron where you play multiple characters throughout the campaign or a strategy game, I'll use "I" instead of "Mario/the Warden/Niko".

 

[Savagezion]

If I get to make my character, I am my character.

That's probably true with me too, but I'm not certain as I've never examined it to closely before. I'm often not privy to my own thoughts. It's just constant rambling up there so I rarely pay attention.

Can other people say this? Or does it matter to you whether you made the character or not?

And if anybody would like to share stories, I'd love to read.

I am always my first character. Any character after that are interesting character designs that I play out as in "get into character" and I try to think like that person would. For instance my first Shepard was me through and through. I did what I felt I would do in that situation. I fell like 60/40 Para/Ren through most of the game. My next Shepard was a female who was sort of bitter against the world but a bad ass. It was her way or the highway. Totally different experience. Had very small para rating.
My next Shepard is going to be as cocky as I can be. Not sure if I want to be male ro female this time through. I want them to be totally full of themselves though to the best of my ability with the choices given. Just be an arrogant smart ass who thinks they are God's gift to the universe.