Do you 'self-insert' in videogames?
- Thread starter DoctorImpossible
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Pretty much this - I'll give them a personality of their own, with a small reflection of myself in there somewhere, usually for when it comes to decision makingVault101 said:
Mass Effect has so far been the best for characterisation - my Shepard is very distinct, definitely Shepard, but singularly mine. Its a good way of doing it.
mostly as a starting point, then i tend to deviate to make the character more unique.
maybe have some of their aspects mimic "original characters" or giving an advantage in gameplay.
it mostly depends on the time investment.
so in short: me steadily driven by my ego.
maybe have some of their aspects mimic "original characters" or giving an advantage in gameplay.
it mostly depends on the time investment.
so in short: me steadily driven by my ego.
Nope I create a character, decide how he looks then create a backstory that explains how he wound up in the situation he was in(Stupid mass effect doing the for me). Create a history for him that more or less started at birth. From there I discern what sort of personality that might give him, any emotion scars or skeletons in the closet. From there i will work out if he is something of a noble thief a valiant hero or just straight up evil. Then I play the game as the character I created choosing things that the character would do, only doing quests that would appeal to him etc. Im a bit loose with the quest thing in my first play through as i at least want to finish the story.
These days... I've only done a blatant self-insertion once.
[/spoiler]
XCOM is a bit different in that regard though.
I used to self-insert more frequently when I was younger. In RPG's with custom characters, and especially in wrestling games.
When it comes to RPG's, I hardly do that anymore. I like getting imaginative with them, and making characters from different races/species entirely. Although I have noticed that I still tend to project myself onto my male avatars. Even if I make an old black man, or a dwarf, I can't help but project my personality onto them.
Which is why I've been favoring female avatars moreso lately. I feel like I can roleplay them as their own character and their own personality, instead of habitually forcing my own personality into them.
I still make 'myself' from time to time in other games. Such as XCOM, and whenever I do find myself playing some kind of sports game or wrestling game.
XCOM is a bit different in that regard though.
I used to self-insert more frequently when I was younger. In RPG's with custom characters, and especially in wrestling games.
When it comes to RPG's, I hardly do that anymore. I like getting imaginative with them, and making characters from different races/species entirely. Although I have noticed that I still tend to project myself onto my male avatars. Even if I make an old black man, or a dwarf, I can't help but project my personality onto them.
Which is why I've been favoring female avatars moreso lately. I feel like I can roleplay them as their own character and their own personality, instead of habitually forcing my own personality into them.
I still make 'myself' from time to time in other games. Such as XCOM, and whenever I do find myself playing some kind of sports game or wrestling game.
The characters I make look nothing like me, just because I enjoy getting creative with character design.
I start by doing what I would do, but as I grow to understand the details of the games story, I fashion a new persona for the character.
I start by doing what I would do, but as I grow to understand the details of the games story, I fashion a new persona for the character.
If it's something like Fallout New Vegas I tend to make the charcter resemble me a bit, but in the Elder Scrolls or, I tend to use the character creator as much as I can, except I just use my name anyways to easily remeber which save is mine, at least when using the PS3.
I do self insert if I can change the name of the character, but not the appearance. I do this mostly because it really quite literally puts you in the game as both player and character. For me this increases the engagement. (ex: FF7, Arcanum, Fallout 1&2, Baldur's Gate 1&2, etc)
In games in which I have much more control of the creation I rely more upon making the most visually pleasing character as possible. I do this because generally these games become very boring for me if I don't. Visually pleasing for me generally means characters that fall outside the usual molds of design.
In games in which I have much more control of the creation I rely more upon making the most visually pleasing character as possible. I do this because generally these games become very boring for me if I don't. Visually pleasing for me generally means characters that fall outside the usual molds of design.
I tend to base my character off myself the first time I play a game. I tend to see it as a useful starting point since I don't really know a lot about the game world and my character's place in it. Once I've explored the game a bit I might go back and create a different character I think is more fitting. So while I may begin the game with a self-insert, the character I complete the game with might be different.
Absolutely. This may betray the differences in the way we gamers game, but I always make idealized versions of myself that match the game's aesthetic. Idealized isn't quite the right word. I ask myself, "what would I look like if I were a part of this world?" So even if it's an elf, it's still me, just with pointy ears and a sick six pack. That's one damn sexy elf. Sometimes I transverse sex boundaries with female versions of myself, particularly in MMOs and online games, but that's dangerous for the obvious reason: invariably, I will fall in love with myself. To be entirely fair, I think that sometimes happens with my male characters, too.
I insert my character into the worlds in order to explore them to the fullest extent. So I can get closer to their experience. Interactivity is the name of the game here, right? And besides I'm not normally a great fan of consumer entertainment culture, the protagonists often inspire hatred or disinterest more than affection, so it's best if I just handle that side of things myself.
And once Digital Me is in his own little world, he's free to do all of the fun things for which I'd be torn down in the streets in the real world. And it's bliss.
I insert my character into the worlds in order to explore them to the fullest extent. So I can get closer to their experience. Interactivity is the name of the game here, right? And besides I'm not normally a great fan of consumer entertainment culture, the protagonists often inspire hatred or disinterest more than affection, so it's best if I just handle that side of things myself.
And once Digital Me is in his own little world, he's free to do all of the fun things for which I'd be torn down in the streets in the real world. And it's bliss.
I have a tendancy to make characters based on other characters I love, I find it much more fun to roleplay if I'm actually trying to keep within boundaries I haven't set myself
such as playing through Skyrim, I made my character look exactly like Cole MacGrath, and restricted myself to only powers Cole could use in InFAMOUS
Needless to say I had a total blast with that playthrough ^_^
But I find myself doing this whenever I have character creation options.. I recently purchased XCOM and I've based my entire squad reserve from video game heroes of mine
I just find it keeps the games really fun ^_^
such as playing through Skyrim, I made my character look exactly like Cole MacGrath, and restricted myself to only powers Cole could use in InFAMOUS
Needless to say I had a total blast with that playthrough ^_^
But I find myself doing this whenever I have character creation options.. I recently purchased XCOM and I've based my entire squad reserve from video game heroes of mine
I just find it keeps the games really fun ^_^
Whenever I try to create a reasonable likeness of myself the result is usually more reminiscent of the winner of the Worlds Most Meltiest Face Pageant than anything human, so I tend to stick with presets that at least have the right hair style/colour. I don't really find spending hours in character creation the least bit entertaining, wiggling sliders to get just the right nose-yaw settings or jaw camber configuration doesn't get my gaming juices flowing. It is sometimes fun to see what the 'randomise' option comes up with but not all games have them.
It also depends on what kind of game it is, something like Mass Effect didn't make me want to jump into FemShep's boots I was just watching her story unfold and making the occasional dialogue option to try and do the hair-tentacle tango with Liara. So I went with vanilla FemShep (I think I changed her hair though) and jumped right in to the game.
Something like Skyrim, I was much more interested in seeing myself Fus-ro-dah-ing the peasants so I set aside a few seconds to customise the character to at least vaguely resemble me. Then quickly realised I would be playing mostly in first person view and after hours of playing would be wearing armour that covered pretty much everything anyway.
It also depends on what kind of game it is, something like Mass Effect didn't make me want to jump into FemShep's boots I was just watching her story unfold and making the occasional dialogue option to try and do the hair-tentacle tango with Liara. So I went with vanilla FemShep (I think I changed her hair though) and jumped right in to the game.
Something like Skyrim, I was much more interested in seeing myself Fus-ro-dah-ing the peasants so I set aside a few seconds to customise the character to at least vaguely resemble me. Then quickly realised I would be playing mostly in first person view and after hours of playing would be wearing armour that covered pretty much everything anyway.
Not really, I tend to just make a character with an appearance I like the look of after playing with the sliders so most of mine always look different. Whenever I can I'll give them a purple mowhawk, or just a mowhawk if the game isn't that customizable as a little trait I like to do.
Once me and my bestfriend did painstakingly create ourselves into a WWE game so we could be a tag-team when we were about 15. It took forever to do but was totally worth it when we came out to our custom ring into.
Once me and my bestfriend did painstakingly create ourselves into a WWE game so we could be a tag-team when we were about 15. It took forever to do but was totally worth it when we came out to our custom ring into.