Do you view the player-character as "you"?

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Depends on my mood and how silent the protagonist is. Story also plays a role. However, in games that do give a lot of player agency, I am more likely to roleplay.

I don't identify as 'me' in particular very often though.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Usually my first playthrough of an rpg where I can make moral choices I will choose the closest to what I would pick IRL. And im not talking an idealised vision of myself as always good choice pure guy. Ill make greedy choices too or act vengefully executing characters I have a chance to spare their life if I think they are douchebags. If I replay I will often roleplay everyhing from monsters to saints to guys with unique motivations.

 

[ArcaneGamer]

Nah, never. I'm the dude playing the dude.

I'm guessing whilst disguised as another dude?

 

[Hero of Lime]

Nope. The furthest I've gone is giving my Pokemon player characters my name, as well as the avatar for Fire Emblem Awakening who I also gave my hair color. Even then, I never think I am the character, or the character is me. I even like to make silent protagonists their own character, rather than just projecting myself onto them as is intended.

I may get immersed into the story, or the game, but no matter what, I know I am just a regular guy holding a controller, or handheld, playing a game. I'm not big on character customization anyway, I'll usually use the default name, and appearance in games that have a good default character.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I don't see the point of self-insertion since most game characters have skills or powers I'll never possess. It seems a bit ludicrous to make pre-generated protagonists an analog for myself and personally created characters are still not me, they're characters I create to exist in that universe and play according to however I feel that character would have done. Lots of D&D and DMing (and a fair amount of acting) have allowed me to create personas that have nothing to do with me IRL. And thats the way I like it since games allow me to explore things I normally would never or could never do.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Nah, never. I'm the dude playing the dude.

I'm guessing whilst disguised as another dude?

More often than not, yes

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Nope, I generally create characters and do not self insert. I find that more interesting than just playing as what I would do.

 

[Something Amyss]

To an extent, but that persists whether I play a created character or a stock one. Whether there's a story or not.

So I don't think it ties to my rejection of a specious argument.

 

[happyninja42]

Yes, I frequently inject myself into the protagonist of games I am playing. It's an escapist fantasy for me, and I like pretending that it's me in that situation. Who "me" is might change, for example in games like Skyrim, where I can make any character I want, I will create a backstory for the "me" I am playing this time, and have his actions be reflected by that history.

Other games, where I don't have the choice, as there is one set protagonist, I just pretend it's me, and do the actions that I would do, to see how the outcome would be.

It's why I rarely play characters on an evil path, because I don't like doing shitty things to people. And since the character is an embodiment of me, it makes me feel bad.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

In a way, yes. Mainly because I am controlling the person, and what hurts them in game, is virtually and harmlessly hurting me. So, i'm like. "Fuck that hurt." "Oh god that's a boss." "Oh gawd, they just backstabed me." "OH FAWWWK, WHY DO THEY HAVE THE MECHS!?"

But as for actually me? Nah. I view them as a character in this world, though, usually one of my own design. It might be a planar walking man who I create in every game 'cause magic, or, a barbarian man who punches things like no other. But they're not me.

So, no, I don't view them as me. There is a seperation, until shit gets real and i'm waaay too into the game to not realize that.

 

[wings012]

I like to take the role of the writer or director or some kind of capricious god. I am in control of this bloke and it is in my best interests to keep him breathing so he/she can entertain me some more. Now tell Bastilla to shut up and kiss you, for that is a response that amuses me deeply.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

Not at all.
Even when I make a character look like me I still think of them as little more than a slave to my will.

I sometimes try to do things in-game as I would do them in real life, but that's still not enough for me to think of the character as me.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Quite often, yes. It's part of my personal definition of immersion.

If anything, it happens on most games, regardless of whether I make a character or I'm playing a defined character; in the former, I tend to inject my personality and morals, in the latter, I adopt a new version of both. Only the PC doing something seriously out-of-whack (whether a choice, character judgment, whatever) tends to knock me out of that self-identification, at which point I become that voice in their head trying to tell them what to do[footnote]Then there were the Baten Kaitos games, which brilliantly decided to have it both ways.[/footnote].

 

[Kiardras]

Wouldn't exactly say they are "me", but characters I create all tend to be the evolution of one character I've had my entire life.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

When it comes to my favourite RPGs, the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, I tend to think of myself as a personification of the player character's intuition or conscience that guides or suggests a course of action. Ergo every time they die it was either because I gave them bad advice or they didn't listen to good advice.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Depends on the character really.

If he\she has a (massive) backstory already, then I play according to said characters character.

If it is a 'create your own protagonist' it depends on the setting. But I do atleast try to play according to my own character where possible.

 

[Jake Martinez]

It depends entirely on if the player character has any personality or not. If they are just "voiceless protaganist" then I tend to not really view them as "me" but as an extension purely of my will in the game.

If I'm playing a game like the Witcher 3, then absolutely not because Geralt is Geralt and while I may make decisions "for him", it's still his story and I'm just along for the ride in many ways.

Personally I don't really feel the need to identify with a character that much. I mean, it's kind of a strange requirement for a video game in the first place. I don't read books because I need to see myself in the main character of the book, I read them because I want to read an interesting story. I'm perfectly capable of enjoying a story about someone else if you know what I mean. After all, it'd be pretty sad if I was only interested in stories about 40 year old married hispanic software engineers.

When I play a game or read a book I'm kind of looking for something new or different than my real life. With some games it's simply about the experience of playing (like Minecraft, which I almost classify as a complex digital toy rather than a real game, but it does have a "win" state so I give it a pass.) and there are other games where I am simply enjoying watching the story unfold as I work towards completion. In neither one of those is my enjoyment diminished because I happen to be giving orders to a gnarly old dwarf of a fey looking swordsman. I mean, I'm not a Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is probably my favorite book(s) (I've read this probably about once every 2-3 years). In fact, I have absolutely nothing in common with any of those characters, but I sure enjoy reading about them.

 

[Mike Fang]

When playing games where I'm given the ability to play a personally-created characters (RPGs mostly) I do tend to go for one that's pretty representative of myself. Even if it's not a human character, they tend to reflect my general personality. While it's true games are an escapism, I guess part of what I enjoy is imagining myself in these outside-of-real-life situations.

 

[Aerosteam]

Never. I want my main character to be y'know, a character, as opposed to a template to put yourself on.

Although, when it comes to WRPGs like Dark Souls, The Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age: Origins where I'm forced to make up a character from scratch for the most part, I just make up a personality and base their appearance on it. When it comes to choices, I go for what I would do still.

 

[BeerTent]

Really depends on the game, and how much work has been put into characterization.

My character in Loadout would be me, I'd like to think, and that cute little thing flying my ship in Elite Dangerous would be me if I had gender reassignment surgery (Maybe I should switch back to male?)

But for games with an iota of characterization, or any amount of choices and story? I build a character for the world. Fish, the Decker for Shadowrun. Zephyr, the mad, angry psychopath in the wastes, Shepard, the 1st human Spectre. You know, all that jazz that's not me.