Poll: Who is the Player Character, exactly (in linear, single player games)?

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Often they're a character that isn't me, but that I control and try to stay true to. That said it really depends how linear the game is. I mean, CoD vs Skyrim vs Deus Ex Human Revolution, all different levels of versatility. CoD just shafts you through and it doesn't matter who you are, Skyrim lets you do practically anything and doesn't make any effort to impose a character onto you, and DE:HR gives you a character that has their own motivations and thoughts but still allows you to choose their general ideology and gameplay style.

That said though, I'm hopeless at staying true to character if there's stuff to be had. My virtuous warrior often ends up as a mostly virtuous warrior who will stoop to any low to get a new weapon, and my ruthless assassin often ends up as a ruthless assassin who still has time to rescue your cat or collect 10 tiddlywinks even though it's a complete waste of his time.

 

[Monster_user]

If the character has had an established name, history, appearance, and skillset wildly different from my own, that character is separate from me.

I have tried to play a character as if it was myself. I have found the actions and dialog choices limited, and rarely close to my own thoughts. Furthermore, in an RPG, I find that I am more interested in exploring the dialog tree, and less worried about the circumstances or final objective.

Made from scratch RPG characters seem to be less relateable than pre-made characters. I don't relate to the Elder Scrolls characters I create, and I don't project myself onto the character.

Normally I don't care what my avatar is, I just focus on the world. When I leave that world, the avatar becomes the character that I molded. We are separate, even though I shaped this character. It is as if somebody had read this character's story to me, or I had watched a movie.

 

[lord Claincy Ffnord]

Generally I try to *be* the character. Feels to me like it improves immersion. From my perspective one of the marks of a good game is where that is doable. Games where it is very hard to feel connection to the player character I don't tend to enjoy as much.

 

[aguspal]

It really depends. One of the options when designing a game is that the camera helps reinforce one of those perspectives. For example:

- In first person, I am the character. No matter the name they refer to, I am meant to be the doom guy, the dragonborn, Gordon Freeman or Paul Jackson in Call of Duty 4.
- In third person, I am not the character, but I am helping direct their actions and the world around him, while I accompany him during the quest. For example, Uncharted, Deus Ex or Spec Ops.
- In a far away camera, I am not even close to the character, I am the one directing him/them. I am the commander. Examples include XCom, Dragon Age Origins and Starcraft.

So, there are no "right" or "wrong" ways to perceive yourself in relation to the character, as long as the game is consistent with its intend, all of them are valid...

Pretty much this, except that I dont agree 100% with the first person part.


If the character has enoguh story/backstory whatever, then I might considerate them as such even if the game is first person. But then again thats pretty rare in those kind of games... soyeah.

 

[bigfatcarp93]

Wow, dude, that depends a LOT on the situation. I mean, in an RPG or Silent-Protagonist FPS, yes, I consider the Character to be "Me". But, in, say, Assassin's Creed? No. That guy on screen is not me. That's Altair. Or Desmond. Or Ezio. Or Connor. Or other-dude-in-AC3-whose-name-I-have-yet-to-memorize. But it's not me.

EDIT: 400th post! W00t!

 

[Vuliev]

Depends on how deep I get into the game, and how much levity-from-distance I need to enjoy the game.

Example of "levity-from-distance": my supah-Paragon Shepard was male, and as such, the first game was going to be kind of a slog because of how atrociously bland Mark Meer's voice acting is in that game. Not entirely by accident, that Shepard ended up looking like the Demoman, so I made it through ME1 by giggling like an idiot between the Demoman being supah-srs, and the thought of Shepard having a thick Scottish brogue.

Now then: I'm pretty close to my long-format characters. They'll often containing chunks of who I am as a person (to serve as a basis for exploration of my own personality), but it's not usually to the point where the character and I blend together. Best example of this is Aethyta, my first character in Skyrim. More or less your standard neutral good (more or less my natural alignment), but like with all my characters, I would make decisions for her based on how I thought she might act if she was an actual person. So, separate from me, but still pretty close.

As a warning, you're going to be taking a trip into my thoughts and emotions as you read the examples. Have fun!

Spoiler: Second example: Eleisa, ME Infiltrator

I'd already done a Renegade FemShep (Kyrena, who I'll get to in a bit), but I wanted to do a darker take on the role. She was Colonist/Ruthless (instead of Earthborn/Ruthless), and I put some extra care into having her appearance reflect what she'd gone through. Structurally, she was basically the same as Kyrena, but she had black instead of reddish-brown hair, she was paler, her eyes were more sunken, and had cold blue eyes.

Long story short: as I played through the first two games, Eleisa took on a life of her own, one with a personality considerably different to mine. On the Normandy, she developed much the same way that Kyrena had: cold at the outset, but warmed to them over time. But outside the Normandy, she was unsettling, but I couldn't place why. More and more, I felt more like her cerebellum, the motor control centers, serving only to facilitate actions that disturbed me.

It wasn't until ME2 that I realized just what I had created. She was...cruel. Not just hurtful/vengeful, but calculating in her application of cruelty. Remember how I said she was Colonist/Ruthless background? The Arrival DLC was the only time I blended with Eleisa, and it was a rather terrifying/horrifying experience.

Spoiler: Spoiler for those that haven't played the Arrival DLC

I was able to maintain character distance during the infiltration of the batarian prison, but the double-batarian-hatred-whammy of Colonist/Ruthless sat rather firmly in the back of my mind during the whole mission. Only when I got to the point where you can warn Aratoht of the Relay's destruction did I let myself blend fully with the character--and the cold, absolute hatred of a woman whose home was brutally attacked by batarians, who later butchered a batarian stronghold at the cost of many of those under he command, was overwhelming. It wasn't the "Fuck the batarians, they're a bunch of bell-ends" that briefly went through my mind during Kyrena's run, it was "No batarian life is worth saving, and I will let them all die."

During that moment, I felt myself as a tiny little voice inside my own head, screaming WTF WTF WTF WTF at the emotions present as I blatantly disregarded the option to warn Aratoht.

I still haven't finished ME3 with her yet, simply because I can't make the decisions that her character would make in that game.

On the flip side, there have been a couple of characters with which I blended deeply.

Spoiler: Kyrena, ME Vanguard

IMO, Kyrena is probably one of my best characters--she had one of the most dynamic character development arcs I've ever done.

Spoiler: ME1

She was Earthborn/Ruthless (yes, I wanted the extra 15 Renegade points at the beginning ), so she was going to be a very no-nonsense, tough-as-nails kind of commander. She was also going to be very intelligent/as not-short-sighted as possible, since I was aiming for a "best" playthrough. She kept her distance from the crew at first, but they grew on her as time went on. Even by Noveria (I do Noveria third out of the story missions), I'd begun blending with her, and my relationship with the crew became very much a "mama-bear" kind of deal--hard on them when I needed to, supportive when they needed it, and fiercely protective against whatever might threaten them. Even the relationship with Liara started to mean quite a lot to me (yes, I picked Liara, partly for "hurr hurr lesbian sex," but also because Kaidan has no personality to the point of being unlikable.)

Spoiler: ME2

ME2 rolls around, and the relationships I had pick up where they left off, they become really close to me, yada yada yada, most all of you have been there. Pretty much every loyalty mission put me in mama-bear-mode at some point, but there are a few in particular:
[ul]
[li]Kasumi's loyalty: Much to my surprise when I first played her mission, she was instantly likeable, and so our friendship went from zero to Garrus pretty much in the space of that mission. The fact that Hock was a massive douche only made things easy for Mamabear Vuliev.[/li]
[li]

Spoiler: Tali's loyalty mission

Oh man, this mission. Kyrena and I blended for the entirety of it, from the shuttle approach to the Rayya, to the shuttle back to the Normandy. Three things that stand out to me:
[ul][li]Tali's inital shock at the actual nature of the charges against her. I was immediately furious, and just as angry with Admiral Raan for setting that up. This pretty much cemented the blend for the mission.[/li]
[li]The scene where you find her father's body--IMO, best use of a QTE in a game. The instinct here to just draw her close and console her was deep and immediate, and has almost put me in tears each time I've played it.[/li]
[li]Hearing Zaal'Koris move to proceed without us as we're hurrying to the chamber. I'll admit, seeing Shepard whip around and then shout the Board down completely yanked me out of immersion the first time I saw it, just because I was totally not expecting it. With Kyrena, I was ready, and didn't break the blend. Shouted the Board down, completely in sync. Glorious.[/li][/ul]

[/li]
[li]

Spoiler: Lair of the Shadow Broker

Bioware's shining jewel of a storyline, and it really set the stage for my initial reaction to the ending of ME3 (don't make any assumptions about that, it's coming in a bit.)

Since I opted to remain faithful to Liara, this was my first chance to really explore the relationship with her, and holy shit was I taken for a ride. I kinda rode shotgun for the first part, but once Vasir showed her colors I blended immediately, and I was hell-bent on making that blue ***** pay for what she'd tried to do to Liara. The fantastic music in this section takes the credit for facilitating the blend, really--fast-paced, urgent, driven. The skycar chase lent surprising depth to the relationship dynamic: me/Kyrena, loving the adrenaline and the thrill of the hunt; and Liara, doing her best to trust in me and not completely flip out (and, adorably, failing a little at it.)

At the final confrontation with Vasir...well, you get the idea by now. Spectacular biotic fight between two really powerful Vanguards, full blend with the character, etc etc. The part after, though, was surprising. During each of the QTEs, I was actually trying to get her to talk to me--I cared about her, and didn't understand why she was being so distant. The resulting mini-significant-other-fight was jarring and rather painful for me, as I'd actually had something similar with an ex IRL, and that only brought me closer to both Liara and Kyrena.

The phenomenal part of this DLC comes during Liara's visit to the Normandy at the end. I completely lost myself in the character, telling the personal truth and my fears about the next steps in the fight against the Reapers to my SO. A cavalier response to an honest question. A promise made. And, finally, "come back soon, Liara." I honestly had to sit there for a bit after my first runthrough of the DLC just to disconnect myself from the character.

[/li]
[li]Overlord. Long story short: finding out the full truth at the end. The horror that went through both of us during the reveal sets the stage for the denouement of Kyrena's story arc--that despite her prickliness, despite the hardships she went through, despite what she'd confronted up to that point--there was still a part of her that was good inside, and that she wasn't sure if she could confront that.[/li]
[/ul]

Spoiler: ME3

I'm not even going to bother with everything that tied Kyrena to me in this one, because it's pretty much the entire game. Two things, though, really stand out to me:
[ul][li]Thane's death. When Kolyat asked me to read the poem with him, I was a little apprehensive, but did anyway. At the end, though, when Kolyat tells you that the prayer was for you, I/Kyrena lost it. That moment was the second of two steps in Kyrena's denouement, the solidifying of the realization that she had done well by so many, and they genuinely loved her for what she had done.[/li]
[li]The defeat on Thessia. Up until the assault on TIM's base, I lost myself in fury at having been defeated. Granted, much of that was "fuck Bioware and their need for fucking ridiculous plot armor," but that translated into Kyrena's fury at having lost to an opponent well below her paygrade. My combat style changed dramatically--I was reckless, Charging into entire Cerberus units and brutally beating everything to tar with Novas and biotic melee. During one of the lulls in combat, I had another "oh my god, what's happened to me" like what happened with Eleisa--I wondered what my crew thought of me, as I roared into battle and tore things apart with my own hands. But then the next Cerberus unit showed up, and I didn't care anymore.[/li][/ul]

The overall crux of this massive spoiler-within-spoiler essay comes at the end of the game.
Do not say anything about the ending, make any value judgements about my reaction or the ending as a whole. I don't care, and you're about to find out why.

At the end (pre-DLC), after the Catalyst delineated the options, I stood there for a bit, not sure what to do. At this point, though, any separation between Kyrena and I completely vanished. I was standing on the Crucible, three options in front of me. I. Her experiences and mine blended seamlessly into a single entity. As I have always been a staunch transhumanist, Synthesis was the logical step forward. And as I ran towards that light, a single thought ran through my mind:

"I'm sorry, Liara."

I.

It was actually hard to fall asleep that night. And once I'd realized what my last thought was, I was profoundly struck at what had happened. In the fifteen seconds that it took to reach the beam, I had completely lost my Earthbound self and become Kyrena Shepard, whose only thought upon the brink of oblivion was of the love of her life, of my life.

I didn't end up picking up Demoman Shepard's ME3 run for a couple months after that, simply because of how much that had impacted me, and because like everyone else I began wondering why the developers hadn't thought to give us more closure. That's a different discussion, though, so enough of that.

Spoiler: Tim the Enchanter, Argonian-that's-actually-a-Viashino-planeswalker-from-Jund

Tim's probably my favorite Skyrim character. I console-boosted him to put him at an appropriate power level for a planeswalker, i.e. obscenely overpowered with respect to pretty much everything in the Elder Scrolls universe. I gave him everything, and just made it part of his backstory (which I won't bore you with.) His main goal: learn every bit of magic he can that he can add to his knowledge.

Oddly enough, the ridiculous power made it easier to connect with Tim. I would often find myself IRL giving NPCs condescending stares because they were talking down to a being more powerful than they could even hope to imagine. It was especially funny with Daedra, because Tim's power was easily on par with most of them, especially the Destruction-oriented ones.

A couple of things that stood out to me:
[ul][li]The Dark Brotherhood. When Tim/I first met Astrid, I considered just killing her, but thought better of it because she would likely have significant, interesting knowledge. A bit of metagaming, yes, but oh well. As I met the Dark Brotherhood, I kept thinking, "okay, seriously, I'm just going to kill the lot of them once this is done, because they're all self-absorbed idiots with hubris the size of the Hindenburg." But as the questline progress, I actually grew to like some of them, and indifferent to the rest--much to my surprise.

[/li]

[li]Dawnguard. When I first met Serana, I (not Tim) was immediately taken. It was a little difficult to keep myself from influencing Tim, but in the end, I realized that Tim would have warmed to her just as I did. Tim would have been alone for much of his immortal life, only passing through planes to gather knowledge and power before passing on, never having a companion to travel with.

Naturally, looking to enhance his own powers, Tim accepted Harkon's gift, but quickly realized that it was nothing like the vampirism of Sorin. As the story progressed, Tim and Serena became closer, to the point where I/Tim began to wonder if she'd accompany me on my travels. But both of us would be in grave danger with our crippling weaknesses to fire, a point I made abundantly clear by two-shotting Harkon with Incinerate.

Once the quest was over, I immediately cured myself, and asked Serana to do the same, in the hopes of convincing her to study and travel at my side. When, at the last "Will you travel with me?" dialog after she cured herself, she said "I'd love to," I felt deep fuzzies that I've only felt IRL with some of my closest friends.

Again, just as with Kyrena, I had to take a bit to disentangle myself from the character.[/li][/ul]

The main point here is: if you have a good imagination, and the story can get inside, the character becomes indistinguishable from the player. Both exist as one, and the character can even become part of the player once the game is over, shaping that player forevermore.

 

[Vault101]

snip.

for me..emotional attatckment is very important...if youve got a blank slate like Fallout or whatever I will project onto them but ULTIMATLY I will make them a charachter in their own right..I don't see them as "me"