The Player Character

[Sir Boss]

I've been having discussions with a couple of my friends recently about what we like to see in a player character, talking about the benefits of silent protagonists, the benefits of properly characterised player character, i thought i'd open up the discussion.

do you prefer a silent protagonist, or an actual character?

 

[Kahunaburger]

It depends. They're good for different things. You can have any combination of voice/no voice, backstory/no backstory, characterization/no characterization, player choice/no player choice, and so on, and I can think of valid examples of most combinations of these. Even someone like Master Chief (in-game, at least: voice, minimal backstory, minimal characterization, no player choice) gets the job done as a foil for other characters.

 

[Sir Boss]

It depends. They're good for different things. You can have any combination of voice/no voice, backstory/no backstory, characterization/no characterization, player choice/no player choice, and so on, and I can think of valid examples of most combinations of these. Even someone like Master Chief (in-game, at least: voice, minimal backstory, minimal characterization, no player choice) gets the job done as a foil for other characters.

nice logical answer, i was wanting to see if anyone had as bigger illogical bias as I have, under most, if not all circumstances i hate silent protagonists.

 

[EradiusLore]

i think its better to have a silent protagonist when playing an open ended RPG (such as morrowind/oblivion) because it lets you create whoever you want to be. but for most games i think they should have actual characters because its more story driven and i guess if the character is done right it can make the experiance 'come to life'

 

[ChupathingyX]

When it comes to RPGs it's better to have a silent protagonist, that way you can insert your own personality into the character you create, of course there might be some exceptions like Mass Effect but I haven't played those so I wouldn't know.

However, if the game is character or story driven and fairly linear the character should have a pre-created personality and everything already made by the developers. That way the main character can interact with other characters and other characters can have a proper conversation with the character. For RPGs you should be able to determine how the story unfolds, however in more linear stories the storyline is more focused and the developers only need to voice a certain amount of lines for the character.

Basically, it really depends on what the developers are going for, whether it be an open-ended story or a more linear story.

 

[andreas3K]

I find it impossible to give a shit about a mute PC like Gordon Freeman. An actual character, someone who talks and acts of their own free will instead of just being an instrument of the player's will, is always more interesting. It would also be really cool if your character gave themselves a mission for once instead of just serving other people like a *****.

 

[Superior Mind]

Definitely depends on the game and the situation the player will find themselves in. Take Half Life - which I love by the way - but Gordon's mute-ness is becoming more and more obvious. See while in Half Life 2 Gordon was mostly on his own and rarely interacted with anyone else in the subsequent episodes he is accompanied the majority of the time. His inability to react to anything and the fact that other characters have to talk around him removes from the game and the player feels like they observing the world rather than being a part of it.

That being said I'm not suggesting that anything change I'm just outlining it as an example of why it is important to consider what situations your protagonist will be in as to whether they are a blank slate for the player to project onto or their own defined character.

 

[Vault101]

I've been having discussions with a couple of my friends recently about what we like to see in a player character, talking about the benefits of silent protagonists, the benefits of properly characterised player character, i thought i'd open up the discussion.

do you prefer a silent protagonist, or an actual character?

actual charachter definetly, however that doesnt mean a silent one cant work

Im not sure what makes a silent protagonist work or not work for me (and does having the option to choose dialouge count as silent?)

for some reason Im totally cool the gordon freeman

but Oblivion on the other hand..it really killed the game, I think because I wasnt ANYTHING, I mean I could have been anything but it didnt matter because game wouldnt ackowlege it, unlike say Fallout 3 or NV because you hadsomthing to work with (especially in Fallout 3 I loved that aspect)

 

[Zhukov]

As a general rule I prefer a characterized one.

That said, silent protagonists can work just fine when done right. Gordon Freeman, Chell and Jack from Bioshock are my go-to examples.

Thing is, most developers can't do it right.

The worst situation is when they try to have it both ways. A protagonist with no voice who still technically 'talks' by using a dialogue tree, as seen in Fallout 3 and KOTOR. God I hate it when games do that. Worst of both worlds.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Hard to say, depends on the game.

For most heavily action oriented games you don't want your character to speak with only the slightest provocation. Imagine playing Call of Duty and whenever you shoot someone your guy yells out "Boom headshot!" or something along the lines.
That said my two favourite protagonists are Gordon Freeman from Half-Life and Artoym from Metro 2033.
Freeman obviously has no personality and doesn't speak, but characters and the world itself responds to him in a very unique way. He's not defined by his looks or voice, he's defined by the people around him and their actions with regards to his presence.
Artoym also never talks in game, but he does speak in bleak sounding monologues at the start of every level which include some of the most memorable lines I've ever heard in a game. I just found these little snippets of his personality and his take on the world absolutely astounding and presented in a brilliant way.

As for RPG's it depends. There a number of ways to do it and they can all potentially be done well, but thus far I haven't really cared much for the PC's of these games for some reason.
I don't get the whole idea of envisioning yourself as the character you play, you are not Mr Badass McBadassson, you are some guy sitting at a computer and are playing Mr Badass McBadassson, just like everyone else playing the game. I hate it when a game seems to force that on the player, like when characters simply call your character 'You' instead of a name for instance.
I don't give a fuck about my character if its supposed to be me, where the hell is that glowy sword I need to get so I can go kill a bunch of skull people so I can get money and continue the playing the game without being forced to completely imagine myself as some world saving badass?

 

[Hobonicus]

If the gameplay and story go hand in hand, then a silent protagonist generally works well. Western RPGs are the obvious choice here because the story revolves around gameplay (in this case, choices). Jack in Bioshock is actually one of the best silent protagonists because of how important it was to set up normal genre conventions for the big twist to break. Although I think it would have been cool for him to start talking after the twist.

That said, I almost always hate silent protagonists. Gordon Freeman's inability to speak constantly took me out of the game. In Half Life 2 you have no effect on the story yet they give you a mute character anyway. Obviously that's not me smacking combine with crowbars, it's Gordon Freeman, and I merely control him as he follows a linear story. In Fallout, it's me doing what I want, which is the only reason why it's okay for my character to not speak. And Crysis 2... oh man... there were multiple times when speaking would solve a LOT of needless miscommunication.

Instead of developers defaulting to silent protagonist for every game that isn't an RPG, they should do what games like Halo and Crysis 1 did: Have a main character that's mostly silent but speaks when realistically they should. Complete silence in a linear story is unrealistic and very annoying. Just let them talk a little to make it feel less staged. giving a character a specific name, backstory, and motivation, but refusing to let them speak under any circumstance is ridiculous.

 

[Richardplex]

I prefer a voiced character. Even in RPGs, Commander Shepard allows me to be who I want to be while not being silent.

Hard to say, depends on the game.
As for RPG's it depends. There a number of ways to do it and they can all potentially be done well, but thus far I haven't really cared much for the PC's of these games for some reason.
I don't get the whole idea of envisioning yourself as the character you play, you are not Mr Badass McBadassson, you are some guy sitting at a computer and are playing Mr Badass McBadassson, just like everyone else playing the game. I hate it when a game seems to force that on the player, like when characters simply call your character 'You' instead of a name for instance.
I don't give a fuck about my character if its supposed to be me, where the hell is that glowy sword I need to get so I can go kill a bunch of skull people so I can get money and continue the playing the game without being forced to completely imagine myself as some world saving badass?

RPing is lost on you it seems... it's not a bad thing at all, just not your cup of tea. Understandable.

 

[shootdown]

I strongly prefer silent protagonists. I don't mind playing a voiced character, but a silent one allows me to feel more like I'm playing as myself, it enhances my immersion and I'm all about immersion

 

[Mr Thin]

Ah, the many wonderful uses of the word 'depends'.

I find the best kind of system to be the one with the most options.

In Saints Row 2, not only could you customise your characters appearance to an absurd extent, you could pick from three different voices (six, including the three female options).

Thus, I cared more about my anorexic blue-haired dual-revolver wielding madman with a cockney accent then I have about pretty much any of my characters in any game, ever.

Gordon Freeman, on the other hand... I love the games, but as a character he never seemed to be a very important part. Just a vessel for you to use.