Character Studies: The Player Character

The protagonist of a story is the leading, primary character upon which the majority of the action centers. All stories have a protagonist, even videogame stories, yet the protagonist of an interactive work is unlike any other. The protagonist is also the playable character, the player’s portal into the game world. Without a way to assert themselves into the game world the player is no longer an active participant. The ability to interact has been removed relegating the player to just a passive observer. While there is nothing inherently wrong with being an observer that is not the reason people play videogames. To become a force within the game world itself, to be able to interact and engage with the experience is the reason for playing a game. And the player character allows the player to do that.

   

There are two main types of player characters; player-made-character and developer-made-character. Both provide the vicarious enjoyment and peril that players find exciting about games.  However, they do so in different ways. The first type of player character, the player-made-character, allows for direct self placement into the game experience. Much in the same way that a child makes believe they are a superhero; the player-made-character allows the player to experience and imagine themselves as they would wish to be. The second type of player character evolves the relationship between audience and protagonist. A more complex form of the inhabitation that a player-made-character provides, the developer-made-character is a continuation of the vicarious fulfillment that movie goers and literature enthusiasts have been enjoying for decades. The developer-made-character is the center of an already existent story and the player is there to take part in it as the protagonist.

The player-made-character, a character found often in RPGs, is under the player’s ultimate control. Using a character creation system the player is able to create virtual avatar that they wish to be. The role-playing element is most apparent here, wherein the player pretends to live the life of a character they are not. The roots of videogames as an escapist medium also begin to present themselves here. Why be yourself when you could be a badass mystic swords man? Or a rouge space captain reluctantly saving the world from destruction? Or anything? There are infinite possibilities present within videogames as a medium to transport and transform the player into anything they desired.

It is easy to comprehend why a player-made-character would be appealing. Yet, why would a gamer, accustomed to control and engagement within a story, choose to play as a character that someone else created? Any increase in separation between player and player character is often considered a bad thing. It breaks immersion and ruins game flow because the believability is lost. However, videogames allow for a unique dynamic to take the place of the usual separation apparent between protagonist and audience in a passive medium.  The protagonist of a videogame is the combination of developer-made-character and the player.

Gifted game designer and partly crazy person Hideo Kojima said this of developer-made-characters in videogames: “The lead character of a story is the most important element. If you can’t associate yourself with the lead character of a movie or novel, you won’t enjoy the storyline, no matter how great the storyline is. This holds true for games. What’s different is that in games you control the main character. This is why it’s necessary to take into consideration the character’s ‘compatibility’ to the viewpoints and psychology of all the people who would potentially play the game. Maintaining this balance is very difficult. The basic character description/setting, along with the character itself, is one thing. When the player actually moves the character, the character becomes complete. The player is the one who adds to the character what’s missing.” 

Allow that to sink in for a moment. “The player is the one who adds to the character what’s missing.” Kojima sates that the developer-made-character is not complete until the player makes them so. How can this be, though, as the developer-made-character has more in common with the protagonist of a book or movie than a videogame only player-made-character? Protagonists in books and movies are obviously complete characters, why should videogame protagonists be any different? Because videogames are interactive and so too must be the protagonist. A developer-made-character is just another player character for the player to inhabit. The protagonist of a videogame is the combination of player and developer-made-character. The player brings to live this character that the developer created.

In a book or movie, the author’s hand is the unseen impetus giving momentum to every moment of plot. That is not so with videogames. It falls upon the player to provide that force within a game’s story. Developers do what they can to direct players and motivate them into giving life into the game, often via win-states, however ultimately a game is just data waited to be played. Only when the player engages with the game does the developer-made-character become alive within the world and the narrative. The developer-made-character is the center of an already existent story; the player is the force that brings the developer-made-character to complete the narrative; together they form the protagonist of a videogame.

The most important character in a videogame is always the player character. No matter which type, the core of a videogame is focused on player character and their engagement with the world. For a player-made-character the experience is one of wish fulfillment, gratifying a childlike sense imagination. Although player-made-characters can border in escapism, they are an instantly satisfying form of player character and videogame protagonist. A developer-made-character is the center of the narrative as well as the focus of the game. The developers have created a world and narrative for the player character to inhabit, but it is not until the player breaths live into the developer-made-character do they become the protagonist of the interactive fiction. A developer-made-character is a collaboration with the player to create an engaging player character.