Character Studies: World Character

The world of a videogame can be a character unto itself. Play characters are the portal through which the player engages with the world and non-player characters are the ludic or narrative elements with which they engage. Yet, the world that surrounds everything within the game is itself a character with as much depth and importance to the entire experience as either of the other elements of a game. Beyond a simple setting, the world of a videogame is a livable place inhabited simultaneously by every person, character and idea related to the game. It is also a framing device used to establish the core elements of the game. The world character of a game ultimately defines not only what the game is, but what it will become.

In the most basic terms the world of a videogame serves all the same narrative elements that the setting of a novel does. It establishes a place of action and a feeling of place. Interestingly enough, place of action and the feeling of place are not always the same. In fact sometimes they are purposely conflicting. The place of action is the simplest role that a videogame world plays within the narrative. It is the literal ‘Where is this happening?’ ‘When is this happening?’ A feeling of place is a more complex concept. Adding a level beyond the concrete physicalities established by the place of action, a feeling of place is the emotion or sensation the world wishes to impart. When as a person in real life or a character in a game, you – the player, enters a new area what is it that you think? Do you look around and think ‘This room is approximately 40 sq. ft. with low ceilings, dirty possibly blood splattered floors and several dark menacing shadows?’ Or do you think ‘This place is creepy. I’m getting out of here.’ That feeling of fear, sense of slight disturbance that is a feeling of place. What you think as you enter a new area for the first time, the sensations imparted on you is the feeling of place a videogame world provides. Occasionally for added effect the place of action and feeling of place with conflict with each other to impart greater meaning to the player. Would the sunken city of Rapture from the original Bioshock be so memorable if it wasn’t for the juxtaposition of the broken and ruined physicalities of the place of action in relation to the grandeur imparted by the feeling of place? A videogame world is a character that provides the game with a place of action as well as a feeling of place.

The place of action and feeling of place are both concepts that videogame world character shares with other forms of media; books, plays, movies, ext. Together they form an establishment of setting necessary for all narratives. However, even in setting the interactive elements of videogames establish themselves forcing a change in the way world character is established. The world character does not only reflect and influence the narrative of the game, but so too does it affect the gameplay. As a ludic experience the game and therefore the world character must be dominated by the interaction and engagement that the player, the audience, you, gets to have with it. The place of action and feeling of place have immense ramifications on the gameplay of a game. When all the elements work in tandem; world character, narrative and ludic elements, the total experience is cohesive and all the more enjoyable. The best way to avoid ludonarrative dissonance is through the use of a properly aligned and strongly developed world character. Because ultimately it is the world inhabited by the game; its developer, its characters and you, the player, which create the tone of the game. That tone can range from playful, to sincere, to energetic, to somber depending on the game being played. And it is that tone which gives focus to gameplay. It would not make sense for Mario to stop on a Koopa and there be blood spilling out. It goes against the tone established in world character. Likewise it would be disruptive to have mushroom power-ups in Call of Duty. The place of action and feeling of place work in with narrative to develop a tone pervasive throughout the world character and it is that tone which focuses gameplay. 

Videogames have one last unique characteristic in relation to their world character; the world character of a videogame is transcendent.  Books and films have previously reached levels or transcendence become iconic in their own. But there is degree to their transcendence that is somehow lacking. Less about what the literature, film or even play meant to audience, but what is has meant over the course of time. Although that is a perfectly suitable definition, it is inapplicable to videogames. An unfortunate side effect of the medium being so young. Transcendence in videogames is achieved in another manner. It is directly related to the world character of a videogame that it becomes transcendent. The audience is always the final collaborator; they will bring to the game something unique that will change and differentiate the experience for them. And the world character of a videogame allows for that. Narratives, even in the most open and free form of videogames, are already set by the time a player engages with them. However the world is not. World character is a living conceptual place inhabited by all the collaborators of the game. The developer’s concepts are most strongly felt throughout this world; their characters inhabit the play space after all, but the world character of a videogame adapts and changes as the player engages with it. What you, the player, choice to take, interpret and make your own from the game becomes part of the world character. It is part of you and you are part of the game. In that manner, Fallout became a deeply personal self examination for myself. I choose to believe in something the developers had created therefore making it partly may own. It is for you, the player, to decide in the end how the game will play out and that makes you just as strong a force within the game as the developers who created it. World character for videogames is transcendent. It is a living place that evolves and changes holding on to the ideas and experiences of every person who contacts it. Just take a small dive into any of the massive fandoms surrounding videogames and franchises. All these people believing and committed to the world character of the game, constantly adding to it, expanding it, making it live. That is transcendence.

World character defines a videogame while at the same time elevating it. The establishment of place of action and feeling of place is also the establishment of tone and gameplay. World character feeds the other elements of the game ultimately creating a living fiction. A transcendent experience shared by millions, but utterly unique to each one. World character in videogames defines what the game is and what it will become.

Character Studies: Non-Player Characters

If the player character is the player’s portal into the game world, giving life to the code and impetus to the fiction, then non-player characters, also known as NPC’s, are what the player interacts with. NPC’s serve to bring a semblance of life to the world of a videogame and provide ways for the player to engage within the fiction. Without NPC’s most games would fall flat. More often than not NPC’s are a way for the developer to insert their force into the game. Win-states are used as a ludic method of creating player investment; for narrative momentum developers utilize NPC’s. Some villager needs your help or the main villain has just taunted you over the radio, for example. The use and implication of NPC’s is vast and for that reason they play an integral part to the ever expanding field of videogames.

 There are three main types of non-player character; allied with the player, against the player, or neutral. Those allied with the player can range from a nameless helpful AI to a fully fledged companion character. Often of greater narrative significance allied NPC’s are subject to greater character development than their counterparts. Facelessness along with namelessness is a plague upon the opposing and neutral NPC’s in videogames. Because their narrative significance is often very little, development beyond the bare minimum is not given. Then again, it is often not required. Players do not care for the story behind the actions of the cannon fodder; they are there for the purpose of being a standard level of engagement for the player, the basic enemy that serves only as gameplay lengthening obstacles or the shop owner that buys and sells equipment to the player character. These NPC’s represent the lowest level of engagement that the player has with the game world and for that reason they are subject to facelessness and namelessness. 

However, just as allied NPC’s can be subject to character development and narrative significance so to can neutral and opposition NPC’s.  The method for developing a complex NPC of narrative and ludic significance is the same for all NPC’s no matter which category they belong. Complex NPC’s have much in common with a developer-made-character for a player character. They are both conceptualized and then given form within the game world by the developer of the game. Any narrative significance they have is assigned to them by the development team. The greatest difference being that ultimately a complex NPC will remain subject to the will of the developer. Yet, that allows for complex NPC’s to provide engagement to the player in ways that common nameless NPC’s could not. Complex NPC’s will often have their own animations, dialogue, in game scripting and even differing game play options for the player. With the inclusion of complex NPC’s the developer is able to change, differentiate and reinvent the common type of engagement present within their game thereby creating a more fun and varied experience for the player.

The development of complex NPC’s is the same no matter their category; however the narrative and ludic engagement provided by NPC’s to the player is affected by their category and alignment towards or against the player. An ally NPC will not feature the same functionalities of an enemy NPC. Those in opposition to the player provide drama to the narrative thereby giving context to the gameplay. ‘Shoot these characters because they are established within the game’s fiction as being evil’. Neutral NPC’s provide very nearly the opposite in terms of engagement. ‘Do not shoot these characters because they are established within the game’s fiction as being neutral’. Only allied NPC’s allow for a more dynamic dialogue to happen in terms of engagement. ‘Fight with these characters because they are established within the game’s fiction as being good’. That ‘fight with’ dialogue can be and is used to build relationships over time between the player, player character and non-player character. Narratives in games are often built around that relationship. There is drama inherent in conflict, and that drama is only increased by focusing the conflict with strongly developed ally, enemy and neutral NPC’s. They allow for player engagement with the narrative and create a context for the gameplay. 

Non-player characters are so common place in videogames that it is easy to over look their importance. Sometimes they serve an important role to the narrative or gameplay, other times they are just cannon fodder, but no matter the type or complexity most all videogames would be incomplete without NPC’s. Developers can assert their narrative force through use of an NPC, providing drama and context for the gameplay. Player engagement can be varied and challenged with proper use of NPC’s. From both a narrative and ludic standpoint NPC’s are as invaluable to modern day games as the player themselves.

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.