Most storytelling media, like movies, books, and the like,
have a protagonist that is apart from the consumer; the protagonist has their
own personality, acts according to his or her own will, and the consumer is
just along for the ride.
But when games came along, suddenly the player was
controlling the protagonist, reaching a new level of connection between the
player and protagonist.
But with this, players were no longer just along for the
ride, instead acting on the protagonist's behalf. Players then wanted to insert themselves into
the game, rather than just take over the body of another character.
So as the medium grew, a new form of protagonist was
created: the Blank Slate.
The Blank Slate is a type of protagonist that can only
really exist in games (or, in rare cases, books told in second person, which is
usually the domain of choose-your-own-adventure books, which are games in
themselves).
Basically, the Blank Slate is a silent, usually faceless,
often nameless character that the player can project themselves onto. First person shooters do this often, with the
Doomguy and Gordon Freeman being prominent examples. In genres where getting lost in the world and
setting takes priority over the character, the Blank Slate will be used as
well, such as in MYST.
One problem that arises from the Blank Slate is that there
is quite often less interaction with the story, making the player less of a
protagonist and more of a side character, observer, or sometime-agent.
Thus began the debate about which is the better experience:
the Traditional Protagonist or the Blank Slate.
Some argued that immersion is best when given a Blank Slate so the
player can slide into the role more easily; others say the most engaging
stories come from a Traditional Protagonist.
This all comes down to personal preference, and each person
comes to the conclusion based on what they like best: the feeling of truly
being the protagonist, or having a more emotionally engaging story.
Now, we've been given a third option, which is most often
found in MMOs, but has been known to exist in single-player games before them:
the Customizable Protagonist.
This gives the best of both worlds, where the protagonist is
visible on screen and displays a distinct personality, based on looks at least
(although sometimes stance and voice are also options), but simultaneously acts
as a Blank Slate for a player to slide into the role, without being quite so blank.
Growing up, whenever I played a game that allowed character
customization--even when it wasn't necessary--I would immediately create my own
character. The Tony Hawk games, wrestling
games, even Twisted Metal 4 (as bad as that was).
Usually my character would be modeled as closely after me as
possible, and when not, I would create a character that I could get behind. This kind of customization allowed me to
roleplay much more easily than with Traditional Protagonists, which were the
staple of the RPG--a genre defined in
its name by the necessity to take a role.
However, a Customizable Protagonist still doesn't quite
reach the emotional level of traditional storytelling as the Traditional
Protagonist, simply because, despite the visual, they are still too Blank
Slatey, so many single-player games don't offer much, if anything, in the way
of customization.
To combat this, morality systems are in vogue, trying to
give the player choices that allow them to roleplay their character better while
delivering the biggest emotional punch.
This gives a new form of character customization, bringing a layer of
personality to what was once purely visual.
Of course, morality systems are quite rudimentary and
usually binary, so they don't provide the depth of physical customization
yet. Hopefully such systems will be revamped
and upgraded to be on par with physical customization soon enough, because
right now the morality systems we have are more a detriment to customization
than a boon.
The Customizable Protagonist approach also carries the same
marketing problem with the Blank Slate, because the developer loses a potential
mascot or a recognizable face, forcing the mainstays to be the villains or NPCs.
The Customizable Protagonist doesn't just keep the problems
from the Blank Slate, but has its own problems as well.
Mandatory character customization, for instance, is a
turn-off for some players who would rather get in the game immediately. I often find that, despite the desire to be
able to control every facet of my character's body (how high up does the nose
need to be, how wide, how long?), it also becomes a burden creating a character
of that complexity for every MMO I get into.
A randomization button is a good first step, but it's not
quite enough. For MMOs where
customization is necessary to prevent cloning, this is all that can be done at
the moment.
But for games where customization does not need to be
mandatory (such as... just about everything else), giving the option, while
also having default characters allows players to choose what is best for
them. For instance, the previously
mentioned Tony Hawk games, wrestling games, and Twisted Metal 4 allowed the
player to pick from at least a dozen premade characters, but also gave the
option for the player to make their own customized character.
While this helps solve some of its own problems, the
problems that plague the Blank Slate still require fixing.
One option is to allow physical customization, but the
protagonist still has a distinct personality.
Dragon Nest's characters, for instance, while being physically
customizable, have a charming, sarcastic sense of humor.
This fixes the Blank Slate problem, but brings the
Traditional Protagonist problem right back up:
it works if the player likes the given personality, but prevents the
player from slipping into the role if they don't like it.
All three forms of protagonist are still used in videogames,
and each achieves a different effect, trying to capitalize on the strengths
while minimizing the weakness of the form.
But ultimately, as videogames increase in prominence as a
storytelling form, the style of protagonist may become a bigger choice for a
player's decision to purchase the game than it currently is.
Or perhaps the difference between the styles will be as
irrelevant or as subconsciously preferential as the difference between a first-
and third-person narrator in a book.
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