Diamonds in the RoughMay 1st, 2008 by Suzie
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Lara Croft. Sephiroth. Link. Mario. Chun Li. Solid Snake. Sonic. Samus. Alucard.
Chances are, if you’re a gamer, you will know every name on that list, and be ready to shout out some more (how could I forget Dante? Kefka? Ryu Hayabusa?). Games are cool, and one of the reasons they are cool is that they let us step into some bad-ass shoes. We can leave behind the travails of spindly limbs and an inability to blow away hordes of zombies and enter the online world of someone who is, well, cool.
In literature, the famous characters are the flawed ones. The tragic hero, with his achilles heel - I’m sure you’ve read all about him. In creative writing courses we are repeatedly told that perfect characters do not appeal. We don’t like them. They make us feel bad about ourselves.
The video game is not quite literature. It sits uneasily beside it. Games plunder narrative conventions, ideas, philosophies from books, but they are not books. They are games. During the game, the central character is not just Lara Croft, she is also us. Link follows our movements, if we look away from the screen or drop the controller then he dies - and at the risk of sounding melodramatic, we die a little along with him.
The runaway success of MMO’s and games such as The Sims is fueled partly by our ability to create characters in our own images. In our own, slightly improved images. All my characters have pony-tails. They all have the same slightly elfin face. They sort of look like me - but me with glossier hair, a toned body, and the ability to defeat dragons single-handedly.
In the online world, we can be awesome. We can be undefeated champions (even if it takes us a few game-overs to get there). We don’t really evolve emotionally.
But MMO’s don’t really tell epic stories. The world can only change slowly, clunkily, with the release of expansion packs. No matter how many of those damn kobolds you kill, that guard is still going to give every n00b the task to kill ten more.
What about games that do tell stories? The RPG’s, the intelligent FPS games? Command & Conquer? Are those characters flawed and interesting, or pumped up fantasies?
The answer lies somewhere between the two. Games occupy a unique space, in that they allow us to explore what it’s like to be someone else. Whilst there is always going to be a certain fantasy element to that, and the most popular game characters will always be young, attractive, strong and resourceful, there is also a massive market for exploring what it’s like to be completely incapable. For example Abe from Abe’s Oddysee - he has no power, aside from being able to sneak around quietly and whistle. He’s also probably not most people’s idea of attractive. Yet he still manages to appeal. We resonate with his underdog status - everyone sometimes feels like they’re working ’til they die. We all feel powerless, and somehow there is much more of a thrill when someone powerless manages to overcome sizable odds.
This partly explains the somewhat schizophrenic nature of games. One minute you’re blowing everything away, you’ve maxed out your levels, and you’re king of the world - the next you’ve hit a cut scene or a boss you’re not supposed to kill, your weapons are rendered useless and you’re tied up and left for dead. All video game characters are essentially immortal, since you can always restart the level. Immortal but flawed? They’re starting to sound more like Greek gods than anything else…
A lot of games are built around their characters. Mario is Mario, whatever platform he’s on or game he’s in. Link has appeared in different guises but remains essentially the same. Even Cloud reappeared in a world very different to his own (Kingdom Hearts).
Immortal and reoccurring? You could shape an argument saying that video game characters are not characters at all, but symbols, tropes, representations of something bigger than themselves. Link will eternally be collecting the Triforce. Mario will always be rescuing Princess Peach. Lara Croft will be collecting artifacts forever, and will continue to look good doing it. They’re not going to get old, and at the start of every new game they will find their stats reset to zero.
This post is a response to the May ‘08 topic from Blogs of the Round Table. You can see other entries on this subject in the drop down box below, which will update automatically with each new post.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:48 am
Excellent post, Suzie.
In a way, you’re almost suggesting that a video game character’s flaw is us, the player. This taps into the idea that a video game’s narrative is much more complexly layered than a novel or movie and that the line between author and audience is very blurry. If our own (in)ability to play the game well becomes an integral part of the narrative, what are we but a narrative convention ourselves?
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I love this post Suz. I would argue that some MMORPGs do tell epic stories though–did you ever check out ASheron’s Call? I loved their storyline there.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:10 am
I would question if vulnerability and powerlessness is really a character flaw. The kind of flaws the greek gods had were of a different kind: they indulged in morally questionable activities like adultery, excess and even murder. The Nintendo characters you’ve shown actually LACK these qualities, don’t they?
May 11th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
I think it was Tim Schaefer that first said that everyone who really enjoys a game engages in some amount of wish fulfillment. I think it goes beyond us playing a metroid game because we want to be kickass (though I enjoy feeling like I kick ass, to be sure). I’ve said for a long time that the reason why we choose one intellectual property over another (games, movies, anything that has a brand, really) is because it affirms something within us about how life works. Games just emphasize this tendency that I think already exists in people.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Wow deep article. Good writing.
May 31st, 2008 at 2:44 pm
This really reinforces the idea that the core of most games is fantasy role playing. The blurring of lines between viewer/user and medium, so that the both live together. When a player becomes this super awesome, however flawed other, the flaws possessed by said player and avatar blend to become one. It is in overcoming these problems that the player gains a sense of accomplishment and drives the narrative forward, reassured that she/he too can overcome. Games enable the player character(s) to become a vehicle for the player’s own positive psychological reinforcement. In this, player’s are encouraged to become active protagonists in life via their role playing in the virtual.