I think it’s a culmination of a few things. One of them is that some author’s get super excited to write the characters they create doing the things they imagine them doing. By that I obviously mean, most writer’s on here probably have an idea for a story, then form the characters for said story (maybe even after deciding what the role of the PC is going to be), then think of all the cool possibilities for those characters. They are the main cast, so they have to be cool, at least in some people’s heads.
And I get that! Trust me, there have been times where I’ve looked at the cast in my game and thought, “Wow, I can’t wait for this super cool moment for them.” But in my opinion, that’s why I use the word PC instead of MC; Player Character instead of Main Character; the entire main cast is a main character, including the PC, and keeping that thought process in my head helps make it so that I remember to include cool stuff for them as well. Not only that, it makes it so I remember that the PC is just another member of the team, so interactions with them shouldn’t be all that different than interactions between the NPC’s. They’re all just people.
But, there’s another thing that probably gets in the way as well. That being choices and branching. The more cool stuff you let the PC do, the more choices you need to implement regarding said abilities in the future, as well as the ramifications of doing said cool thing in that moment, which turn into variations of a scene. Again, I’ll use my own work as an example of why it’s so daunting to allow cool moments but still let the player feel like they have a choice on how those cool moments play out.
In the latest update for my game, there are 18k words (not too many, I know). In those 18k words, there are a total of three choices; I counted. The reason for that is, the PC gets to pick what they used to be studying in college before they joined the Bureau, allllllll the way back in the first chapter. This, ultimately, is the first ‘cool choice’ for the PC as it defines part of their background. If you choose a background with medical experience, you get to absolutely flex that and be the main person to come up with theories in that scene based on the autopsy, but you might also be squeamish around gore, so I have to write that in while still letting the PC shine. But then I have to write for if the PC doesn’t have those backgrounds, and if they’re squeamish and don’t have those backgrounds.
A better example might be the investigation in the previous update. The PC has the opportunity to be a master sleuth and find every single clue in the house they’re in, which leads to quite a disturbing discovery. BUT, they still sleuth it out and have the ability to solve that part of the case pretty much singlehandedly. So, now I have to write their reactions to those revelations. I also have to write variations to the ending where they don’t find some of the clues but find others, and variations where they find none of the clues. Then I have to figure out the branches for how all of those branches are going to affect the story down the line and plan for those. But if I let the PC find all the clues, I have to add in something for the NPC’s with them to do, because the last thing I want is people complaining that they’re incompetent, so I have to have them able to help the PC in some way through all of this, so now I need to add variables to check if those conversations happened so that it can possibly get brought up somewhere down the line.
Literally all of this is avoided if I have the NPC’s do it in a set plotline. All of it. So in short, it’s a lot easier to have the PC just kind of be along for the ride and let the only thing they affect be dialogue.
Now, I’m not saying that’s the right thing to do, but alas, it is the less stressful and easier thing to do.