I truly honestly prefer pre-defined MCs with a personality that I can alter to my liking. I prefer playing as them and I prefer writing them. Blank slate MCs are hard to relate to and they’re even harder to write. How do you cater to every person’s possible desire without making the choices too generic? How do you write a personality without being super specific? It’s really hard, so pre-defined MCs are much more interesting to me overall.
Not going to lie, I’m baffled as to why pre-defined MCs don’t get as much love here. Nearly every form of media has a pre-defined MC, even AAA interactive fiction games (hell, a lot of smaller ones do too). I guess I can see why someone might want to replicate themselves in a game, and to some extent I get that, but at the same time, I view these games a way to escape and do things I could never do in real life. I don’t mind in my iteration of the MC doesn’t behave exactly the way I do.
What is the problem that people have with being specific about things ? I get that people don’t want an info dump but at the same time what’s wrong with things being specified to the point that you have a clear and defined image or description of the character you’re playing as or creating ?
I think some people like to insert themselves into their MC because that is the best way for them to do the things they couldn’t do in the real life. By actually putting themselves in the game it can be easier to visualize those activities that they couldn’t do rather than doing it through a different character.
For me, it just seems irrelevant to the story. Half the time I barely give a care to my MC’s appearance or their identity as long as their personality comes through. If people are willing to accept that their MC isn’t going to be them at a certain point, then why can’t they be okay with a pre-set protagonist?
Hm. I just want someone interesting, I guess. I don’t mind the character being up to the reader to build, or a preset character. Actually, I think it’s equally fun to try and immerse myself into character(s) provided. Maybe I’m a notorious cold blooded killer. Obviously, morals are kind of… out of the window lol. The interesting part would be choosing how I go about killing, not getting caught, whether I’m sneaky or outright in my victim’s face, what kind of reputation I leave, etc., etc.
Uh, I don’t know how I really got into the whole murder character thing, but… Yeah. (murder is bad) Anyway, both ways can be fun if properly handled.
I think it depends on how pre-set a character is. I think, what you see as pre-defined might be totally different to another players definition.
I personally, like many other players do not like if my gender is pre-set. I do play female and male people but I want to choose when I play which. I do not like if the author decides that I find a Char hot. I like to decide why my char does something. I do not need a special appearance to be happy, but there are some things I do like to decide on my own. Am I goodie or baddie, my choice please. Perhaps I am here to save the world, thats ok, but let me choose why I save it, for money, for fame or to get the guy or to help others, all this things lead to the same end, but it differs a lot to me. I personally do not like to play evil characters, cause most seem to be evil, just because they can. That has just no appeal to me. So I would not like a game, where my char is forced to be evil. I am ok, with a preset-scenario. Like coming from a poor family or being the heir to some noble, that are things that do not matter to me.
Stuff like motives and approaches to situations are the crux of what IF is - that’s not what I mean. I’m more concerned about why people are so set on being able to customize their character to the extreme and don’t like if they play as someone premade with a personality they generally adhere to. It seems to be a bigger issue here, and I suppose it’s because CoG games are text-based, so people expect greater customization. If you can choose your approach and your motives behind your approaches, and you can choose who you’re attracted to, why does the personality of the MC matter? Their personality reflects those choices even if it’s not your exact personality.
I guess gender choice comes down to personal preference. I could understand why some people might dislike not being able to choose their gender, but it doesn’t bother me. (Hell, half the time I play as a woman anyway). Personally, I love a good premade protagonist that isn’t completely me. Most stories are like that anyway, interactive or not.
Maybe because it doesn’t always work out that well, games with tighter personality and narrative also tend to backfire very often when the reader doesn’t like their role in that world and an easy conclusion is that the blame is on the lack of control over their MC.
You may not care about what your MC looks like but for me it’s important that I have the option to craft and shape my MC’s appearance as well as the personality. Now unlike some people I don’t have a problem with a pre-set protagonist that already has a set background and has some history to them. I do think it can be more interesting than playing as a blank canvas.
That’s the problem with how some villains are portrayed in games and media. People create these shallow, cartoonish villains with as much depth and personality as a card board cut-out and it’s annoying to say the least. I think a game where the player is put in the position of the villain could be pulled off very well if someone put as much time fleshing them out as they do the hero. While there are characters who do things for the evulz(like Joker, Carnage and maybe Green Goblin). Not all villains are like that and I’d hope you don’t let the poorly written ones stop you from enjoying and sometimes rooting for the well written ones.
There is a certain point where you, as the reader, have to immerse yourself into the narrative and the author’s intentions. Someone put it much better than I could on another thread - that’s been moved? It was titled ‘What stops you have from having fun in an interactive novel?’ and this topic of defined vs. blank slate protagonist came up - but the gist of what they said basically amounted to that there comes a point where you have to accept what and where the author is taking you.
Choice of the Deathless wouldn’t work as a story, much less an IF, if the author allowed the MC to suddenly say, “Nope! I want to stop being a Craftsman.” for whatever reason. Most IFs already have a set premise (Be a dragon! Be a cat! Be a vampire! you get the idea) and we as readers have to accept at least some of the author’s intentions otherwise we probably won’t be happy with our purchase/what we’ve read.
I do that as well, but I do it in my imagination. Unless the MC’s appearance is relevant to the story somehow, I don’t care about it. I just imagine it’s me and let it go.
For me, I commented on that other thread as well, it’s less about being myself and more about making the character I feel like playing at the time. Sure I self insert sometimes, which is usually one playthrough but then I go back and roleplay one of the different original characters I have made over the years in my head and in other games.
Immersion is initiated differently for people, some don’t care about things like official appearance in-game while others do and it helps them greatly especially from alot of people I notice always saying they want to play their own gender and may even ignore a game without that, which I don’t fall in the camp of. Same goes for personality I feel.
Also I’m fine with not having, break the plot options like if it was about being a spy or something and having the ability to just say at the beginning of the game that you don’t want to be a spy and ending it right there. In other words, I’m fine with the premise a writer sets up, but let me decide how I want my character to be since without choosing things like that I feel like you might as well just play once really and a big part of IF for me is replayability and being able to be a totally different character with different motivations and mindsets makes it great.
If I want play as generic dude i pick a shooter or a book. INTERACTIVE fiction pre set characters are as interactive as a potato in a box. And normally means this Author has a personal idea of pc and building everything around that limited scope and only options are in that small array. There is not a team writer and player doing a story together via choices. Is author playing with xhimself with player as mere viewer.
All presets become YOU THINK THIS YOU LIKE THAT YOU FIND X BORING ETC i am guilty as charged because I am actually writing a fan fiction that is exactly that. But i am sincere about it since beginning. Most authors aren’t. And you find a game where you have zero agency except romance a or b and normally remember you how sexy the other are even if you are gay and you aren’t interested To read that i just go for a novel where author could go full in in their story.
Edit I don’t self insert. I never play as myself. I play as characters from many backgrounds and different from my own. As role-player a preset is normally not bad if you have control of Personality an morals. If you haven’t the game is not interactive as the soul of character is not yours to control for instance for me all Dark forces Jedi night aren’t story interactive same last of us they are linear like a book with game mechanics in playable areas but plot wise are a book wirh no player agency . Really very well written but linear
In regards to set protagonists, feelings and thoughts is precisely where I draw the line. I can accept and welcome the events of the past and present being somewhat predetermined, and to a certain point some lines of thought, but when a game starts telling the player how they feel I turned off.
Like in Fallen Hero, the master plan and certain events cannot be changed, but it’s up to the player to fill in their motivations and how they perceive the universe and characters.
Fallen hero is not a preset character. Is a character with a fixed backstory There is a BIG difference. It is compare for instance Dragon age with the witcher. In withcher as a preset You control a character totally set in a stone with a character emotions and feelings even previous romances.
In fallen hero yes you have been created but your feelings your relationship about those situation are yours to decide. In a preset all including name race old lovers are set
When I say preset protagonist, I don’t mean someone whose motivations, approaches, and love interests are already determined. That just completely defeats the point of writing an interactive fiction book.
I may have not made myself very clear (my mistake), but what I mean by set protagonist is someone like Hawke from Dragon Age, as opposed to someone like the Dragonborn from Skyrim that while I love the game I can’t feel anything about the protagonist. The Geralt way is on the other end of the spectrum, and it’s where things start to get messy because the game can fall apart if you want to do anything that is not Geralt-like.
