Role playing every game

Friday, November 21, 2008
I have a challenge for you dear readers. To warn you, it involves actual cognitive reasoning on your part, so those of you who inexplicably join my Xbox Live party to describe in broken detail how high your avatar looks/is may want to find more suitable environs. Are they gone? Good. Now, to the good stuff. I want you to role play every character you play in a video game.

This is an old trick I used with games I wasn't that into. I've since come to use it with all games to really get into the world, really let the game suck me in. From the moment the game first spins up to the end credits, I put myself in the characters shoes. I know what you're saying, we already do that because we're controlling the character. That's fine for playing a game, but I want you to dig deeper.

You are representing the player character in this world. It's your responsibility to make the decisions that will effect the character and their future in the represented world. Behave as you would in the character's situation, trust your gut. Don't make a decision because you think it might break the game or just because you want to cause some havoc. Make the decision that you feel is most right for the character you're playing.

It may seem very analytical, but play this way from the beginning and it should come as second nature to you. The challenge at the outset is to find some part of the character you can identify with, latch onto a reaction, a feeling, a movement, even the way the character looks. If you can find that one little piece to get you started, you're on you way.

I'm not saying you should invent complex back stories for the characters you play, most games story structure is too rigid for that. All the plot points and character relationship have already been established and will be made known when the time is right. Spend some time getting to know your characters in this kind of game. If possible, read the back story, look at the game site, find whatever you can about the characters in the game and their own perspectives.

Other games allow you a little more freedom with the story line. Fable 2 for example, puts you in a world where no one knows who you are (at least at first) and every relationship you make is dependant upon your reactions and your alignment. My hero was as pure as could be until he returned from the Spire. Upon his return, the game glitched his wife out of existence, leaving his now grown daughter mute and socially inept. She only returned to take the daughter she abandoned and tell me she was leaving for good. At that point, a switch flipped in my hero's head and he was never the same.

He raised the rent on every property he had, stopped giving to the poor, even stopped healing in battle, hoping that his life of self-destruction will finally one day kill him. He cannot trust any other Hero, nor any civilian no matter their standing. His faith and unwavering support for mankind has been lost forever. Such is the price of losing a loved one.

Try this out. If I'm right, you'll enjoy a deeper, more immersive experience next time you play. If I'm wrong, you aren't out anything and you get to make fun of me for it. It really is a win win. In all seriousness though, I think this is an important skill to have when slogging through a 20-40 hour game. It helps the time pass easier and I've honestly enjoyed games like Fable, Fallout and Far Cry more as a result of making real character based decisions instead of player motivated decisions. Please, for my lonely sake, give it a whirl and report your findings to me.