History Main / Playercharacter

This concept represents the in-game character controlled by the player--as opposed to {{Non Player Character}}s who aren't. Typically the game puts you in charge of at least one entity, but the extent to which that entity ''is'' an actual character, as opposed to being a FeaturelessProtagonist or NonEntityGeneral, depends on the genre, the game, the game's developers, and even (if CharacterCustomization is available) the player him- or herself. Our page on PlayerAndProtagonistIntegration has more details on the different points along the scale that are possible here.

Sometimes, the term PC only refers to TheProtagonist, particularly if they are created by the player, while {{NPC}} is used even for [[PlayerParty other party members]] who the player still controls but are preexisting characters within the game world, rather than a personal avatar. For more information on possible PC/NPC party configurations, see PlayerCharacterCalculus.

* CrazyAwesome; due to the nature of such games, [=PCs=] tend to either succeed magnificently or [[StuffBlowingUp fail]] [[TotalPartyKill spectacularly]]

->''BABA IS YOU''

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/MortalKombatIII https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mortal_combat_3.png]]]]

[[quoteright:280:[[VideoGame/NeverwinterNights https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Char_creation_6938.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:280:[[AHeroIsBorn It all starts]] [[CharacterCustomization somewhere...]]]]

-->--''VideoGame/BabaIsYou''

* CrazyAwesome; due to the nature of such games, [=PCs=] tend to either [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome succeed magnificently]] or [[StuffBlowingUp fail]] [[TotalPartyKill spectacularly]]

This largely stems from the [=PCs=] being [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the main characters in their story]] and, more importantly, ''[[DangerouslyGenreSavvy knowing it]]''.

This concept represents the in-game character controlled by the player--as opposed to {{Non Player Character}}s who aren't. Typically the game puts you in charge of at least one entity, but the extent to which that entity ''is'' an actual character, as opposed to being a FeaturelessProtagonist or NonEntityGeneral, depends on the genre, the game, the game's developers, and even (if CharacterCustomization is available) the player him- or herself.

Sometimes, the term PC only refers to TheProtagonist, particularly if they are created by the player, while {{NPC}} is used even for [[PlayerParty other party members]] who the player still controls but are preexisting characters within the game world, rather than a personal avatar.